There are several things that you can try to overcome writer’s block.

Just Start

Sometimes just starting with something is a good path. It may not be good or perfect, but it does get you into a flow. Revising can come much later. You may write it and choose to change it, but at least you are doing something.

Change locations

Change up your writing routine. If you write in your bedroom, go outdoors. Or go to the local coffee shop. Change your scenery around you to spark some new ideas.

Change the outline

Change up your outline. Or outline just that one section. For example, I may want to create an outline for an entire scene by detailing what happens when. Describe setting. Give reason why they are in that setting. Give the details of what happens in a minute-by-minute and play-by-play commentary.

Writer’s block doesn’t have to be an issue. Just get creative with how you deal with it.

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Future Ideas

Sometimes the writing isn’t completely useless. Sometimes you can use the writing for future ideas. Take the writing apart and choose what you can use. Just because you have characters, settings, etc. in a text doesn’t mean that you can glean inspiration from it.

For example, I have a piece of writing that I started 15 years ago. I didn’t delete it, because there is a scene where the character is watching a storm rolling in across a field and she compares it to the storm that is happening in her life. Now, my story didn’t go anywhere, but this piece of prose is excellent writing. I remember thinking about it and writing it down to go with a story I had about domestic violence. That story didn’t pan out, but that scene did. In fact, I used it in another story because the imagery was so powerful.

Reviving a stalled piece

If your story suddenly stops because you have no idea how you wrote yourself into a corner, then maybe it is time to sit down with your characters. When I wrote Romancing Mr. All-Star, I ran into a similar situation. No matter how hard I tried to follow my outline, it just wasn’t happening. I couldn’t get the story to go forward.

Instead of abandoning my story, I changed course. What would happen if he couldn’t meet with his girlfriend to make things right because she was in an accident on her way to meet him or vice versa. I’m convinced that this sudden thrust of unforeseen circumstanced is why Game of Thrones has so many killed off characters. Inserting a new conflict or obstacles is a good way to determine how your characters are going to respond. In my situation, I decided to put that into the book. Yes, it may mean extra writing that never sees the light of day, but sometimes you find something that works well with your book.

Revisit your outline

If you story stalls and you can’t connect one scene to the next, then maybe you need to revisit your outline. Much like the advice above, this involves the addition of something new. Maybe you need one or two more scenes to get you to the next? Examine your outline and determine the next steps to take. Do you need an additional scene. Do you need to change perspective?

Even if I can create a loose outline that allows me to know the direction, sometimes I have to examine it closely to determine if there needs to be some roadblocks or change ups in the outline. These days I know how to input more between the big ideas, but when I first started, I had to be detailed when it came to my outline. I laid out each chapter scene-by-scene. If I struggle too much, I may go back to that until the story can easily flow again.

Writing that I started and stopped are generally treated this way if I want to revive them. I will go back and look at them to determine if I need to revise or even recreate an outline. Sometimes this is enough to shake the cobwebs loose from the writing and allow me to complete something that I thought was useless. I don’t lose all the time I already have invested in a piece of writing.

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Developing characters when I’m writing utilizes a system that I learned when reading a book a long time ago. It was to create a note card with the information for each of your characters. This is something that you can refer back to multiple times as you are writing.

A huge issue is when there is a discrepancy between what happens at the beginning to what happens later. Eye colors change. Hair colors change. Name and name spelling changes. Yes. I’ve seen all of these in books that I have read recently. The way to solve this is to have it clarified at the beginning. As soon as you are creating these characters.

Create a template that you can use that keeps track of all of the pertinent information. Then use it.

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When you begin your writing, it is best to go into it with a plan. Last week I talked about using tropes to help plan, develop, and expand your writing. What I didn’t mention in that article is that you also need to plan it out and outline your writing.

This planning stage of outlining has helped me speed up my writing process. Prior to this new way, I utilized James Patterson’s method of having every chapter be a scene and jotting down what will happen in that scene. This is a good method, but at the same time, it doesn’t provide the why that I didn’t realize I needed. In this case, the why provides the character arc.

When I went in search of a book that felt would help me develop my characters into richer, deeper characters, I found several that were helpful in doing this. In fact, I even utilized Gwen Hayes’ book Romancing the Beats to create my latest book, Romancing Mr. All-Star. Using her method that she gives in the book, I created an outline template I could use for writing Romance books.

At one time, I simply used the whole plot diagram to create my books where you have an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. This was great, but it lacked thoroughly developed characters. You need those characters to live and breathe to the point they almost step out of the pages. You want your reader to pull for them. You want your reader to know them intimately and personally. In the end, it’s not the plot that the reader remembers. It’s the characters.

The book that helped me understand this dynamic was John S. Warner’s book The Secrets to Creating Character Arcs. This book helped me to understand character development in context to the plot outline. Prior to this, I wasn’t fully thinking about how the conflicts and incidents in the story affected the character. I went into writing assuming that my character was brave and bold, but the inner conflicts didn’t resonate or were missing. The character didn’t change due to the circumstances in the plot. That’s where learning about character arcs came into play.

Well, aren’t you an ELA teacher?

While I do teach ELA to middle school students, character arcs are something that we teach to high school and college students. In middle school, we teach how to identify a character’s traits, but we don’t delve into the why behind the change. We talk about dynamic characters, but not in terms of the character arc (which is the character’s journey). Warner explains it like you have several plot lines overlapping one another. One’s arc may end before the climax of the story. Another character in the same story may reach the end of their arc after the climax. These outlines all overlap one another. I suppose that is why after reading Warner’s book, Hayes’ book made me understand why I had to hit certain beats (goals) in my writing.

Overall, when you begin to plan out your writing, you should definitely take into consideration your character’s own journey in the story line. Paying attention to how they will change throughout the story and who will change them can help you build a better outline for your book or story.

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The use of tropes can be a lifesaver when you need to develop your characters. If you have a damsel in distress, they will probably find themselves in difficult predicaments. Things may befall them where they are in constant need of rescuing, and the hero will have to step in multiple times to save them.

Tropes can also be used to plan the setting of your story. If the character is on a journey, they may go to different settings. Maybe it is one specific setting: a vacation. Think along the lines of National Lampoon’s Vacation. The Griswold family encounters many things on their journey to their favorite theme park.

Utilize tropes creatively, or just use them to plan out your story when you are stuck for ideas of what to write about.

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One thing that I’ve done lately has been to go back and reread some books that are currently in the genre in which I am writing. Each time I’ve reread the books, I have made sure to pay attention to specific details. My first pass at a series was to see the connections among each book within the series. Another pass was to pay attention to setting. Another pass was on dialogue.

Reading, along with your writing, can provide you with the tools that you need to write better. Not only will it enhance your vocabulary, but reading will keep the creative juices flowing.

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If you’ve worked hard on your book, you may want the perfect professional book cover. However, sometimes that is a price that is way out of your budget.

When I first started out, I had to learn how to utilize Adobe Photoshop to my advantage. It wasn’t exactly perfection, but I did learn over time how to turn photos I found on the internet or those I took myself, into what I envisioned for my book cover.

For example, for Operation: Containment I used a picture I took of my son when we were traveling in the mountains. He was the inspiration for my character, after all. I superimposed that over the top of a picture I took on my front porch of the moon. It took me 5 nights to get the right picture and I still had to add in extra cloud cover. It was a lot of work. But that was the perfect book cover. It fit the mood of the book.

Even then it was a lot of work.

Now a days, there are a lot of places to go to when choosing royalty free pictures, because I don’t always have the perfect picture in my camera roll. My favorite website is Unsplash. You can do a search to find your pictures. Just note that there is a limit unless you join their plus program. I never needed the plus program because I never went over my limit and gave credit to the photographer in my book.

Pair your picture with Canva’s templates for book covers and you have an easy solution to creating a book cover for your self-published book. Canva has many different types of templates that you can use. I do recommend their pro version, only because you have access to many of their illustrations and pictures as well. Plus, you will have a wider selection of fonts.

Book covers don’t have to be difficult or something that you need to hire out. I strongly suggest giving Canva a chance. If you don’t enjoy it, you don’t have to use it, but you never know. I didn’t think I’d enjoy the creative process of it as much as I did until I started.

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I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve sat down with students and discussed their writing just to reveal to them that they have no real story. It seems real to them. They gave details. However, at the end of their story, there is no great resolve or relief. It is simply words on paper detailing boring points that lead nowhere.

Conflict must happen. Action begins with the first conflict that leads to the next and the next and the next… until the character reaches a turning point. They get what they want or they don’t. They live or they die. Something big is about to happen, and once that something happens, all excitement falls to a resolution that feels natural. No more cliffhangers leaving us on the edge of our seat. As a reader, we may want more of that character, but we are left feeling satisfied with the ending.

Conflict, depending on the genre, can come in many varying degrees. Misunderstandings in a romance. Who is the killer in a mystery. Maybe the conflict is much deeper and they are battling themselves and their own insecurities. Or perhaps, they are battling against the chains of society that keeps holding them back because of race or economic reasons.

When planning out your novel, think about that main conflict and all of the conflicts in between. How can you show those conflicts? Plan it out clearly. Include it in your outline. Then write it out.

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Point of view in a story is very similar. Out of your characters, the story will be told differently based on who is telling it. A first person point of view told through the eyes of one character will see their world based on what they can observe. It can be biased depending on the situation, but the fact will remain that the view point will be limited. The same thing goes for a 3rd person limited omniscience. While an omniscient narrator has a larger view point, it is still only limited to that one character, unlike a 3rd person omniscient narrator who knows all the ins-and-outs of everything that is happening in the story.

Think of Point of View like a camera angle. Our 1st person POV is going to be close to the character seeing everything through their eyes. We have more of their inner thoughts as they try to navigate the world around them. This can do one of two things. It can either bring the reader closer to the character or it cause the reader to question the character’s motives. With a 3rd person limited POV, we are above the character with a little more of a view of their life and what is happening around them. While everything is still focused on that character, we get to see them interact with everything from the inside. And the 3d person omniscient POV is where that camera can jump around from character to character and show us everything that is happening in the story.

The biggest thing to remember when it comes to POV is to choose one and stick with it. If you must follow every character in the story, choose a character per chapter. Not all over the place. Following every character in the story for every chapter can be too much. Your reader will never develop a bond with a character. The emotional bond is part of the reading experience. While we may recall a story, most of the time, it is the character that makes it memorable for us in the journey of reading.

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The downside to this is that if you have many scenes, you will have many chapters. However, organizing your book this way means that you can create an outline that specifically states the scene, so if you become lost on what you need to write, you can refer to your outline and know exactly what you are writing about at the time. This also provides you a way to jump around in your book and write various scenes if you know what you want to write about for a particular scene.

Another technique is to write about a specific event per chapter. Think of this much like J.K. Rowling’s style of titling the chapter and ending the chapter with that event. By doing it this way, you can include several scenes that lead up to the big event of the chapter.

Either way that you choose to write out your chapters, make sure that you are consistent throughout the book. If you name your chapter by the big Ah-Ha within the chapter, your reader will expect that each time they come to a new chapter in your book. They will begin to anticipate what will come next and question why the chapter is titled as such. When writing Young Adult and Middle Grader novels, this is an excellent way to provide them with a purpose for reading the next chapter. They have a question in their mind as to why they are reading. They want to know what is going to happen next, or what the author means by “X” when they haven’t mentioned it before.

Play around with the ideas above. Try out the two and tell me what you think in the comments below. Out of the two different methods above, I do prefer Patterson’s method over Rowling’s. Writing in the smaller chunks of scenes per chapter gives me a sense of accomplishment when I finish a scene, even if the scene is a small one.

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