Writer's block. It's a nasty ailment that afflicts everyone who has ever tried to get words down on paper or on a blank computer screen. I struggle with it at least once a week. There are times when I can go for entire stretches of time without getting a single word down... Which, being that I'm someone who genuinely enjoys writing and often does it just to stave off night-time boredom, can make me feel incredibly restless and unproductive. So what do you do when you suddenly forget every bit of language you've ever known, and can't figure out how to get any words down at all?
Every writer seems to have different advice. On her YouTube channel, author Jenna Moreci once argued that the best way to beat writer's block is to keep writing every night no matter what, and force yourself to get something down even if it's bad. While I can't agree with the idea of writing 24/7, 365 days a year, as such a thing can easily lead to burnout or carpal tunnel, I can agree that a big reason for writer's block is that we tend to listen too much to our internal editor voice telling us that our ideas are bad, our writing is sloppy, and our use of commas is a little bit excessive. It's natural to want our writing to be as good as possible in one try without any need for editing, but it's just not possible all the time to be perfect. But, if we take a page out of the book of Isabela Madrigal for a moment and consider what it might be like if the work we want to publish isn't perfect, we can get that weight off of our chest.
Other writers meanwhile encourage taking breaks and fishing for ideas naturally. I agree with this too, for different reasons. As said above, writing too often can burn you out. We all need time to sit back, relax, and recharge while watching reruns of our favorite old sitcoms. You never know when the inspiration will strike. I've gotten story ideas from songs, dreams, movies, and even from seeing a squirrel run through my school hallway one morning (no, seriously). Taking time off can allow your inspiration and motivation to return naturally, but if you take too much time away, it can kill that motivation at the same time. At least for me, the longer I go without doing something, the harder it is to get myself to do it again. As soon as the habit breaks, I need to go through the trouble of building it back up.
For me, my own method does still involve writing past the block, but in a different way. I'll occasionally start my story off with a rambling, meta paragraph about what the characters are doing and how I'm intending the scene to go, and somewhere along the way I'll transition into normal writing. Then I just go back and edit the beginning. It may seem crazy, but since the hardest part for me is figuring out how to start the scene or article, I need to tackle it however I can.
On other occasions, I have a scene in my head that I'd prefer to write over the one I'm actually writing. The solution here is simple- just jump ahead to write the other scene, so that I can stop obsessing over it, and then make some room in my brain to think about the rest of the story. Similarly, I'll also sometimes take a break and write things I wouldn't otherwise consider canon, like backstory material, character bios, or a short-story set in a different universe. Anything I can do to keep my wheels turning while I give myself a break from what's hard for me makes it easier to go back later.
When I was younger, I used to talk to my characters. No, they weren't my imaginary friends, and I'm not insane (I think). I would just take a stroll around my neighborhood while "interviewing" a particular character. It's another method that might seem a little out-there, but it helped me get an idea of the character's voice, personality, motivations and reactions. There are hundreds of character questionaries online for this exact purpose. If you're stuck because you can't think of what your characters would do for the scene, then you need to step back and really get to know about the people (or cats, or aliens, or what have you) that you're writing about. The words come a lot easier if you let them take the lead and don't try and make them follow your pre-determined plot. You may eventually realize that while your story requires Bob to win the fishing contest, he's really more interested in baking, and might miss the catch because he's hungry. Let the characters be themselves, and write the story around what they'd do naturally, and you'll end up with something special.
Finally, my advice is... Just take it easy. Don't force yourself to slap words down if you can't figure out what you want to say. Whether it's a climatic scene in your magnum opus, or a blog about gardening, or a script for a comic book review video, you shouldn't force it out. It'll show up in the writing, and since writing tends to flow best when you're engaged and letting things flow naturally, pushing yourself will only weaken the overall result. Find other ways to get something down on paper without harming your goal. You'll do it eventually. Don't worry about it.
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