Writing Tip: Story Idea and Break through Creative Block

Every writing class I teach and many emails I receive feature the question: How do I break through writer’s block?

First, let’s be clear that writer’s block (or any creative block) is really just a fancy name for fear. Strip that puppy down and bet you find scaredy-cattedness at the heart of it. Examples:

[block] I don’t have any good ideas. =  [fear] I’m afraid the ideas I have aren’t any good.
[block] I don’t have time to write. = [fear] I’m afraid that I’ll put other things off (things that are fun, comfortable, familiar, etc–or even “necessary”) for writing and it won’t be worth it
[block] I can’t seem to get started. = [fear] I’m worried that when I actually get my ideas on paper, they will lose their perfection.

Of course I deal with “blocks” (ie, fear; ie, excuses) all the time. One time in particular I had a “block” (fear/excuse) that resulted in the best possible scenario: a book!

Way back when, even before the first Petalwink book had been published, I had a meeting in Beverly Hills with a big time licensing agency. I was on cloud nine going in and had been knocked hard to the ground when I came out. They liked Petalwink enough, but they offered all kinds of advice . . . all of which my husband/business partner and I had already tried. I walked out of the tall golden building into the bright golden sunshine, my feet aching in the ridiculous heels I felt it necessary to cram into. I felt totally defeated and frustrated. I felt like a loser, like no matter what I tried or how hard I worked, I couldn’t get ahead (or “win” — and as a reminder, this was pre-Charlie Sheen). This latest meeting was just one more in a line of meetings when I’d put all my eggs in one basket . . . and then realized there was no basket. I remember the moment when I walked across the ridiculously huge plaza (probably just felt like it was the size of Tiananmen Square . . . ) and I asked myself a simple question: “What would Petalwink do if she kept coming in second and felt like a loser?”

The answer to that question was written on the plane ride home and it is called Petalwink Comes in Second.

So the next time you have a block (excuse/fear), work through it by writing down how your character would deal with it. Not only will it get you writing, at the very least, you’ll learn something about your character and at the most, you’ll have a story to publish.

Don’t take my word for it . . . get writing!