10 Prompts to Get You Out of a NaNoWriRut

All through National Novel Writing Month, published authors will take the whistle, take over our official Twitter account for a week, and act as your NaNo Coach . This week’s NaNo Coach, @SarahOckler, the bestselling author of books including The Summer of Chasing Mermaids , shares 10 prompts to unstick any writer’s block:

Congratulations, writers. You’ve survived the first week of NaNoWriMo! Cue the glitter canons!

Okay, maybe it’s not all sunshine, rainbows, and 2K-word days. Even if you’re burning up the keyboard, chances are you’re going to get stuck at some point—if you haven’t already. Sometimes a scene just doesn’t translate from your imagination to the page, or the characters refuse to cooperate, or you notice a few weak spots in the plot, or you’re just feeling… ugh.

Don’t stress, storytellers. You’re inventing people and conflict and worlds out of thin air—a few speed bumps are to be expected. Yeah, they can be crazy-making—but they don’t have to be showstoppers. The good news? There’s always a way out.

Writing Prompts to Unstick the Stuck

If you’re in a rut, rather than forcing a scene or characters that refuse to budge, take a break and try something different by free-writing with a few of these prompts:

1. Be afraid. Be very afraid. What is your main character’s worst fear? Is it something universal, like the death of a loved one? Or a rare phobia, like turophobia (fear of cheese). Whatever it is, make that fear—or something close to it—show up in a scene. Make her feel like it’s breathing down her neck, waiting for her around every corner, giving her no way out but to face it head on. Be as subtle or over-the-top as you’d like (giant cheese-wielding cheese monster, anyone?)!

2. Worst. Day. Ever! What’s the absolute worst thing that your character believes could happen at this very moment? Got an idea in mind? Cool. Toss it out the window and make something even worse happen.

3. Genre-bender. Writing a romance? Using your existing characters, write the next scene as if your story is now a murder mystery. High fantasy your thing? Throw those elves and warlocks into a soap-style serial drama. Badass international spy hero? Let’s see how she does in a YA paranormal romance. Whatever your genre, mix it up and make your characters think on their feet!

4. Ripped from the headlines. Flip to a random page in magazine or newspaper. What did your eyes land on first? A news story about a kid who discovered a new species of dinosaur? An ad for deodorizing shoe inserts? A weather forecast for a record-breaking heat wave? A job offer for a paranormal investigator? Allow it to inspire a new scene with your characters.

5. Blow it up. Give your character an unexpected kiss, have him start or end up in a fistfight over something ridiculously mundane, or make something literally explode in the background. How do the characters respond to these sudden emotional or physical eruptions?

6. Dream on. What did your character dream about last night? Was it related to her predicament? Was it a ho-hum realistic dream, or a shadowy Jungian hellscape loaded with symbolism (or giant cheese monsters)? Is she a lucid dreamer? If she doesn’t remember her dreams, what about her daydreams or fantasies? Where does her mind wander when she’s drifting off?

7. Go for the block. What is the point-of-view character’s goal in a particular scene? Throw some more obstacles in his way, starting small (minor annoyances) and increasing in scope until there is no possible way he can achieve his goal. Then, find a way for him to achieve it anyway. What did he have to give up in order to win? What is the cost of his actions? What are the consequences? Who or what else is impacted?

8. Fun with fanfic. Choose a beloved character from one of your favorite books, television shows, or movies. What would happen if she walked onto the pages of your novel? How would your characters react? Would they get along? Work together to solve a problem? Go out for coffee? Become besties? Sabotage each other? Cuddle? What could the characters learn from one another?

9. Raise the stakes. What important thing or person does your main character stand to lose right now if things don’t go her way? Good. Take it away from her. Now, give her something else to lose—something even more important. What happens next?

10. Psych 101. Put your main character on the therapist’s couch. What’s bugging him? What deep-seated issue hasn’t he dealt with? What does he talk about with his counselor that he’d never reveal to another character? What would happen if another character discovered this deep, dark secret? Write a scene about that very discovery. Does your character try to deny it? Freak out? Break down in tears? Shrug it off? Kill or blackmail the person who made the discovery so no one else finds out? Are the other characters supportive, afraid, judgmental? Who leaves, and who sticks around?

The scenes you create from these prompts won’t necessarily appear in your final draft (though they might), but by giving yourself permission to have fun and stray from the plan, you’ll likely discover something new about your characters, your story, or even yourself—something that can launch you clear out of that rut.

Let your creativity fly, guys. Go off the rails, get crazy, and then get back to work. Newly freed of your frustrations and limitations, you might just surprise yourself with another 2K-day, rainbows and all.

I’m rooting for you!

@SarahOckler is the bestselling author of The Summer of Chasing Mermaids, #scandal, The Book of Broken Hearts, Bittersweet, Fixing Delilah, and Twenty Boy Summer. Her books have been translated into several languages and have received numerous accolades, including ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults. She lives in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.