In this video, I tackle the often-debated topic of writer’s block and share my approach to maintaining a disciplined writing practice. Whether you’re struggling with dialogue and descriptions or simply finding your rhythm, I offer practical strategies to keep your creative momentum going.
Drawing from my own experience and echoing Jeffrey Deaver’s wisdom that “there’s no writer’s block, only idea block,” I explain why staring at a blank page isn’t the answer. Instead, I share various techniques, including an unexpected exercise involving your favorite authors’ works, that can help jumpstart your writing process.
Hello, Jane Cleland here. The question is whether my being a disciplined writer means that I set aside a certain number of hours a day to write, and if I have nothing to write about, if I’m really suffering, do I just sit there and stare at a blank page? And the answer is no. I write. What I write might be dreck, a lot of it is, and it ends up getting tossed. I write. If I’m struggling with dialogue, I’ll write a description. If I’m struggling with description, I might write a character analysis. I’ll do anything as long as I keep writing.
And I have been known to type passages from my favorite authors, favorite books, favorite scenes, to get my head into the rhythm, the cadence of the sentences. How long is it? Where are the paragraph breaks? And then, of course, I throw that away too, but it gets the muscle going. You know, Jeffrey Deaver says there is no writer’s block, there’s only idea block. So if what’s really going on with you is you don’t know what to write, maybe you want to spend some time thinking about the ideas. And I consider thinking writing too.
I hope this helps. I’d love to hear how you approach it. Do put your thoughts in the comments. I read them all. And if this tip had value for you, would you like it? Would you share it? Would you subscribe to the channel? That opens up features for us that lets us make these videos even more valuable for you.
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