A writers guide: Overcoming Writers Block.

Writer’s block. It’s one of the worst things to exist, and it’s honestly really frustrating. Because you know you enjoy writing and you have all these ideas but you just can’t put it into paper. 

Don’t worry you’re not alone, almost all writer’s experience writers block at least once in their writing journey. We can talk about the struggles with writer's block all day, but instead I’m going to give you tips and tricks of how to overcome writer's block. 

DISCLAIMER: I’ve personally used all of these and they have worked for me, but everyone is different. Something that worked for me may not work for you too! But I’m very sure that if you put it into practice these tips could definitely work for you. 

1 . listening to podcasts

I don’t know what it is about podcasts, but every single time I listen to them It ALWAYS gives me inspiration to write!! There’s two podcasts I always listen to, one not writing related one, and another one that’s writing related. I’d recommend finding two (or more) ones that you can listen to that takes you away from writing, and then another one that brings you back INTO writing! The writing related podcast I listen to is, the writing with ana nue podcast, on that podcast she talks about her own writing projects and tips and tricks! The second podcast I listen to is The that girl guide podcast. It's a non-writing related podcast that talks about so many different topics!! Listening to a podcast that isn’t about writing makes me be able to take a break from thinking about writing, which is needed a lot of times!

2. Reading a book of the genre you’re writing in

So for example, if the book I’m working on is a mystery book, I’ll search up a list of mystery books and read one, or I’ll just re read my favourite mystery book! In doing this, you can get inspiration for your own book! The only caveat to this tip is that people tend to just take things from a book, rather than just taking inspiration from the book. So if you are using this tip make sure to find that fine line!

3. Skip the scene you’re stuck on and move to the next one.

This tip only works if you’ve already planned the book and the scenes prior!! If you have then this tip is really helpful. Sometimes when you’re struggling with writer's block it may not be the book as a whole that’s making it hard to write, it may just be that particular scene you’re writing! So if you’re feeling stuck it may be because that scene isn’t working at that time, so just move on to another one, then come back to that scene later. I’ve done this NUMEROUS times and it really has helped tremendously!

4. Making a music playlist!! (More in depth but making a music playlist based on characters or even scenes you're writing at the moment)

Although it takes time, (and lots of space on your phone) making MULTIPLE music playlists based on each character and each relationship and different scenes is extremely helpful! For my projects I make a few playlists based on the artists and songs I think a character from my book would listen to and then when I’m writing a scene that’s mainly about that character I play ‘their’ music playlist and it helps me be able to write that scene. Or even if there’s one scene in particular that you’re struggling with, gather songs that capture the essence of that scene and listen to it either before you write or as you’re writing!! Another thing I LOVE doing is making song playlists based on the friendships/love interests in my book! So that when I’m writing a scene that focuses on those characters I’ll listen to the song playlist! And 9/10 times it works really well

5. Take a break from writing!!

Sometimes you just need to step back from your writing project and do something else (preferably something that has nothing to do with writing!) Maybe this would be a good time to expand on your other hobbies! What I do is I either knit, journal or paint because outside of writing those are the things I like doing!!

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To conclude, I’ve given you five tips that you can use to help overcome writer's block! These are tips that I've been using all my life; that being said, it may not work for everyone! Which is fine!