hot tip: there’s a lot you can do to make productive use of your time when you find you’re having trouble writing.
i think a lot of young writers get down on themselves when they sit down to write and then hours go by and they can’t get a single word down. one of the best pieces of advice i got from my creative writing teachers over the years is that a lot of the ways you get better as a writer happen when you’re not writing.
so here’s a list of productive things to do when you’re blocked:
go read. seriously. just close the word doc and pick up a book. it’s cliche advice but reading other writers really does make you a better writer. it exposes you to unique vocabulary, narrative devices, writing styles, sentence structures, genres, plot structures, so many different tools that are important for diversifying your writing and making it better.
get into journaling. i recommend journaling to everyone i know, but if you’re a writer i really do think it’s a useful thing to try. doesn’t have to be every day. journaling for you could be just having a notebook on hand that you pick up whenever you have a stray thought. but thoughts lead to ideas which lead to concepts, plots, characters, lines of dialogue, and sometimes entire stories. plus, i find it’s easier to write a stream of consciousness than to write an actual piece. so if a piece of writing is giving you trouble, pick up your journal and just write about what’s bothering you and what’s in your head.
it’s also good to sometimes flip through these every so often if you’re seriously blocked. you’d be surprised what gems you write down when it’s 2am and you’re feeling a little listless.
organize your WIPs. this was one the best things i’ve ever done. remember all of those old WIPs you never did anything with? don’t throw them out! create an organizational system for them. personally, i like to organize them by prose/short fiction/long fiction/essays and then by subject matter since it’s easier for me to find that way. it’ll make them easier for you to go through when you’re blocked. and even if they don’t end up becoming full pieces, there are a lot of cool ways you can use WIPs for writing exercises.
a cool one i do is that i randomly pick two WIPs that have nothing to do with each other (i.e. a personal essay about sexuality and a short story about a witch living in the city) and find a way to marry them together (i.e. a witch living in the city whose magic starts becoming unstable as she starts questioning her sexuality).
chill with other writers. if you don’t have a network of friends who are writers/creatives, go to tumblr and reach out to some of your fic/artist friends. honestly, some of the best ideas i’ve gotten have come from discord DMs where my friends and i are either riffing off of each other or coincidentally talking about something that sparks an idea. hitting your group chats isn’t a waste of time or a method of procrastination. might actually be the first step before hitting a goldmine.
re-read old comments/critiques. i always go back and read old critiques from college workshops or even go back and read some old ao3 comments. it’s a good way to refamiliarize yourself with what you do well and what you need to improve on. sometimes i’ll pull up old WIPs and give them to friends to take a look at. even if it’s rough, it’s always good to get used to getting comments/feedback and keeping track of those. you should always have a list in your head of what you plan to work on/keep an eye on as you write.
read books on writing. if you’ve ever taken a formal writing workshop/class, you’ll notice that your instructor – in addition to giving you writing assignments/exercises – makes you read about how to write. you gotta read books on how to write. think of it like playing the piano. you can practice for 7 hours a day, but if you don’t understand any of the theory you’re not gonna get any better. same goes with writing. when i’m blocked, i pick up stephen king’s “on writing” and skip to my favorite sections. it’s always a good move to get advice from seasoned writers who have been there done that, and personally when i read some really good advice, it inspires me to put it into practice.
don’t ever feel bad for sitting at your computer for hours with no words down or going a week having only written 100 words. writer’s block happens. don’t let it paralyze you. go out and hone your craft. that’s never going to be a waste of your time.
stormborns
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