15 Methods to Cure Writer’s Block

You can find thousands of books about writing, covering everything from characterization to perspective to dialogue. But when it comes to plot, books on story ideas are hard to find. That’s because it’s on the writer to come up with the ideas. And trying to find a good idea often leads to writer’s block. While I can’t give you any specific ideas, I can provide some techniques that might lead to a good idea. Here are 15 methods to cure your writer’s block.

1. Fulfill your childhood wish

When you first thought of becoming a writer, what kind of writer did you think you would be? It may not have been a specific story, but it may have been a type of story. You may have imagined yourself as the next J.K. Rowling signing the latest installment of your fantasy series for children at Barnes and Noble. Or, you might have wanted to be the next Stephen King. Maybe you’ve been sidetracked by schooling or professional writing assignments. Retrace your roots and try to pursue that original image of yourself as a successful writer.

2. Life experiences

We write to put our ideas out into the world. What do you know about? How much of a life have you lived? Even if you haven’t lived a long life or a very interesting one, you should still be able to write about relatable topics. Write down your biggest life moments so far, good and bad. They can have something to do with life, death, embarrassment, a learning moment, travel, etc. Maybe you can spin those ordinary or even mundane life stories into something extraordinary, funny, or at the very least, relatable.

Think of The Catcher in the Rye. It’s a simple story about a boy who is reluctant to go home when he gets kicked out of school, but there’s so much more to it once you get past the simple, bare bones of the story.  Lay the foundation now based on your most memorable experiences. Then, use your talent to fill in the blanks.

3. The people you know

Maybe the seeds of a great story starts with your characters. Think of the most fascinating people you know. They could be people in your life, celebrities you admire, or even other fictional characters. Shape a story around one or a number of these characters. Put together two personality types that should collide, and see if you can get them to work together in a story.

Think of pairing up your best childhood friend and best adult friend, your sister and the co-worker you can’t stand, or your favorite aunt and the gym teacher who embarrassed you in eleventh grade. I once wrote a short story and based the four characters on the Ghostbusters. Nobody picked up on it because I changed the setting, the situation, and even the gender of one of the characters. It was one of the easiest stories I’ve ever written.

4. Immerse yourself in your favorite stories

What kind of stories do you like? Sci-Fi? Romance? Horror? Start by choosing your genre. A world that you’re going to want to revisit over and over again without getting bored. Read books in that genre to put yourself in the mindset of that world.

Pay attention to the ideas that you come up with while reading and analyzing these stories. Sometimes we let ourselves think of good ideas without realizing it. Before we know it, they have escaped our memory before we’ve had a chance to write them down.

5. Update a classic

Start diving into what types of stories haven’t been told or what classic stories could be retold from your unique point of view. It’s true that a classic never dies. Whenever I hear about a new novel about Count Dracula or a character from Frankenstein, I always want to learn more about it. Because a great character or situation has unlimited stories to tell.

Maybe blend genres together to lure in multiple types of readers. Think of Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

6. Fix a bad story

Sometimes I’ll read a story or watch a movie and think: that had so much potential. If only they’d changed this or focused on that (the 2016 movie Passengers comes to mind). Think about a story that you thought had promise, and rewrite it to make it better. Fix bland characters. Fill in plot holes. Change the ending. Fatten up the plot, and you’ve got yourself a new and improved version of the original.  

Think of those rare movies that were better than their books like The Princess Bride, Jurassic Park, and Forrest Gump. It’s not just the fact that the movies have the advantage of including visuals in their story, but the script itself is better than the original text.

7. What advice do you have for the world?

Whatever your reason for writing, it usually boils down to wanting to leave your mark on the world. You want to share your ideas, perspectives, and life lessons through your writing, whether you write fiction, nonfiction, songs, or poetry. Think about what messages you want to leave behind.

This big picture brainstorming session lit the spark of an idea that I had for my most recent manuscript. Since I write for kids, I thought about what I wanted to say to my readers, and the idea of bullying came to mind. I thought about all of the ways I’ve been bullied in my life, how others I know have encountered bullying, and how people I don’t know have been bullied. Then, I set about creating a cast of characters who each represent a different type of bullied person. I was then able to build a story around them.

8. Who do you want to read your work?

Many publishers and agents will ask you who is your intended audience for your novel. What published books can you compare to your own? Think about this while you’re coming up with a story idea. What group of readers do you want to reach? Kids? Teens? Adults? Parents? The LGBTQ+ community? How specific do you want to get, and what type of story is going to draw them in? What can you bring to the table? What kind of stories are those readers hungry for?

9. Do dome binge watching/reading

What is relevant right now? What kinds of stories are people telling? Start a new show on NetFlix. Pick up some New York Times bestsellers that interest you. Let the market inspire your next book. Make yourself relevant. Try to be original, but in reality, we all know that even work that is ripped off from another can be popular. Just look at 50 Shades of Grey. You’ll already have a leg up in the industry if you’re writing about a trendy topic.

10. What are you obsessed with right now?

Interested is interesting. It’s going to be easy to focus on your story if you’re already obsessed with the topic. Maybe you’re into binging true crime stories. Maybe you’ve just learned a new skill, or you joined a sports team. You could be a new parent, or you might have just come back from the trip of a lifetime and want to stay in that city/state/country a little while longer in your head. Don’t be afraid to write about the things you’re thinking about all day anyway. It’s going to make your writing time that much more enjoyable and help you “find the time” to write.

11. Read your old work

Have you been writing for a long time, or did you write a long time ago? Pull out your old notebooks, or open that “drafts” folder on your computer, and start reading.

What has inspired you to write in the past?

What were some of your easiest pieces to write?

Is there anything good that you can rework or even the seed of an idea that you can use to make something new?

If nothing else, reading your old work will help you to realize that you haven’t always been blocked and encourage you to keep searching for that eureka moment. You will come up with something again.

12. Put away that writing that isn’t going anywhere

You may be in the middle of a project, but it’s dragging along, and you just can’t get it to go anywhere. It’s causing you to “skip” writing for fear of just sitting there for an hour and staring at a blank screen. If that’s the case, put it away. Cancel any self-imposed deadlines you’ve set for yourself, and start something new. Once you have put it out of your head, you may have a eureka moment out of the blue that gets you going again or redirects you.

13. Switch gears

If you’re a fiction writer, maybe you need to write a few essays. If you’re a poet, try writing a short story. You may feel like you’re in a rut because you’re shackled to your chosen genre.

Writing in another genre is going to make you feel like you’re writing just for fun. There’s no expectation to share it, to get it published, or to even save it. You just need to exercise another part of your writing brain in order to distract yourself long enough to come up with something good.

Trying too hard can keep you running in place. Refocusing can turn the light bulb back on.

14. Write with someone

Some of the best writers in history have had writing partners, whether it’s script writers, comedy writers, song writers, or even novelists. But not everyone knows another writer or knows one who is disciplined or willing to write with you.

I typically write alone, but sometimes I get an idea just from having a conversation with another person. It could just be goofing off or having a revelation during a serious discussion, something that tells you that this story needs to be told.

It was while talking to my friend about our childhood that I got the idea to write my third novel, and it took my sister sharing a dream that she had about us that inspired me to write a short story that won a contest. Sometimes you just need to say your thoughts out loud or listen to someone else’s in order for inspiration to hit.

15. Get rid of distractions

You might be blocked because you are too full of distractions. There may be too many tasks on your plate. Too many worries weighing you down. You’re trying to do too much and come up with a new story idea at the same time. This is when you have to take a step back and unclutter your mind before you can do this.

I know that writing books usually tell you to leave your house messy, ignore your kids, and put all other responsibilities on the back burner until you fulfill your writing time, but I find that to be counterproductive. Yes, we do use other distractions to keep us from writing, especially when we are feeling blocked or uninspired.

But we do our best writing when there are no distractions left to pull our attention away from our writing.  Sometimes that means getting up at the crack of dawn or working into the night, but when a writer can balance between using life as a distraction from writing and using writing as a distraction from life, that’s when we are in the mindset to produce our best work.

Still feeling blocked? Need a break but feel guilty about not writing? Check out my article on Support for Indie Authors’s website: 10 Ways to Still Be Productive on Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing.

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