Stuck!

Right now, I'm stuck. I'm almost there. I have to get character A to a particular point in my novel - this is during rewrites - and I don't know how to do it. I have several options, but all of them seem phony. It feels like I'm filling a hole. I feel stuck.

Writer's block conjures images of the angst-ridden writer ripping pages out of his/her notepad, tossing them across the room. Or there's the other image of the writer staggering across the barren plains of his/her imagination, with nary a tree or pond in sight. But the truth is, writer's block happens by degrees. It can happen anytime, any place, yadda yadda. You can be strolling happily along the sunny boulevard of your narrative (I'll desist with the metaphors anon) and, all of a sudden, find yourself waist deep in quicksand.

How to get unstuck?

Some writers advocate taking a break. A day, a week, a month.... If you can afford the luxury, no harm setting down the laptop and going off the park for a bit of fresh air. I find a trip to the cinema helps, or music. But sometimes a longer break is needed. Sometimes you need to look at your work with fresh eyes, from a distance. When my work is too close, when I know it too well, my ability to edit goes down the toilet. Best to leave a good few weeks after a first draft before attempting draft two.

Other writers advocate pushing through it. Right now, I don't have the luxury of taking a break. I've got to keep writing until the finish line (although writing this blog is a bit of a compromise). I used to write when the notion took me. Problem was, the notion didn't take me every day. It was only when I started forcing myself to write whether I felt like it or not that I started to need to write everyday. It is, indeed, habit forming.

My preferred solution is changing the way you approach writing. I find that, if I write in the same way, same place, same time etc every day, I get bored. My writing dries up. Even if it's changing which corner of the room I sit in, it's a fresh approach. It shuffles things around enough for creativity to thrive. Routine, but with enough of a regular shake-up to keep things interesting.

How do you do it? How do you come 'unstuck'?

Let me know. For now, I'm pushing through. Though I might just try something different. Like standing on my head. Hmmmm.

Image credit: TeeRish

stuck