How to Defeat Writer’s Block and Get Into a Writing Habit
If this was a self-help article, it would probably start something like this…
“I used to be an aspiring author who couldn’t get more than a few thousand words on the page. Now I write 40,000 words a month. Read on and discover the secret to beating writer’s block!”
But the thing is, there’s no universal solution to productive writing, and what works for me may not work for you. There’s also the sticky problem of privilege — I’m white and middle class, in a stable job with a good salary. I’m lucky. I know from personal experience that the anxiety of job insecurity or being on low income makes it difficult to write. I can’t imagine what the toll of structural racism or physical impairment might be.
Even when I used to have plenty of free time and a stable income, though, I wasn’t able to write more than 8,000 words of a story before getting bored or frustrated and giving up. In the past 18 months, that’s all changed, and I’ve written over 200,000 words on four different stories, finishing one, abandoning two and in the process of working on the fourth (80K words in). It’s taken me a long time to get to this point, and there are a few things I’ve picked up along the way that I wish I’d known back in 2011, when I first developed an interest in writing fiction.
So, I’m not going to tell you how to write good fiction, but I feel like I can share how I broke out of bad habits and got words onto that blank page. After all…
If you want to be a writer, you need to write!
This might seem bloody obvious, but so many aspiring writers don’t do the one thing they claim to love. This doesn’t just mean writing fiction, though — I found that getting a job where I had to write was equally helpful in honing my grammar and editing. For, really, the only way of getting good at writing is to practise. Well, that and you need to…
Read books
As Hank Green (NYT Bestselling author of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing) says, “reading is writing”. If you want to be a good writer, you need to read. And I know, it can be hard to sit down and read a book nowadays — your attention span is short, you don’t have time… Well, you need to make time to read. I do it just before going to sleep. The book doesn’t even have to be that great — you can learn as much from terrible fan fiction as from a classic novel, but you need to…
Know your craft
Every aspiring writer needs to know the rules of storytelling, if only so that they can break them. I recommend Save the Cat, which is a great introduction to characterisation and plot, though it is focused on screenwriting (writing movie scripts). Once you have an understanding of your craft, make sure to reflect on the techniques you observe, whether it’s in a book, a graphic novel or a TV series. I watch 2 or more films a week; screenwriters need to fit a complex story arc in a short span — when it’s done well, it’s beautiful to behold. But don’t expect you’ll recreate that beauty in a first draft, as…
You have permission to suck
Quite honestly, this was the one rule that helped me crack my first 80,000 words. I never knew that, for many novelists, the majority of their published book is written after the first draft. The first draft is like the skeleton of a story. It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to hold together. Novels are made in the edit. The best way to write the first draft is fast and sloppily — do not edit it, or ask for feedback until you’re done — that way lies madness!
The average novelist doesn’t get published until they’ve written multiple books, so you need to get those first ones out of your system. They’re going to be bad, but that’s OK — it’s a learning experience! Just make sure you…
Don’t overplot
If you spend too much time plotting, you’re going to get lost in the weeds, and writing will feel like work. Give yourself a strong narrative structure, but leave room for change. As Quentin Tarantino says, “it’s the characters that really write the piece” — once you get to know your characters and their situation, the story will begin to write itself. Let it. Don’t be afraid to go with your instincts as, if the writer doesn’t know what’s going to happen next, chances are the reader won’t either. That’s the secret to creating exciting narratives, but before you even reach that point with your writing, you’ll have to be sure to…
Make it a habit
Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) helped me with this — it has a goal of 50,000 words in a month. I didn’t think I could do it, but it is possible if you just make sure you stick to the habit. Get an accountability buddy who checks up on you and encourages you, then decide on a minimum word count and a time of the day when you’ll write. Just remember to…
Be kind to yourself
You’re not going to write a novel in a week. No writer’s retreat is going to do that for you. I’ve found it easier to write when I set myself an achievable minimum per day (I recommend 1000 words), rather than an optimistic maximum. If a story is dying horribly in front of your eyes, that’s OK — I give you permission to find another idea! Give yourself days off occasionally, or you’ll get frustrated and burn out. Remember that your mental health is more important than your writing, and you need sleep, so…
Find your right time and place
I do my best work between 9PM and midnight — I just can’t write well any other time of the day. I sit propped up on my couch and tap away on an old MacBook Air. Roald Dahl had a little shed in the garden, Maya Angelou wrote in a hotel room, JK Rowling in a cafe. Find the place that works for you, and go there at the time of day you do your best work. Just make sure you…
Don’t get distracted
Are you waiting for an important phone call? No? Then maybe that phone can be switched off. Distractions come in all forms and it’s important to minimise the likelihood of you getting interrupted mid-flow. That might be as simple as closing the door to your study, or putting on headphones to drown out the sound of nearby conversations. But staying in the flow is how you rack up that word count, so minimising distractions means you…
Don’t have excuses
If you want to be a writer, don’t complain that you can’t find a time to do it — what about when you’re scrolling Instagram? How about on the commute? And don’t assume that you can’t do it because you don’t have a writing degree, or a degree at all, or you’re too young, or too old. I’ve told myself nearly every excuse imaginable. In the end, if you really want to be a writer you’ll need to get past that. But it’s important to be sure you…
Do it for the right reasons
Don’t try and write a novel to make money — it doesn’t work like that! Most novels are never published and even those that get published mostly sink into obscurity. Write because you love creating a good story, even when you’re not quite there yet. Write because you’re devoted to crafting that perfect sentence. Write because you have the best idea and you just want to share it with the world. Write like nobody’s watching. Write for yourself — your best story will be the one you would love to read.
Chris D’Agorne is a parent of one, living in Weston-super-Mare. His debut novel is not out yet, but it will be one day (see below). In the meantime, he’s written a short story that might be of interest: Up on Colmer’s Hill.
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More writing at How to Rewild.
