4 Ways to Cure Writer’s Block

Suffering from writer’s block? If you’ve ever wondered how to get your writing mojo back, here’s 4 surefire ways to cure writer’s block.

What Is Writer’s Block

There are many definitions floating around, but mine is simple:

Writer’s Block: A temporary condition where an author feels stuck because an obstacle blocks the path to completing a writing project.

Why 4 Methods to Overcome Writer’s Block?

While writers share many commonalities, even bestselling authors can’t agree on what is the best way to start and finish a novel. Most agree that a writer’s journey can take months and even years to complete.

More importantly, just as you can’t expect your ship to come in if you’ve never launched it, you have to start with a destination in mind, and there are different ways to achieve your goal.

4 Ways to Cure Writer’s Block

The list below includes the most common ways, but there are more. The key is to get started, so here we go and you’ll find details in the Related Posts section.

🚀 Story Spine

This top-down approach starts with the minimum viable story elements. It lacks details, but helps you see the beginning, middle, and ending of your story.

🛩️ Story Body

Still a high-level overview, the body of your story likely contains something your creative mind told you was essential to the novel you want to write. Typically, you complete the Story Body after the Story Spine, but that’s a principle, not an absolute.

🚁 Story Beats

Readers want a familiar pattern, and that calls for Story Beats that emphasize what the audience expects. Once satisfied, you can focus on twists that surprise and delight readers. The Story Beats allow you to helicopter across the entire structure to inspect for those patterns.

🚶🏻‍♂️‍➡️Story Scenes

This ground-level view includes dialogue, events, or settings, the details that will make your story’s scenes come alive to readers. Here, the writer records content considered essential to the genre, characters, plots, and themes.

Overcome Your Writer’s Block Obstacles

Years ago, I interviewed a prospective employee, and here’s an excerpt.

Me: “If a boulder blocked your path, how would you get past the obstacle?”

Interviewee: Without hesitation, she said, “I’d blow it up!”

I hired her on the spot!

Define your writing obstacle, get some handy-dandy writer’s dynamite, and clear the path. Your readers are waiting!

Conclusion

In this age of AI, humans need more of the human touch. The audience wants you, not regurgitated scrapings averaged from across the internet. Think on that.

You, not AI, can shape the lives of young and old. Yes, you’ll need to cross a threshold of expectations to satisfy picky readers. But once you open that door of learning and cross that threshold of opportunity, it’s your future.

Be you. Ignore doubters. Go beyond ordinary and put in the extra—you! You’ve got this.

I’ll end on a positive note by paraphrasing Nathan Barry’s take on AI and the future.

People don’t connect with pixels, they connect with people! Humans matter more now than ever. Where AI may generate content, only you can build trust. Only you can have an experience worth sharing.

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