Writing Advice that Will Save You from Crying over Chapter 3 Again
☽ Sometimes “writer’s block” is actually just your story being broken and your brain knowing before you do. Respect the vibes, go back. Something stinks.
☽ If you’re stuck in the middle, skip to the part you’re excited to write. Chronological writing is a suggestion, not a law.
☽ “Kill your darlings” is not about deleting every cool thing you love. It’s about not hoarding scenes like a dragon with dialogue you wrote in 2017 that doesn’t even make sense anymore.
☽ You do not need to write like your favorite author. You need to write like you, caffeinated and slightly unstable.
☽ Talking to yourself in the mirror as your character is not weird. It’s called method writing. You’re not unhinged, you’re dedicated.
☽ Aesthetic Pinterest boards and playlists are writing progress if they make you feel like a god again.
☽ You can write the climax before you finish Act 1. You can rewrite Chapter 1 thirty times and then delete it anyway. You’re not behind, you’re in hell with the rest of us.
You’re allowed to write stuff that’s not “marketable.” You’re allowed to be weird. Write the story that would make you feel seen. The niche finds its freaks.
☽ Beta readers are not gods. Take what resonates, ignore what doesn’t. If five people say your story drags at Chapter 8? Maybe listen. If one person says “make it all about the dog,” maybe don’t.
As a professional author, cosigning all of this 1000000%, especially that first point that "writer's block" is sometimes your brain knowing something is broken.
It took me SO FUCKING LONG to learn what that reaction looks/feels like in my mind and body (for example: exasperated boredom of the story, generalized feeling of resentment and peevishness at myself, existential despair every time i look at the document, physical exhaustion or a vague weighty feeling like I'm carrying something heavy, or even just a vibe of "mehhhh don't really feel like it" that goes on longer than a couple days). Once I learned to recognize those signs and translate them to "Oh, did I fuck up four paragraphs ago? Whoops, I sure did!!!", my quality-of-life and my writing output (and my joy in the work) improved DRAMATICALLY.
Almost everything above is right on.
Also: in my experience, anyway, “writer’s block” isn’t really the writer’s: it’s a character’s. Somewhere there’s usually a conversation—with another character, with you, with the plot—that a significant character is trying to avoid having. (Or that you haven’t worked out that they need to have before the writing can continue.) Go find out what that conversation is, and have it, and the “block” will evaporate.
