Five More Ways to Beat Writer’s Block, Part Two
By the East Sierra Branch, CWC
Members of the East Sierra Branch of the California Writers Club based in Ridgecrest, CA, colloquially known as Ridge Writers, pooled together 30 tips, tricks, prompts, inspirations, and more to help battle against the dreaded Writer’s Block. Conquer the blank white page today and start your adventure in writing. We offered 20 in the last showcase. Five ideas follow. Another five will appear next month.
20) Use a verse or chorus from a pop song as your writing prompt. Think about the protagonist in the lyrics; how did they get to the point that they are singing about?
21) When stuck in a story, write the next section with a popular character you like. What if Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, or Yzma and Kronk suddenly showed up?
22) If you need motivation, join a critique group (especially ones which ask for member pieces to read) or join a writing challenge like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Deadlines can help with a flagging motivation to finish a piece.
23) They say brevity is the soul of wit, but how strong is your ability to edit? First, find an old piece of yours–an article, an essay, a short piece of fiction. Now cut it in half. We’re reducing the word count 50%. If you have a 500-word story, edit it down to a 250-word story. Can you tell the same story and get the same points across in fewer, more effective words?
24) Here we’ll list a series of short poem prompts. Each prompt with list a) the type of poem we’d like you to write, b) the tone of the poem you should aim for, and c) a word you have to include in the poem. Remember a few boundaries can help open up your imagination and help conquer the terror of the blank page. 1) Haiku; Mournful; Sun 2) Limerick; Reflective; Hope 3) Sonnet; Romantic; Picnic 4) Ode; Inspirational; Danger 5) Haiku; Angry; Wind 6) Rhyming Couplet; Funny; Squat 7) Rhyming Poem of Your Choice; Sad; Bedroom 8) Sonnet; Peaceful; Friend 9) Free Verse; Scary; Behind the Door 10) Limerick; Goofy, Schoolyard 12) Free Verse; Reminiscing; Connection
25) Bloggers will sometimes have fun, easy posts on their sites called “tags,” a series of prompts and questions they get to answer. These tags are a quick and simple way to generate content as well as allowing their readers to get to know the blogger a little better. So, here’s our own Writing Tag to get you writing. All you have to do is answer the prompts. 1) What was the first book you ever read on your own? 2) How did you start writing? 3) First piece you ever finished. 4) First piece you ever published or shared with people. 5) What do you like to write? 6) What’s your writing process and workspace? 7) What’s your favorite word? Favorite nonsense word? And why?
Next month’s showcase will offer five more dam-busting tips.