Fighting Fictional Writer's Block


     Have you ever had to write a paper for some course but have no ideas? Or maybe you desire to draft a story, but no creative juices are flowing. Writer’s block certainly has the power to devastate your schedule and mood. How? Well, who has time to sit down for over an hour attempting to pick some topic or think of some genius idea? Not many scholars, workers, or people in general. That also causes some amount of anger and possibly sadness. All in all, everyone wants to avoid writer’s block, but some don’t know how to find inspiration! Here are my top tips for fighting writer’s block and finding the right inspiration when composing a fictional piece…

1.      Pick a name you really like. I know, this seems too simple to work, but when you find a first and last name you really like, you can begin to give life to a character with much more ease. After that, it’s so much easier to decide what adventures he or she will undergo, taking into account his/her personality, friendships, family situations, etc. This is one of the tips that is so hard to explain but certainly proves helpful.

2.      Look around your room. Wait… what?!?! I know. It sounds so crazy, but I found out it works! For Christmas one year, my grandma gave me a gorgeous, green and gold colored turtle necklace. One day, it was sitting on my dresser, and when I walked past and saw it, an idea about a girl I had imagined (Stephanie Stone) popped into my head. From there, I crafted the storyline of my first book in the three part Green Turtle series. (Which, in case you’re wondering, has a bunch of unfinished books which are moving along at a slower, yet smooth, pace.) Moral of the story… you never know what objects, or even people, around you will help you craft an idea.

3.      Write about your life. If you read my songwriting tips article, you are probably familiar with my love of this idea. One of my stories has my family, friends, and me (all under different names) and is written from my perspective with my life events. My Green Turtle books contain some events from my life but from Stephanie’s perspective. So definitely, if you need some ideas, just examine your life. There are lots of great ideas there!

4.      Take a breather. Sometimes, we don’t like to do this because our schedules are so strict. However, going outside or just walking away from the computer or your pen and paper allows you to relax a little. Let’s face it: you can’t force good ideas. Stressing isn’t going to help either. Get up and go do something else. Get your heart-rate up. New ideas will come a lot quicker if you do.

5.      Enjoy what you’re doing! If you’re really not devoted your piece 100%, you won’t do well on it. Now, I don’t mean you take everything else out of your life just to write. Not at all. I mean that you need to actually enjoy your writing so much so that you want to put all the effort you can spare into it. Think about it another way: if you enjoy what you’re doing, it makes all the work for it totally worth it! And that makes you want to smile, right? ;)

     What are YOUR favorite tips? Feel free to leave them in the comments!!
     I hope you enjoyed this post! Keep a lookout for the next post, “The Rock and Blues of a Large Family.”
     If you have any topics you want to see me write about, please leave them in the comments below.

Comments

  1. Charlotte DoranApril 18, 2016 at 12:49 PM

    Wow! Love this post, Abby! I'm totally going to read this again whenever I have writer's block. Sharing this with the girls! Love you! Thanks for the post!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anna BraganApril 18, 2016 at 4:46 PM

    Good post! I really love your blog! :) (I'm Charlotte's friend)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abigail CurranApril 18, 2016 at 5:34 PM

      Thank you so much! I really enjoy your work as well. :)

      Delete

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