Curing Writer's Block
My thoughts on beating an author's most persistent nemesis
Writer’s block.
These are the two most dreaded words in the English language for an author. You can’t avoid falling into this pit either. If writer’s block were a cold virus, every author would catch the strain.
Coming down with a case of writer’s block doesn’t need to equal a death sentence for your story. Armed with the proper tools, you can blast a hole through writer’s block and resume bringing your story to life.
Panster vs Plotter
No two authors approach crafting a story in the same way. This is reflected in the ongoing debate between plotters versus pantsers within the writing community.
Plotters map out a story before ever writing a single sentence of their first draft. A plotter will create complete character backstories, histories, and intricate plot outlines to guide their progress. A pantser basically writes by the seat of their pants. They start writing and jot down whatever pops into their head onto paper.
Pros and cons exist with both approaches.
Plotters have a simpler time keeping a consistent narrative and are able to weave a deeper backstory into the main plot and key subplots. Taken too far, though, plotting will stifle creativity if your characters aren’t allowed to deviate from a predestined road map.
Pantsers enjoy more creative freedom in exploring unexpected twists and turns in character and plot. They are also more prone to running into a narrative dead-end or create a chaotic mess of a story populated by inconsistent and poorly developed characters and littered with plot holes.
Preparation Fuels Inspiration
One simple solution is to take a middle ground approach as a plantser. Writers who are plantsers combine elements from both plotters and pantsers. They take an organized approach in forming a story but also allow themselves enough room to let the plot and characters travel in new creative directions as needed.
I employ a plantser approach to my fiction. With every novel I write, I create extensive character sketches and compose chapter by chapter outlines. I’ll even jot down a few random scenes and snippets of dialogue I want to include later. Once I start composing actual rough drafts, and subsequent drafts, I tend to deviate from my original plans in some scenes and chapters as the story unfolds. I’ll write out brand new chapters and new scenes through the beta reading and editing process and toss out material that doesn't work the way I first envisioned. Sometimes, as I did when I wrote Alien People a few years ago, I'll introduce brand new characters and cut old ones from the narrative completely because my ongoing story development takes me in unexpected directions.
Along the way, I slay the writer’s block monster. Crafting a tangible plan guides my creative energies and also stops me from hitting a dead end when pressures and deadlines associated with my day job as a sports journalist try to obstruct my path.
Writer’s block is easier to deal with when you immerse yourself in deep thought and create enough of a working blueprint to guide your story. Going back to those notes often sparks new ideas or helps you discover resolutions to problems within the narrative that didn’t occur to you before.
Never let writer’s block ever win its ongoing battle against your creativity.
The next time you are browsing for new stories to read, I highly recommend checking out The Storyletter Digital Bookstore to find your next book. It is hosted on Bookshop.org and offers a selection of quality fiction and nonfiction books curated by Winston Malone, publisher of Storyletter XPress Publishing and creator of The Storyletter newsletter here on Substack. This is an excellent way to support both your local bookstore and a newsletter which serves as a valuable resource for the writing community.
Thanks for the shoutout, John!! Writer’s block for me is usually when I feel like I’m being productive with other things like organization but procrastinating the actual writing process. Happens a few times a year for about a month before I can overcome it.
Never heard the expression "plantser" before, but I love it! That describes me perfectly. Seems like we get the best of both worlds, especially when it comes to those creative roadblocks.