Beating Writer's Block

I wrote a blog a week-or-so ago explaining how I had been struggling with writer's block. I have spent the past two weeks trying out new techniques to overcome it. Using old techniques and ones I've researched online I have managed to ease some of my creative blocks and finally feel in a better state of mind to write.

Change your Environment

Move away from your desk

This was a big one for me because I often find myself mostly writing in my room which is great for solitude and comfort but it does cause some issues. Sometimes the issue can be I have too many things in my room to distract me like films and cleaning (yep I get distracted by cleaning...I'm weird). Other times it can be because my room is also a place I relax so I find myself feeling unproductive because I'm too chilled.
I'm not usually a fan of writing when I'm in public because I don't feel fully submerged in what I'm doing. This is mostly while at my University campus, although beautifully historic and sometimes inspiring, because there is so much going on I get distracted. However, I recently tried going to coffee shops (mostly Costa) to work and it's great. They're a calm environment and I get myself a nice drink and find myself coming up with more ideas. I don't have anything in there to distract me and having new things to look at can help spark new ideas I wouldn't have gotten while at the desk in my room.
It helps that I've removed myself from a blocking place and finding a new space to work. Looking at the same four walls can really effect you as a writer so sometimes getting out of that pattern and going somewhere else can help.
I may try finding new places I can sit and make notes or even take my laptop and write soon. I really enjoy it now.

Change of Music

Mix it up a little

Now for some people it's hard for them to listen to music whilst writing and I can be the same sometimes. Having said that, I tend to listen to pieces of music rather than singers. I found that recently getting Spotify on my laptop has been a God send. I had listened to the music on my iPad over and over again to the point it wasn't sparking anything new in me because I'd heard it all before. Whereas now I have a whole collection of different playlists at my fingertips. I can search up a mood or put something easy in the background which can block out some of the silence and put me in a specific mood for the thing I'm writing. Setting this mood can be really effective, for example, I've been writing a story about Genie's set in a future middle east/Arabian setting so I've played playlists to reflect that. That can help me immerse myself in the setting and create rich, new imagines I wouldn't have gotten from my same old playlists.
Give it a go either for when you're brain storming or writing itself. It helps with one of your senses (sound) and can hopefully help you develop some of the others senses in your writing.

The playlists on Spotify I generally listen to are the 'Your Coffee Break' and 'Your Favourite Coffeehouse'. 

Plan in Bullet Points 

Let the bullet points point the way (see what I did there)

This was something I looked up and initially when I read it I thought it was rather common sense as I plan in bullet points anyway but I was...well...wrong (I know right, I was as shocked as you are).
What I decided to do for my recent prose piece was write everything I had in bullet points (not exactly in order) and just sort of chuck it all down on paper to see what I had. I actually found doing this different from what I normally did. Although I do plan in bullet points I tend to make notes around the bullet point but this time I didn't do that. This was really effective.
I got everything in my brain down in shorter easier chunks to then move around or add to. This really helped me figure out a good plan and focus where I wanted the story to go.

Stay Away from What You're Doing 

Do something else creative 

I took up bullet journaling. It's addictive. And doing something creative that wasn't the work I was trying to do helped get the juices flowing. I was being creative in a different way tapping into other aspects of my creativity so when it came to writing I felt a little more relaxed and open minded.
I also try colouring as well whether that's with adult colouring books or I draw. It focuses my mind on something else and I'm completely away from my work. Sometimes when you think over something so much that can cause a mental block so freeing your mind and focusing on something else can be really beneficial.

Random Free Writing 

Just keep writing, writing, writing

Now I'd heard of this before and never really tried it and the outcome was very positive. Instead of worrying too much on wording on what was going on I set myself a timer (I found it best in ten minute blasts) of just purely writing the scene as you're seeing it in your head. No going back and changing spelling mistakes of thinking of better words just blasting it all down. This meant I then was focused for ten minutes entirely and got down as much as was in my head. It allowed me to have a bone structure of what I wanted now allowing me to go back and edit and make the voice or the language better. And formatting is one of the banes of my life. It slows you down and therefore slows down the creative process so leaving that behind allows you to concentrate on the main writing task at hand.

Pinterest/Google Images

I. Bloody. Love. Pinterest. 

Aside from my obsession with the website and creating a stupid amount of boards that feed into my love of organisation it can be a brilliant tool for writers.
Although its great to rely on imagination, if you have a writers block it's a little bit difficult to rely on. Recently I've tried searching in key words for something I'm writing to see if any pictures come up that can help inspire me. I don't mean copy it down but it can help spark ideas. For example, for my University prose piece, like I said before, I'm writing about a middle-eastern/Arabian style country with a Genie. So I typed in key words that would bring up relevant images that can help me get a better idea of my vision of the setting or even spark some ideas for key points in the story.
You don't just have to use Pinterest you can use Google Images but what Pinterest allows is the ability to make a board (you can keep it private if you want) where you can store all those images to refer back to. It's a wonderful site.


Every writer is different and not everyone of these points will help, they're simply the ones that I have tried that have worked for me. All I will say if be open minded. If you don't think something will work for you (like I did) try it anyway. It may surprise you. Or be really crap...either way you tried it right?!