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Goodreads asked Michael Hammersley:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Michael Hammersley That depends on how it manifests itself.

If I am working on a specific book and have difficulty imagining a scene, or how the pro/antagonists would relate to each other, I revisit the setting with a different sense. For example, if I can’t ‘see’ the outcome, I try to ‘hear’ it or ‘touch’ it and approach the problem from another viewpoint.

I also find it helps to read the work of a favourite author to clear my mind and enjoy a descriptive passage by someone I respect as a writer.

I have many ideas at the moment and the difficulty is keeping them apart. But if I find I am lacking direction, I like to walk away (sometimes, literally) from the problem and turn my mind to some other task, such as allowing an embryonic idea for another story to develop any which way it takes me.

As always, I keep that notebook handy to jot down anything that occurs to me.

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