You may be wondering how I concocted a formula for never having this author-wide phenomenon of getting stuck in one’s writing. I wish I could say it was as simple as telling you “y=mx+b”. Or wait . . . maybe it really is that simple.

First, I want to break the problem of writer’s block down. We cannot find a solution to it until the problem is clearly defined. I have determined two reasons why writer’s block exists for a storyteller (someone who writes fiction or even non-fiction stories). If these two reasons would never occur, then writer’s block would never occur, and the life of a writer would be a whole lot easier.

You have writer’s block because. . .

1: You do not know your story well enough.

2. You are not inspired/motivated to write on a certain given day.

Many people want to throw in a third reason by saying they do not have the time to write. This reason can easily be dispelled because writing does not have to take up much time from day to day. There is always some entertainment time that can be given up for the sake of writing, and every true author who truly writes books has come to terms with setting aside time to write. For us authors, if we have time to brush our teeth, then we have time to write.

The problem remains that there are still two reasons why writer’s block occurs. Let’s take a look at the first reason. If you do not know clearly what you want from a certain scene you are composing, then the chances are you will not be able to find the right words to put down on paper. There is a simple reason why this first problem keeps occurring. When you do not know your story well enough, you cannot truly envision it inside your head.

The entire purpose of an author in writing a story is to attempt to implant inside the reader’s mind the same images that the author has inside his own. If you as an author cannot see the images of your story, then it is unlikely for your reader to, either.

There is a simple fix to clearly defining the images that make up the scenes for your story. All you have to do is remember the first spark of motivation that inspired you to write your story. Whatever that spark was can be told in an image. Clearly understand that image. From there, all that needs to be done is to define the images that branch out of the first image. These images become all the scenes of your story. Doing this creates a mind-map of your story. A mind-map can easily be converted into an outline for your story.

Now that you know your story well from the images that compose your story, we still have to solve the second problem of not having inspiration/motivation to write on a given day. There are many cures for this, but I have found one cure to be particularly helpful. It’s called, “Making Writing a Habit”. As said earlier in this post, all of us professional writers have to come to terms with the fact that we write a lot. Writing a lot means writing every single day, six days a week. I confess that I do not follow this strictly in my life. However, under times when I set my teeth to complete a project, I have found this to be the only way to succeed at writing. Writing every day takes the heat off of any particular day you don’t have motivation or inspiration. On that day, you only have to write for ten minutes. More concentration can always be given on another writing day, since you’re writing six days a week.

One thing to add: If you find that you NEVER have motivation/inspiration to write, or if you USUALLY don’t have motivation/inspiration to write, this means one of two things: 1) You need to choose a different story/book topic, 2) you hate writing and therefore should not be an author.

Your fellow writer,
Joshua Reynolds