I don’t get “writer’s block,” which in my not humble
enough opinion is clinical depression as manifested in a writer. But I do have chapters
of what I call “writer’s drought.”
Writer’s drought is when the sentences don’t flow. When the
sentences are halting, the paragraphs come to a crawl, and the pages barely
move. The joy of being “in the zone” is nowhere to be found.
What to do? I can only speak of what I do.
The first thing I do is believe. This will pass,
and soon. That’s crucial.
And so, it does. Always. Faith is not just for the supranatural
or accepting the word of God.
The second thing I do is look around and find a device. A
device, in this case, is something that will intrigue and restart the flow of
questions. It can be an object or a photograph. It can be a sentence. Once the
questions begin to trickle in, the writing does as well.
Because, at the core, stories are asking and then answering
questions.
On the plot level, the question is, “what’s next?”
On the character’s arc, the question is, “Who or what is
driving you?”
On the theme, the question is, “Why?”
A good device bubbles up questions. The questions are like
dew drops, covering the parched surface of the writer’s drought’s shell. Before
long, it’s raining.
