Want to bust that writing brick wall, also called ‘writer’s block?’ Then use these tips to get you on your way when you are up against it.
To start, you first have to STOP.
Stop creative-killing, self-deprecating, internal self-talk. Your imagination can not breathe in that poisoned air.
NEVER say to yourself, “I can’t…..” Stop belittling, undervaluing, or disparaging yourself. Think YES. Yes, you can bust through the brick wall.
Ideas and Imagination:
Don’t think, “I can’t because…” Instead, think, “I can…if….” Then kick in your imagination. Need a tiny boot in the backside or “A Whack On The Side of the Head?” Read book of the same name by Roger von Oech, reprinted many times. Then use these tips to get you on your way to generate new ideas, plots, and stories. Whether you need an idea for a new short story or a place in your novel to get past, you need creative thinking and ideas.
Stimulate a story idea or new scene with, “What if?” Next, “then what?”
Since all stories need a bit of GMC, Goals, Motivation, and Conflict, think of anything similar such as two neighbors feuding violently over something trivial. Could be a tree planted too near the property line. Then adapt some form of that to your new story or the place in the current one where you ‘hit the wall.’ List a bunch of thesaurus words of action that will spur your idea generator in your head. Then write.
Story Cubes: Google “Rory’s Story Cubes” and look. Throw a handful of cubes and pluck some ideas that will get through that ‘wall.’ Write. You may change it later but write. Keep asking, “and then what?” Even kids will help you play with these cubes and give you fresh ideas. Maybe the face-up on one of the cubes is a lightning bolt. Okay, your character is struck by lightning, figuratively or actually. That should cause you to answer the question, “And then what?” Or lightning burns the house, the barn, or the office where he worked too hard, anyway. Let your imagination run wild. Think you have no imagination? Sure, you do. You may have let it get rusty.
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” It’s a preview to that new story, or way through the block of the current one.
Another great book to help you find ways to spur your imagination is “The Imagineering Workout: (A Walt Disney Imagineering Book)” It’s sub-titled, “Exercises to Shape Your Creative Muscles.”
Try looking at a simple small object outside. Outside my office, I see a nearly full cup of hot chocolate, quite cold now. Who left it? Why? What’s the story behind them doing that? Now, you have your imagination in full gear — fill in the plot for your short story.
Story brick walls are imaginary. The more you think you’re blocked, the more you are. The reverse is true. Get that imagination in gear. Put some more words down, then a couple of sentences. See? You’re on your way.
The way to get through and beyond the ‘Brick Wall’ is to believe you can. Smash through that sucker.
