Julia Strong asked Scott Hawkins:

what do you do if you have a writers block?

Scott Hawkins Hi Julia,

Well, it varies. A lot of times writer's block is your subconscious trying to tell you that you're working on the wrong thing. So I think "go work on something else" is usually the best approach. Sometimes it'll come to you later, sometimes it's just a bad idea to begin with.

I've also found that it's easier to prevent writer's block than cure it. To that end, I try to plan out what I'm going to be working on at least a day in advance. I think it over when I'm lying in bed, or whatever, make little notes... I've found that if I have a good idea what I'm going to be working on that day when I get up in the morning, things tend to go pretty smooth. Otherwise you're kind of rolling the dice.

I also write quite a bit of stuff that I throw away--maybe 2/3 of what I write gets cut for one reason or another. I do multiple versions of most scenes, from different points of view or whatever. Most of them get cut. Knowing that makes it a lot easier to just slap stuff on the page and see what sticks--if I was trying to do final draft level stuff every time I sat down at the keyboard I'd probably freeze up.

If I get stuck in the middle of a scene, a little bit of exercise does seem to help me--nothing ridiculously tiring, just enough to work up a small sweat.

Also, coffee.

Scott

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