Have you ever been hopelessly stuck on a creative project? I sure have. For all the times I bragged about how I never got writer’s block, I’ve sure endured it enough times now to be sick of it. It’s such a frustrating feeling, KNOWING you want to create and yet feeling stymied by your own brain.

While blundering about trying to solve my latest writer’s block, I found an unexpected solution–try writing something completely different. Think it sounds crazy? I did, too, until it worked for me.

Writer’s Block from Heck–but Just on My Novel

I had been spinning my mental tires for nearly a month on my novel. I felt increasingly silly about continuing to write it; I was beginning to lose faith in my ability to write it, and in the strength of the novel’s themes and ideas itself. Some days, I couldn’t even bring myself to open the file.

But, it seemed, I was perfectly able to do other creative stuff…like the hilariously teenagerish fanfiction story that was simply busting to come out of my head. It was like a hyperactive bunny in my brain–it would not leave me alone. I resisted working on it for a while because I wanted to use that awesome energy to write my novel…except that the hyperactive energy all drained away when I tried to work on my novel. I had no idea why this was happening; I was bewildered.

Last Resort: An Unusual Writing Binge

Finally, I began to write the fanfic instead, feeling guilty all the while–but it was like eating a bag of chocolates after a month of trying to force veggies down my throat. The fanfic progressed by leaps and bounds, in the way that my novel had in the early days; it was exhilarating. I hadn’t written like that in what felt like years.

Eventually (about 40 PAGES in!), I came to a point in the fanfic where I wrote a character development piece similar to one I had done in my own novel. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just plagiarizing myself or falling back on a cliche, so I went back, found the similar development in my novel file, and started reading.

…And reading. …And reading. Page by page, I began to fall back in love with my own novel.

Wait, What Just Happened Here?

It was an “OMG!” moment, a “Eureka!” moment. It was like I was rediscovering why my novel was awesome all over again. What I had effectively done was to take my brain out of the infinite loop of “gotta write this novel–ugh, I’m afraid this novel stinks–gotta write this anyway,” simply by focusing on a completely different creative project. The fanfic, as crazy and silly as it was, was also so very different in scope that it allowed the “noveling” part of my brain to shut down and restart.

Letting my brain go wild and write what it so desperately wanted to write (even if I had first deemed the project “not worth my creative time”) was the key. It got me writing again, after being horribly stuck. Like being towed from a muddy ditch, I emerged from my month-long struggle quite disheveled, but ready to go on the novel again. It just took remembering that yes, I COULD write well, and no, writing did NOT have to be an uphill battle.

The Moral of This “Novel” Story…

…If you’re absolutely stuck on one creative project, it is not a sin to start another one. Do whatever you can to get the treads of your creative mind running again!

Another week, and another almost-week of stalling in my novel. I went without writing in it for a month, kept away by illness and real life issues, and just flat not feeling like “writing.” Meanwhile, I kept staring at my to-do list, which did admittedly get smaller and smaller as the week went on.

What was wrong with me? I wondered. How am I able to get all this real-life stuff accomplished, but can’t be bothered to open a simple file and edit anything?

THEN…then I took a look at my to-do list, and had an epiphany.

My To-Do List: Before

just a sample to-do list, but it illustrates my point

Everything else I had written out to do was specific–for instance, on “Monday”, it says to write a post about HTML5 and clean off bathroom countertops, and on Wednesday, it says to make notes on the Sunday School lesson for the week and mop the kitchen floor.

But for my novel? All it said was the vague instruction of “write 1,000 words”. No other clues, no real indication as to where the story was to go next…NOTHING.

I had gone to the trouble of writing in time to novel on my to-do list, but I had not made it a specific goal. Nor had I left myself any clues or seeds of ideas to build off of. Therefore, I was continually baffled as to what to do next, making it harder and harder to write.

So, instead of making a detailed entry in my everyday to-do list, I made out a whole new to-do list, just for my novel.

My Separate Novel-List

generic sample novel-list because the actual plot is under wraps 😛

This is an example of the specific to-do list I’m talking about. With this, you’re making an outline of your book before you write it, kind of like our teachers wanted us to write outlines before we wrote our papers in school (and we wrote the outlines after writing the paper, right? *wink*).

With my specific to-do list, I’ve mapped out exactly where the story is supposed to go, almost like a diary entry of each “day” in the novel. And I’ve already been able to go a little further ahead in my story, where I had been stuck for a month before. Even though I still may get stuck, and it still may be slow going, at least I’ll be going!

Summary

If you’re currently working on any creative project, and you know where you’d LIKE it to go but can’t seem to get inspiration, try a to-do list like this, mapping out the way for yourself. Seeing it all planned out visually, like an itinerary for your project, may just spur you on!

Sometimes…*sigh* ideas just don’t come out of your pen (or flow from your fingertips into the computer keyboard) as easily as you might wish. Sometimes, you sit for hours trying to write; sometimes, you even bore yourself with the text you’re producing. Like the scene I’d been trying to write for the last six weeks in my novel: true, my computer’s been out of commission and I’m trying not to hog the family computer, but I found myself at a loss as to how to go on with the scene. It was stuck in dreary mundane details, and yet I felt I simply HAD to write those details in order to explain the scene properly.

I’m sure, as writers, we all face that type of difficulty–it’s not exactly writer’s block, but it’s something akin to hating what you’re producing and not understanding how to proceed. But how do we get around it?

…How about actually trying to DO the event you’re writing about?

Sounds novel (pardon the pun), and maybe a little strange. “You mean I should act out what I have the character doing?” No, not just acting it out–actually get up from what you’re writing and change your activity. If you’re writing a cooking scene, get up and whip something up in the kitchen, even if you’re only a master of the microwave. Being in the kitchen, preparing the food, smelling it cooking, can jog your senses and remind you of what’s really important in the scene. What scents arise from the food in your story? Are they pleasant or repulsive to your character? If they’re actively involved in cooking, how does the process of cooking feel to them (are they slaving over a hot stove, etc.)?

What about an action scene? Well, if you’re not afraid of knocking over priceless artifacts in your home, you can try out some of the kicks, punches, and dodges you’ve scripted for your character. See if that Chuck-Norris-esque roundhouse kick works for your character to do, or if it’s simply too awesome for your novice fighter to try at this point. And if you can’t do the motion for yourself, try watching some videos or asking knowledgeable friends. If you’re working with an unfamiliar weapon in your story, research is especially important, so you know the “proper” way the weapon is held, how it is used in combat, etc.

The point of engaging with your story’s events in a physical way is to pull yourself out of the mental rut you’ve gotten yourself into. If you’re this stuck on a story, something’s got to change, and actively trying out the event you’re writing could reveal just what it is about the event that is bothering you.

In my novel, for instance, the part of the story that dragged was a “packing up and leaving” scene; I tried tidying up my cluttered mess of a room to try to reproduce the event, and found that I was not writing about the FEELING of packing up–the feel of the items passing through my hands as I packed them, the heaviness of the bags in my hands and looped around my arms. The event felt dead to me because there was no physical sensation involved in the telling of the event. Once I added some sensory elements, the event of packing up came alive; it felt more involved than ever, and no longer was I so bored that I wanted to cry while reading the paragraph. It was a small change, but it helped get me over a hurdle!

Summary

Doing what you’re writing about can help you keep your interest in the story, as well as lend some real-life experience and sensory elements to your scene. While you might weird a few people out (especially if you try out that roundhouse kick in public), you’ll be doing yourself a favor if the act gets you out of sitting fruitlessly at your computer for hours!