Working Through Your Blocks

Sick of hearing others tell you to take time away from your manuscript? In this post, I share how not to force your way through your writing blocks, but to release the resistance that is causing them.

Have you ever told yourself, “I need to write this scene in order to continue my story,” yet you sit and procrastinate to do so?

Sometimes, it’s a case of being overworked, creatively spent or just tired. Usually, the advice we hear is to rest. When the time is right, we will be able to work again. And that advice works for a lot of people, but it definitely doesn’t work for me most of the time. So, if you’re like me and are tired of hearing the ‘rest’ advice, and you want to put something practical into action to work through this scene, I’m going to show you how to do it.

It happened to me just the other day. I knew the exact scene I needed to write in order to make progress in my story. I had it roughly outlined, but it was one of those days where every aspect of a scene was overwhelming to think about. For a while, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to happen, so I held off from writing it. Mind you, this wasn’t even a major scene. It was important, don’t get me wrong. But it wasn’t the climax or anything.

So here is how I worked through that mood:

QnA

Usually, when I am stuck staring at an empty page on my manuscript—watching the curser taunt me with its blinking—it means the outline of my next scene is too broad, and I need to focus it.

Perhaps this is what’s happening to you. Throw away the identity of ‘pantser’ or ‘plotter’ for a moment here, and see if this guide will help unblock your writing. So, grab a separate sheet of paper or open up a new Word document and ask yourself these questions with bullet-point answers:

Question One: What needs to happen in this scene in order to move the plot forward?

Here, you remind yourself of the conversations that need to take place, the POV character’s reactions, thoughts and feelings, plot points, what introductions need to be made, what needs to be revealed. You’re basically writing why this scene is necessary.

Question Two: What does my character desire in this scene and why? And/or, what are their opinions?

In every scene, the POV character must have a desire that drives them forward. It could even be unrelated to the direction you want to take the plot. For example, if you’re writing a romance, the character could desire to express how they feel to the love interest, but it turns out that the love interest is spotted being intimate with another person. Knowing a character’s desires and opinions will help you write their emotions authentically. It will help you enter their mind and see everything clearly from their current perspective, allowing you to empathise with their circumstances and convey them genuinely.

Question Three: Where are my characters?

Here, you can write down the setting. For example, my scene was in a ballroom, so I described room décor, candlelight, what characters were wearing . . . Anything visual of what my POV character would be seeing.

This question is what helps give you some idea of what is happening around your POV character so you don’t get lost in your mind’s eye. You have a clear and established setting—even though in dot-pointed answers—to keep you grounded in the surroundings of your character. It takes the pressure off coming up with new features and interactions to interject into the character’s observations because you can reference them from this list.

Question Four: What is the opposing force in this scene? Or, what is the major conflict in this scene?

In every scene, there should be a major conflict that is an obstacle in your character’s way. This is to keep intrigue, to convey the stakes, and even to elevate the pace of your story. Without conflict, a scene is boring. This doesn’t mean that there needs to be a battle every two seconds; conflict can be conveyed in many different ways. Conflict, in this sense, means anything that’s stopping the POV character from getting their way. Also, note that great conflict is always felt deeper when it directly impacts the POV character’s internal goals and insecurities.

After you’ve brainstormed your dot-pointed answers, you have a basic scene outline. You have a clearer vision as to what is going to happen next, allowing you to write with more direction. Remember, always write the ideas that make you the most excited about your story. Don’t include a scene just because it needs to be in there, but include it because it’s exciting to you and it’s necessary to the plot.

Now, pick one of the dot points to focus on. I started with a conversation because it was the easiest thing for me to pick and begin writing. I knew what I wanted my character to learn through it and what needed to happen after. I started with back-and-forth dialogue, meaning no insights or observations through the POV character were made. Just conversation. Once I wrote that down, I gained momentum and started including observations, thoughts and actions. From there, I continued writing, completely working through the block I had. It seems I just needed to gain some momentum.

Scene Feng Shui

If you need a little more than the above to work through your block, this step follows from the previous points of writing what excites you and visualising your scenes. I’ve found that if the scene in my mind isn’t exciting or visually interesting to me, I won’t feel motivated enough to write it with my usual vigour.

It’s like doing the Feng Shui for your scene. That is, moving around certain things in the setting, allowing a new energy to flow through the scene. Invite a new tone or ambience to it, and see if that new perspective shifts your excitement. And if you’re having a hard time visualising any of this, or coming up with something new, I always love to go to Pinterest. There are so many amazing digital artworks, mood boards, or even just pictures that can capture the scene you want to write but with an extra tone to them.

Once you’ve found a picture that resonates with you, look at it for a moment. Allow your imagination to run wild as you stare at what scene the image is depicting, and perhaps you will come up with something new you might want to add to your scene that makes it more exciting to you.

I emphasise finding what’s most exciting, not only to make the writing experience more enjoyable for you, but also for the readers. Readers know when the author wasn’t feeling a certain scene. If the scene was boring to read, that usually means it was boring for the author to write it. They can sense your energy as a hidden sub-context to your words. So, ensure you’re having fun so your readers can, too.

Writing Playlist Meditations

This step is similar to finding a picture, but instead, you’re captivating your senses and finding a musical playlist that fits the tone and emotion of your scene. You can search on YouTube, Spotify (here’s a link to my Spotify Writing Playlist in case you need a reference), or your own music, perhaps. I like to use instrumentals and soundtracks because I feel they evoke a lot more feeling and imagery within me, so select the type of songs that feel right for you.

Once you have found a particular song or playlist that fits the tone of your scene, I want you to sit up straight and close your eyes as if you were in a meditation and think of your scene. You already outlined it earlier; now let your imagination run away with you as the song/s plays. Do this for about five minutes or until the song finishes—whichever comes first. The point is to quiet your mind and only focus on the music. Allow it to take you inside your story and feel your way through. Embody your POV character, feel what they feel, see what they see.

You can do this without the music, of course, but the reason I do it with is that music is a powerful tool that invokes all your senses and deepens your imagination. It also drowns out the intrusive and daily thoughts that stop us from entering a flow state with our creative works. Perhaps the block you were experiencing was that you needed a moment to pause within and immerse yourself in your story without interrupting thought.

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So the next time you’re feeling blocked towards writing, refer back to this list before you decide the only remedy is to take a break. But if that is what your body is asking for, you might just need to step away from your manuscript if you feel creatively deflated or like you’re second-guessing every word you put down. Your manuscript will be waiting for you when you get back.