The other day, one of the writers from our awesome writers group asked a question. How do I get unstuck?

She had been battling an important final scene that needed tons of energy and excitement and couldn’t figure out how to write it. She had the ideas. She knew what was supposed to happen. But she had gotten so stuck she was starting to second guess herself, starting to wonder if the whole thing was even going to work. She wasn’t even excited about writing the scene anymore.

I wrote up a list of a few things that had helped me get through blocks in the past that I thought I’d share here as well:

A New Point of View

Write the scene from a different point of view or voice. Use a different character’s point of view and figure out how they might experience the scene as opposed to your current character’s POV. You could also try writing in 3rd person instead of 1st or vice versa to see if that jogs your creativity.

Music Sparks Creativity

Try playing some music that would go well with the scene. Listen to some soundtracks until you find a song that would be perfect to play while your scene happens. Then crank that up and  just start writing thoughts, feelings, anything that pops into your head as the music plays.

Break out of your Genre

Watch a movie that is completely out of your genre. If you are doing YA science fiction/fantasy with romance and action, how about watch a western or period drama? Something totally different. See how the characters interact with each other. Listen to their dialogue. Think of what they must be feeling. Sometimes this can spark an idea.

Pick a Different Scene

It’s important for you to be excited about writing the scene. The scenes excitement will be proportional to how much energy you have for it so find ways to get stoked. Maybe there is a certain part of the scene you think will be fun to write but you are stuck before that point. Just skip to that point and write that first. Then you can backtrack and keep the energy up.

Reward Yourself

Make a goal to write a couple of paragraphs and set a reward for yourself, then go do it (even if it sucks). Enjoy the reward and don’t think about the writing. Once the reward is consumed, do it again. Baby steps.

Remove Distractions

Have your spouse get the kids out of the house or you go out of the house with your laptop somewhere else. Try writing in a coffee shop if you like background noise or just drive somewhere beautiful, park, open your laptop, and start writing.

In the end, sometimes it boils down to just holding your nose and writing, no matter how bad it is. Get something on the page and then you can revise it.