Goodreads asked Rafael:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Rafael It depends on how one defines writer's block. It can either mean you don't know what to write next, or you don't know what to write at all. Let me address the second one first.

If you want to write a novel and no idea for a central premise or an overall concept is forthcoming, the short answer is, that's a problem. The shopworn cliché, write what you know, is just that, a cliché. And if what you know is not very interesting or known by a million others, you're in danger of writing a dull novel. Besides, only non-fiction types should write what they know. If you're a fiction writer, why would you shackle your imagination like that??

But if you really, really want to write, my suggestion is live life. It's not essential that you satisfy your urge to write, right now. Explore life. Make new friends. Especially ones who don't live next door or look, talk, and act like you. If they do, you're in a staid, predictable, rut. Not learning, not growing. Travel somewhere and not to the local beach or park. For starters, make it 500 miles away. Better still 1,000. Get out of your routine existence and see how others live. Once you're exposed to how different people view the world and its problems, you'll be amazed what it does to the creative process.

And while you're traveling, LOOK around you. What's new? What's strange? What's unimagined? Then investigate it. What is actually going on is you're reducing curiosity to a practical exercise. A curious mind is constantly inspired with new and novel ideas. And these will find their way into your stories.

And finally, read, read, read. Make novels the exception. Explore the world through newspapers, editorials, essays, blogs, non-fiction, magazines. Every one of the writers in these venues presents a different way of thinking and viewing the world. And you never know when a topic they're expounding on will inspire a concept for your novel.

As for not knowing what to write next, this one is easy. Writing is not simply making words appear on a computer screen. If you're at the end of a sentence, or even a paragraph, and don't know what to write next, STOP !! Get up and fix the bed, sweep the floor, wash the dishes, inflate your tires, change the oil. Do anything that doesn't require a lot of thought or any activity you've reduced to mindless habit. The walk/drive/bus/train to work. The elevator going up. That infernally boring meeting. And all the while, ask yourself, "What happens next?" Not the next paragraph or the next chapter but what happens immediately following the last written sentence. If an answer doesn't come, keep working. Before you finish the task, an answer will come. When it does, don't stop working though. Mentally edit the sentence. Rework it. Revise it. Improve it. Often a better sentence will arise. But if not, keep working. One will.

And if it takes a day, or two, or three, remember this: you are writing!!! As I said, writing is not just you in font of a computer screen. Whatever the life routine you're engaged in, keep the question in the back of your mind. What happens next? All the time you're analyzing, considering, discarding, editing, revising, you are writing. When the answer does come, stop what you're doing, return to the computer, and add it in. Very often you'll find whole paragraphs and pages will flow.

If you ask the question consistently two benefits will result: one later, one now. Ultimately by asking, 'What happens next?', you will arrive at The End, and your novel will be a tightly integrated, sequentially coherent whole.

The immediate benefit, however, your chores will be done!!

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