Pretty much every writer experiences writer’s block at one time or another. It’s when we feel stuck or uninspired, unable to start or continue a writing project.
While the phenomenon has probably existed since humans first committed their tales to clay tablets, it wasn’t until the 1940s that psychiatrist Edmund Bergler coined the term.
Many writers have felt the thwarting clutches of writer’s block at some point in their creative journeys – from poets to journalists and complete beginners to seasoned professionals like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jhumpa Lahiri. So, if you’re struggling to think of story ideas or push a project along, you’re certainly not alone.
That said, just as many literary figures – for example, Toni Morrison and Judy Blume – don’t believe in ‘writer’s block’, instead maintaining that blockages are a natural part of the creative process.
Regardless of what you believe, most would agree that staring at a blank page, unable to fulfil your creative potential, can be frustrating. So, to help you unlock your creativity and hit your writing goals, we’ve pulled together some of our favourite tips for overcoming writer’s block.
What causes writer’s block?
Before we consider how to overcome writer’s block, perhaps you’re wondering what causes it. The short answer is that we don’t know for sure and it probably depends on the individual.
Some scribes believe writer’s block is your mind’s way of highlighting an issue with your project. Perhaps you need to go back and change something – take the story down a different path – or rethink your choice of subject entirely.
Others say it’s a sign you might need to do some more research or give the project more time to percolate in your mind before putting pen to paper.
However, studies from the 1970s and 80s have a different explanation. They suggest that creative congestion is caused by other hurdles – including feelings of self-doubt, fear of criticism, feeling constrained by the ‘rules’ of writing, and worry that your writing will be compared to other peoples’.
Regardless of what’s causing your writer’s block, hopefully, our tips can help you get your creative juices flowing.
13 tips for overcoming writer’s block
1. Limit distractions
It might seem obvious, but limiting distractions is one of the most effective ways to combat writer’s block. For example, turning off smart devices, like tablets and smartphones, and/or leaving them in another room.
Devices and notifications can easily tempt us into procrastination and pull us out of a focused ‘flow state’ – the mental zone we often need to do our best creative work.
However, distractions can go beyond devices. To find out what’s derailing your focus, why not try the 30-minute challenge? This involves spending half an hour writing down what happened to you the previous day, including anything that pulled your focus away from your task – whether interruptions from family or intrusive thoughts.
After identifying your distractions, you can develop strategies to minimise them. Repeat the challenge periodically to track your progress.
2. Give yourself permission to write something imperfect
A common reason for writer’s block is setting lofty expectations in the early stages of writing. We can fall into the trap of expecting perfectly phrased prose to flow effortlessly from our pens and onto the page – causing frustration when we write something we’re unhappy with.
However, remember that, for most authors, writing is an iterative process. Your favourite literature was probably refined over many drafts – with the original text bearing little resemblance to what was eventually published.
With this in mind, try allowing yourself to write something imperfect; remember, you can always improve it later.
3. Write as if speaking to a friend
When Tom Wolfe first cut his teeth as a journalist, he asked to write a magazine article about car customisers in Los Angeles. However, when trying to turn his research into a submittable piece, he found himself blocked. “I suddenly realized I’d never written a magazine article before and I just felt I couldn’t do it,” he told The Paris Review.
Despondent, Wolfe typed up his notes in a letter and sent them to Byron Dobell, his editor at Esquire, “so that some competent writer could convert them into a magazine piece.” The next day, Wolfe received a reply saying, “Well, we’re knocking the ‘Dear Byron’ off the top of your memo, and we’re running the piece.”
The lesson? Writer’s block often stems from feeling pressured to create something brilliant. Writing your story as if you’re telling a friend can alleviate some of this and help you get something down on paper.
4. Move your body
For many successful scribes, the ultimate cure for writer’s block is to go for a walk. The Danish theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once said, “I have walked myself into my best thoughts,” and contemporary poet and novelist Helen Dunmore claims, “A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.”
This sentiment is backed up by research, which shows that even a short spell of aerobic exercise is enough to spark creative thinking – partly because it improves blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain. It’s thought to be especially helpful for our ability to think outside the box – which can help us solve problems and think up original plot points and characters.
So, next time your creativity tank is running low, why not head out for a quick bike ride, skip some rope in the garden, or put on some music and have a dance? You might be surprised at the benefits.
5. Start with a writing exercise
Writing exercises can be great for jumpstarting our creativity and encouraging new ways of thinking. They’re often short tasks that focus on specific aspects of writing – for example, creating a paragraph with no adjectives or rewriting an existing passage using fewer words.
Many writers find freewriting – or stream-of-consciousness writing – helpful. This involves writing down what comes to mind, without stopping or editing, for a set period (usually 10-20 minutes). Freewriting can help silence our inner critics and prevent over-editing, which can get in the way of our creative flow.
Because the goal of writing exercises isn’t to produce usable material, it’s a great way to take the pressure off and just start writing. Who knows, you might walk away with an idea or two for your project.
Check out these creative writing exercises from Masterclass to get started.
6. Try writing prompts
With creative writing, starting is often the most challenging part. Faced with limitless possibilities for opening sentences, it’s easy to become daunted. But writing prompts can help you off the block.
Writing prompts can offer focus and inspiration for our content. They can be anything from single words and images to whole paragraphs. Sometimes they give us an opening scene or a basic premise. Other times, they provide ideas about structure and form – for example, “Write your story in the form of a thank you card.”
You’ll find plenty of free writing prompts online – including these visual ones from The Literacy Shed and these written ones from Writer’s Digest.
7. Make your writing process more visual
We all think differently – and while some writers produce their best ideas while stringing sentences together, others prefer to use more visual elements in their writing process – particularly in the planning stages.
These can range from writing plot points on Post-it notes and organising them on your wall to creating mindmaps for each character. You could even draw or paint scenes before writing to help bring them to life.
8. Do something unexciting
We’ve all heard tales of people doing mundane things – from having a shower to folding the laundry – when they’re suddenly blindsided by a creative idea.
And this is certainly true for some of our favourite writers. As Agatha Christie said in a 1955 interview, “There’s nothing like boredom to make you write.” And Neil Gaiman once dolled out the advice: “You have to let yourself get so bored that your mind has nothing better to do than tell itself a story.”
Studies suggest that boring activities allow our brains space and time to daydream, helping us generate creative ideas. So, if your creative juices are running dry, why not close your laptop or notebook and do something profoundly unexciting? You might just have your own ‘eureka!’ moment.
9. Exercise your imagination
Back in the 1970s and 80s, psychologists Jerome Singer and Michael Barrios asked a group of blocked writers to engage in some directed mental imagery exercises. As Maria Konnikova explains in The New Yorker…
“These writers would sit in a dim, quiet room and contemplate a series of ten prompts asking them to produce and then describe dream-like creations. They might, for example, ‘visualize’ a piece of music, or a specific setting in nature. Afterward, they would visualize something from their current projects, and then generate a “dreamlike experience” based on that project.”
These writers not only improved their ability to get words down but also felt more motivated and self-confident. So why not take a leaf out of their books and try the methods stated above?
For example, you could listen to your favourite song while visualising its components. Consider the rhythm and beat; what colours and images do they provoke? Or think about your favourite place in nature, recreating a detailed picture in your mind’s eye. Think of your brain as a muscle, and these exercises as time in the gym.
10. Share your ideas and work with others
When we find ourselves stuck on something at work – such as a new lesson plan or marketing strategy – many of us will ask for help. But, with writing, people often resist seeking input from others.
It’s understandable to feel this way – and you’re certainly not alone if you do. Creative writing is very personal and you might worry about what others will think of your work. The pervasive view of the writer as a solitary figure – for example, Henry David Thoreau holed up in his cabin in the woods – probably increases our reluctance to seek help.
However, getting honest feedback from someone you trust can be effective for breaking through writer’s block. They might be able to offer a fresh perspective on something that’s been holding you back, or simply some positive affirmation, which can be motivating.
Who knows, you may even want to continue collaborating. Some of the most interesting and original literature around has been created by more than one author (check out some examples in this article from The Guardian). If you’d rather not share your work with someone you know, why not try a writing group?
11. Take a creative writing course
The value of creative writing courses is widely debated. In 2014, Hanif Kureishi famously branded them ‘a waste of time’, despite teaching one at Kingston University. By contrast, Tessa Hadley credits her learning at Bath Spa University for kickstarting her career as a bestseller.
Whether you believe creative writing can be taught, formal courses provide some undeniable benefits – such as structure, deadlines, and access to valuable feedback from peers and published writers. These tools can help you push through writer’s block and complete projects.
Plus, you don’t have to spend thousands on a university course to reap these benefits, as there are plenty of great, cheaper options out there. This article from the National Centre for Writing has some great suggestions for finding the perfect one for you.
12. Read often and widely
This is another one that may sound obvious – but it’s too important to leave out. Reading is probably the most frequently offered advice to writers (blocked or otherwise) – and for good reason.
Reading great works of literature teaches us how to put sentences together and helps develop our sense of story and character. Plus, for many of us, it’s what inspired us to pick up a pen in the first place, so it can help replenish any waning stores of enthusiasm and motivation.
As Carmen Maria Machado says, “You can’t keep writing if you’re not filling your gas tank with whatever you want to read.”
For maximum benefit, try to read as widely as possible. This means dipping into genres you otherwise wouldn’t and sampling literature that isn’t so highly praised. Because, as well as teaching us how to write, reading can also teach us how not to write – which may be even more important.
13. Be patient and kind to yourself
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead once wrote in a Reddit AMA (Ask me Anything):
“Writer’s block for me is a question I haven’t solved yet—Why is Martin doing this? What happens after they meet? What the hell is going on in this scene?
“It’s a question I haven’t answered yet, but I trust that in 2 hours, 2 days, or 2 months I will eventually answer it. Maybe I have to keep writing and come back to that part of the story later. Maybe I have to do some more research. Maybe it’ll come to me in the shower. But eventually I’ll figure it out.”
Of all the advice out there, this is probably our favourite. Writer’s block can be frustrating, but, as Whitehead says, it’s important to be patient and kind to yourself, trusting that your creativity will eventually win out.
In the meantime, try some of the tips above – or even take some time away from writing to let your project simmer in your subconscious like a slow-cooked meal. Hopefully, when you return to your desk, you’ll lift the lid and see your brain has been busy cooking up something delicious.
Final thoughts…
If you’re struggling with writer’s block, we hope these tips can help get your creative engine revving once again. Remember, everyone is different, so you can expect a bit of trial and error before finding the right solution for you.
For more writing advice, why not head over to our books and literature section? Here, you’ll find beginner’s guides like How to write short stories and How to write a book and get it published, as well as interviews with bestselling authors like Tessa Hadley and Kate Mosse.
Have you experienced writer’s block? If so, do you have any helpful tips to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.