5 Writing Tips For When Your Writing Gets Stuck

Transcripts
1

The transcript revolves around tips for overcoming writer’s block, particularly during National Novel Writing Month. Here are the main points:

  1. Writing by Hand: It emphasizes the benefits of writing by hand to engage the brain’s neural pathways more effectively than typing. This approach can help improve memory retention and is a useful method to regain writing momentum.

  2. Flash Fiction: The speaker suggests writing a flash fiction story, which is a complete story in fewer than 1,000 words. This can help writers explore different aspects of their characters and stories while also progressing with their main novel.

  3. Writing Sprints (Pomodoro Technique): Implementing writing sprints where writers focus for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break is recommended. This helps in managing time and reduces the feeling of overwhelm when working on large projects.

  4. Character Narratives: Writers are encouraged to write from their characters’ perspectives in a free-form manner, letting the character express their feelings and thoughts without adhering to structure.

  5. Avoiding Self-Judgment: Lastly, it’s suggested that writers give themselves grace during tough writing times. It’s normal to feel stuck, and taking action, even if unsuccessful, is more important than being critical of oneself.

The video concludes with encouragement to stay connected with the writing community for shared tips and strategies.

Picture this. You’re in the middle of a project. It’s going great. It’s going perfectly. The words are flowing, the characters are doing exactly what you want them to do, and then… you’re stuck. Noooooo….

Don’t worry! Being stuck does not have to be this dramatic.

Hey there, Warriors! Allison here, author and creative warrior, and I’m here to talk about even more tips that you can use to get unstuck during National Novel Writing Month or any other time. So the first tip to get you unstuck is to move the computer aside, bust out a good old pen and paper, and write by hand.

Why would we write by hand if we have a computer? It’s so much faster and easier. Exactly! It is so much faster, and we type so quickly that our brain cannot keep up sometimes. Sometimes our brains get a little sluggish. (What was I saying?) And there’s actually scientifically backed information that shows writing by hand can do a lot of really positive things for our brains and help us get unstuck.

I personally like writing by hand when I am in the brainstorming part of the story, but you can use it in the middle of a story to get unstuck and regain your momentum. Writing by hand actually uses more brain power than writing on your computer; physically writing letters engages the brain’s vital neural pathways. Engagement of those pathways has actually shown up on MRIs taken of patients while they were writing.

Writing by hand can also help improve your memory. A study found that students who typed notes on a laptop or a computer started to lose that information as soon as 24 hours later. But those who wrote it down by hand remembered the information up to a week later.

Sometimes it’s just nice to get away from the glow of the screen, rest your eyes, switch locations, and do something different. So there you go! Writing by hand is one way that you can get unstuck if you’re feeling stuck in the middle of a project. And how many times do you think I’m gonna say “stuck” during this video? Let’s count! Just kidding! But if you do, I guess put it in the comments because I’d be curious.

The next tip I have to help you get unstuck in the middle of a project is to use one of my favorite writing techniques: flash fiction. Over the last few years, I’ve actually written exclusively flash fiction, and I have two published books that you can find on Amazon (links below).

It’s also a really great tool to help you write other types of writing, like novels. So if you’re moving along in your novel, and things are going really well, and then all of a sudden you’re stuck, try writing a flash fiction story in the middle of your novel.

Flash fiction, for those of you who don’t know, is a complete story in less than 1,000 words. It has a beginning, middle, and end. It’s an excerpt that’s not a chapter. It’s not poetry—it’s a complete story. So set yourself a goal of writing a complete story, maybe a story within a story for your novel, with a beginning, middle, and end right in the middle of your novel or in the action (or lack thereof).

Give yourself a deadline of the evening or a day to write that story. Pick a side story for one of your characters or a scene that you’re eventually going to be able to use in your novel, and make it a flash fiction story. So complete, beginning, middle, and end. You can always edit it later to work within the confines of your novel as long as it has to do with your story—your current work in progress. You can use those words towards your overall word count, so you won’t be losing progress, and it actually might help you move forward in your story.

The next tip I have for getting unstuck in the middle of your project is to use writing sprints. In the writing world, we call them sprints, but elsewhere, out in productivity land, they call working in smaller time chunks the Pomodoro Technique.

The Pomodoro Technique asks you to write in 25-minute chunks, take a five-minute break, and then do it again. You will do this four times and then take a longer 15 to 20-minute break. In fact, that’s why this technique is helpful.

Sitting down to write for hours at a time with no end in sight is a little overwhelming, but knowing that you’re going to sit and write for 25 minutes? That’s not that hard to do! I mean, sometimes it might feel really hard to do, but it’s much easier and more manageable than just sitting down and saying, “I’m gonna write for an unknown amount of time.”

So this technique helps because it allows us to look at our larger projects in smaller chunks—smaller, less overwhelming chunks. When working on a novel or a big project, it might seem scary and overwhelming. So we distract ourselves from our fear or nervousness by going on the internet, going on TikTok, or on Facebook, and then we get distracted and stay on those sites for hours and realize our writing time is gone. So don’t get scared and don’t get overwhelmed. Just break your project up into smaller pieces.

Set a timer, and when you set that timer, make sure to turn off all distractions for 25 minutes. Turning off all distractions for an hour or two hours might seem like it’s just not going to happen. There are too many distractions in your life—your phone’s always going off, your kids are talking to you, your dog needs attention or a walk—but a 25-minute chunk with no distractions? Doable!

So, you set the timer, turn off all distractions, turn off your notifications, and just write for 25 minutes. Then you can take a five-minute break. Again, tell your kids to go away, give the dog treats, answer that text, and then put the phone aside again to start your next chunk.

After four of these little chunks—these little Pomodoros—you take a longer break of 15 to 25 minutes. Yes, our brains are easily distractible, and it might feel really hard to do this at first, but doing this technique actually helps train our brains to tune out distractions. A brain is a muscle, and just like every other muscle, it needs exercise.

So you can think of this technique as interval training for your brain.

The next tip to help you get unstuck in the middle of a project is to write a narrative from your main character’s point of view. A narrative does not mean you have to have action or dialogue. It’s more like an internal dialogue of your character. What is going through your character’s brain right now?

Take a break from the action or from worrying about what scene is next, and just write a rant or a narrative from your character’s point of view. Let them vent for a whole page, but just write! Don’t think about it too much; just start going and let the words flow.

This is kind of like a free writing exercise, but it’s still about your character; it’s still about your story and your novel. Maybe you won’t use it later, and that’s fine, but keep it in there for now, and hopefully it will help you start to move the story forward.

My last tip to help you get unstuck in the middle of a project—or in the middle of National Novel Writing Month—is to not judge yourself. This might be the hardest tip to follow yet. But if you are stuck, whether it’s for the first time in this project or the 51st time, it’s okay. It happens. We’re all going to get stuck.

What matters is that you take steps to help you get unstuck. If those steps don’t work, and you need to try something else, that’s fine, but you’re making an effort. We might judge a little bit if you’re just sitting here saying, “I’m stuck,” but that’s not gonna get you very far, and yes, we might judge you a little bit. But if you are stuck, we’re not going to judge you just for being stuck.

And if you’re taking action to get unstuck, well, there you go. Don’t judge yourself. Be easy on yourself. Even the most prolific writers get stuck. So please, please, please give yourself a break. Give yourself grace. Walk away from your project if you need to.

I talked about that in part one, which you can find linked in the comments. Just make an effort—no judging necessary! If you have tips that help you get unstuck when you’re feeling stuck, throw them in the comments. I would love to hear them, and the writing community would love to hear them.

Alright, my friends! Those are five more tips that you can use to get unstuck if you’re feeling stuck in the middle of a big project or in the middle of National Novel Writing Month. Thank you so much for listening, warriors. Don’t forget to give this video a little like, subscribe to the channel if you want to see more content like this, and hit that little notification bell so you can get notified when I have new content.

Now, go fight for your creativity!

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