Goodreads asked Chris Raiin:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Chris Raiin My preferred technique is to write questions until the block gives way. For example, as I'm plotting a story, I might run into a block about what happens next or how to link one event to another. So, I'll write out my question on the page, right where I left off with plotting. Two questions from yesterday's writing were about backstory. I wrote, "What's the adventure? Why are they immortalized?" Without noticing it, I began answering the questions in the next paragraph of notes. Asking questions *and writing them down* does two things. First, it keeps me working--literally, it keeps me writing. Second, it helps me crystallize the *exact* issue I'm having. Some of my story prep notes have two or three lines full of questions, where each question is more specific than the last. Writing them out lets me see my train of thought, adding visual aid to my own mental processes. Most of the time, this method unblocks the block almost instantly. Other times, I finally figure out the question, and then I stop for the night. Now that I know the question, I let my subconscious work on it overnight and I begin the next day's writing by answering it. I get over writer's block by actively thinking--by writing out my questions until the question is clear and the answer flows from it. Oh, and long walks alone in the sunlight help, too.

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