When your fingers are tripping over each other and you can’t type the words fast enough to keep up with the ideas bursting in your brain, all is well in the world of a writer. However, when writer’s block sets in, it can be the most frustrating, painful experience, leaving you stuck and bashing your head against your keyboard.

Every writer is different, and what works for some, may not work for others. There are a number of ways to overcome writer’s block, so it’s just a matter of trying out a few of these methods, and finding what works for you. So, here are a few things you can do to get those creative juices flowing again.

What to do when writer’s block sets in:

- Save your writing somewhere secure, and come back to it in a few days. Re-read your work with fresh eyes, and go from there.

- Give yourself a deadline. Some people work better under pressure, and having a deadline will allow you to push past the block.

- Avoid distractions. Go somewhere private to work, where no one can disturb you. (This includes turning off your mobile.)

- Read in your chosen genre. Use what has already been written to spark off your own ideas.

- When reading, write down words that inspire you, or grab your attention, and use them as starting points.

- Spend at least an hour per day writing. If you constantly hone your craft, you will find it much easier to get into a creative frame of mind.

- Start re-reading or editing what you have already written. This should get the ideas flowing again, and remind you where you wanted to go with the piece.

- “Torture your characters.” Someone once told me, “If you are suffering from writers block, then you aren’t torturing your characters enough!”

- Write about not being able to write. Write free flow, and don’t hold back. Continue writing until the block disappears.

- Write something purely for yourself. If you are writing something you enjoy, you will be open to new ideas when you go back to your original piece.

- Have prompts ready. A sentence or a line of poetry you enjoy. Write it, and let the rest flow, no matter how irrelevant or bad it seems at first.

- Create multiple personalities for yourself. Write something different for each one.

- Create a new world. Begin with climate, and terrain. Create the inhabitants of your world, create creatures that are different, explain how they act, look, and talk.

- Begin by creating your characters, and their backgrounds. If you know your characters inside out, their dialogue will match their personalities, and backgrounds. Characters without backgrounds are flat and un-interesting. Picture your character, and describe them. Do they have flaws in their appearance, or character?

Sites to help with writer’s block:

• Cut up machine - A text mixing desk.
• Random line generator- Generate a random line of text.
• Title o matic
• Writing prompts
• Sentence builder
• Phrase generator
• Random word generator

Generating, and developing your ideas

At times writer’s block begins when trying to find something to write about, or when you have an idea but are struggling to develop it. Here are a few ways to overcome this particular starting block:

• Keep a notebook, Take it everywhere. Write snatches of conversation, arguments, and places. If you can’t do that, study someone, and describe their appearance in detail. Imagine, and describe their personalities, and backgrounds. You will soon have a rich resource for topics to write about, characters to use, and settings for places to write about.

• The brain dump method. Think of a topic you want to write about and spend fifteen minutes writing down everything you have connected to the topic.

1. Come up with a general title
2. Do all the research on the subject, so you have a better understanding of it.
3. Begin writing without reading what you are writing, and just write out everything you know on the topic (combine this with the brainstorm method in the next bullet point). Type everything that comes into your head, ignoring spelling and grammar. One idea will lead to another until you are on a roll.
4. Go back and edit only once you have finished. Sometimes it is much easier to edit a piece you have already written, rather than coming up with totally new information.

• Brainstorm. Put your central idea or theme in the centre, and branch out into connected ideas and any other points you want to add to your story/article. Then begin constructing your story, or article with the points, and ideas in your diagram. Write little bits of content for each heading, and sub-heading, and re-write and extend when you have finished.

• If you are writing an article, this is a useful method. Spend ten minutes writing a list of topics, and see if you can come up with headings and sub-headings for them etc. Then create your article from there.

• Talk it out. Start with the general idea or topic, then start talking about it, while recording. Transcribe the audio, and edit afterwards.

This is a guest post by Emma Johnson. You can follow her blogging and writing tips over at Emma’s Blog.