Cintia
asked
Anna Lee Huber:
Hi! I'd love to read your books but I wasn't able so far, because they are not sold in my country. I just wanted to ask, how do you handle writer's block? From an aspiring writer who suffers a serious case of blocking...
Anna Lee Huber
Hi Cintia! I'm sorry my books aren't yet available in your country. I hope they will be one day soon. As for your question...
I find that if I'm experiencing writer's block it means one of three things.
1) I'm overtired and need to step away for a time, whether that's a few hours or a week.
2) I'm overworked and I need to recharge my creativity. Sometimes reading a book or watching a movie helps. Sometimes just taking a walk does the trick.
OR 3) I've taken a wrong turn. I'm forcing my characters to do things they wouldn't or don't want to do. Often if I back up and find the place where my story has gone off the rails and take the plot in a different direction it immediately fixes the problem. Sometimes it means only scrapping a few pages, other times it's five chapters.
Recently I had to scrap the first 4 chapters of a manuscript because I could tell things were just not right. The general plot was fine, but the writing was not in character, and it was missing some sort of more personal element, something that would truly affect the protagonist at a deeper level. I chalk this up to distraction. I simply had too much going on. But I was glad I realized the problem early in the writing so I could scrap the beginning and start again.
Hope that helps, or gives you some suggestions on how to maybe find your muse again. My best advice, if you're stuck in the middle of your manuscript, throw something unexpected at the characters, something that will shake them up. That might get the ball rolling again. Good luck!
I find that if I'm experiencing writer's block it means one of three things.
1) I'm overtired and need to step away for a time, whether that's a few hours or a week.
2) I'm overworked and I need to recharge my creativity. Sometimes reading a book or watching a movie helps. Sometimes just taking a walk does the trick.
OR 3) I've taken a wrong turn. I'm forcing my characters to do things they wouldn't or don't want to do. Often if I back up and find the place where my story has gone off the rails and take the plot in a different direction it immediately fixes the problem. Sometimes it means only scrapping a few pages, other times it's five chapters.
Recently I had to scrap the first 4 chapters of a manuscript because I could tell things were just not right. The general plot was fine, but the writing was not in character, and it was missing some sort of more personal element, something that would truly affect the protagonist at a deeper level. I chalk this up to distraction. I simply had too much going on. But I was glad I realized the problem early in the writing so I could scrap the beginning and start again.
Hope that helps, or gives you some suggestions on how to maybe find your muse again. My best advice, if you're stuck in the middle of your manuscript, throw something unexpected at the characters, something that will shake them up. That might get the ball rolling again. Good luck!
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