Goodreads asked Leah Marie Brown:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Leah Marie Brown What a great question. Several years ago, I was suffering a crippling bout of writer's block, so I interviewed several popular authors like Janet Evanovich and Diana Gabaldon. I asked them how they dealt with writer's block, then I wrote an article on the subject for Writer's Digest magazine.

Most of the authors I interviewed confessed to having suffered from a creative block at sometime throughout their career. One, however, said, "A true writer never suffers writers block."

I thought that answer rather harsh. Now, years later, I sorta get it - even if I don't completely agree with it.

The times I have struggled with a block have been because I haven't properly prepared. That is, I haven't given myself a road map for where I want to go with my story. First, I start with my character. Who is she/he? What are their goals and motivations? Conflict comes later, for me. I then boil my character down to two descriptive words: scarred orphan (Arabella, my heroine in Redemption). I do this with each of my characters. Then, each time I am going to write a scene, I think of those two words. How would a scarred orphan react in this scene?

Finally, I like to have a rough outline of where I am going - chapter by chapter. I try to follow it.

If I don't have those things, I really struggle. So, to avoid the dreaded block, I work out my characters first and my scenes second.

I hope that helps.

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