The Quest to Defeat Writer's Block

Writer’s block is like the plague for writers. It thins down the ranks and separates the really determined from the plain lazy. And it sure as hell isn’t pleasant. Writer’s block sucks away your writing mojo, freezes up your writing hand and gives your imagination a palpitation. We, as writers, need to conquer writer’s block for the greater good of writing. Here are some quests you can embark on to achieve this magnificent goal.

Individuality!

1. Grab a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Sit down at your desk. Now, think about your writer’s block. Visualize it in your mind. What does it look like? Does it have legs? Arms? Is it human, monster or blob? Make sure to get all the details about your writer’s block, like the colour and shape. Then roughly draw it. I bet it looks evil. Now, give it a top hat and monocle, and don’t forget the funny looking moustache. Give it some cool socks and a grandma sweater. I bet it likes orange juice, so tip some on its head. Does it look scary now?

Tell me what your writer’s block looks like in the comment box below!

2. Write a journal. It’s actually a lot easier to write about things that have actually happened, so grab one of those cute notebooks you got for Christmas 3 years ago and haven’t used yet, sit down and write. Write about your day, write about how Larry met Susie and hooked up, write about how your mother’s cousin’s grandma’s annoying step-brother keeps poking you and grumbling. Just write. Don’t even worry about spelling, grammar or neatness. As long as you can read it, it’s great. Don’t judge yourself on it.

3. This one is very old, but it deserves to be mentioned. Free writing. Sit down with a book or keyboard, and just get down whatever comes into your head. Punctuation, spelling and grammar are a big no-no. You don't even need to use full stops. Just get some words down as they pop into your head. Even if it's just 'apple apple banana' repeated over and over again. It's just to loosen up your writing mind,

4. Use writing prompts. I have an entire hub about writing prompts that may help you out. Try here.

5. Alleviate all atrocious blocks actively using accurate alliteration. Trying to write whole sentences using alliteration can be a super-tough challenge, but it also stimulates your vocabulary. It takes a lot of effort to come up with a whole sentence-worth of words starting with the same letter. Exercise your brain, vanquish your block!

Teamwork!

1. Gather a group of 5 people or more. It still works with 2 or 3, but for best results the more the merrier. Sit in a circle. One person starts off a story with something like ‘once upon a time there was an (X)’, with X being a random thing or object of choice. The next person along in the circle continues with something like ‘and that (X) liked to play baseball. So one day’, then the next person would add a few words, and so on. It can be totally, utterly and completely random. That’s the whole point. This is perfect for getting those creative juices flowing, so you can vanquish your evil writer’s block.

2. Get a group of friends to sit in a row. Get a piece of paper, a pencil and something to lean them on. Then, the first person in the row draws the basic outline of a monster. The next person in line adds to the monster, maybe putting in eyes or teeth or other basic things, and then passes it on. Each person keeps adding more and more, until the person at the end of the line has to stand up and make up a story about the resulting monster. Bonus points for including reasons for each body part.

In the end, if you can’t defeat your writer’s block, leave it for a few days and try again with these exercises. If all else fails, try to determine the cause of your writer’s block. Many times it is because of insecurities, and feeling like your writing is not good enough. Let go of this, and then you can get back on track. Good luck!

Got any other cool exercises to do to get rid of writer’s block? Drop me a comment! I’ll be adding things to this list every few days, so keep checking back if you need more ideas.