The Secrets to Overcoming Writer’s Block.

In the article, Top Ten Tips When Writing for the Entertainment Medium,
we discussed 10 sure-fire ways to get you motivated and to jumpstart a successful writing experience. I hope you found them interesting and useful. 

As promised on #8, Discover the secrets to overcome writer’s block, I could not do this topic justice in just a blurb. So here we go. 

What is writer’s block?
Have you ever sat down to write and the white screen or page makes your mind go blank. This happens to everyone more often than you think. What if I were to tell you there are at least 3 ways to overcome this problem if you find yourself in this situation. We are going to assume that you are writing a narrative with characters and situations, but the techniques below can also be modified for non-fiction categories as well.

Have you heard of the Tagline, What if or Can, and the One to Two Sentence Scenario. These are all shortcuts to get you writing immediately even if you have writer's block. Let’s start with the Tagline.

The Tagline:
Think of a catchphrase that captures the essence of your story. Usually, it expresses a theme/plot or main action in your story. You typically either see this flashed onscreen or hear it said in a movie trailer.

Some examples:

• In space, no one can hear you scream.

• Two men; a thousand bullets.

• They were 7 and they fought like 700.

• You will never go into the water again.

• You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.

• One ring to rule them all.

Take a moment, relax your mind, and think of some interesting taglines. Here is what I came up with:

• Mind over dark matter.

• The ultimate warrior has met his match.

• Man versus machine in the afterlife.

• A one-way ticket to nowhere.

What If or Can:
Take a statement and use “what if” or “can” in front. This creates another unique variation on the tagline. You may find some of the examples very familiar.

Examples:

• What if an asteroid 30 miles long hit the earth?

• What if a gun had a soul?

• What if machines became smarter than man?

• Can a young boy with psychic powers save the earth from destruction?

• Can an ogre find the love of his dreams when rescuing a beautiful princess?

• Can a Kung-fu master defeat a steel-plated android?

• What if you could travel at the speed of thought?

• What if you could live forever?

• They say we only use 10% of our brain capacity. What if you had instant access to the other 90%

The One-Two Sentence Scenario:
Can you encapsulate your idea in one to two sentences? With most good ideas you can. This is the main element that drives your story. You might recognize some of these examples.

Examples:

• An average boy must defeat the jock at the sports competition to win the girl of his dreams.

• A man accidentally acquires the power of a spider

• A teen race car driver must face-off with an evil millionaire in the race of death.

• Insects outwit humans in a battle for survival.

• A computer virus saves the world from destruction.

• A celestial phenomenon makes a man super smart.

Now that you have a start point for your idea, what is next? You will need to flesh out the concept with more info. A good story requires who, what, when where, how, and why. A fiction narrative requires a beginning, middle, and end (3 act structure), a hero and villain, the inciting incident/conflict that gets the story in motion, and some kind of resolution that causes the hero to change.

Below is an example of a worksheet breakdown using the What-if or Can approach. It was complete in the classroom by students in under an hour.
Asks the right questions, then find the answers. Flesh out the rest.

What if there is life on Mars?

What type of life?
A micro-organism. It’s deadly to humans and spreads rapidly.

When is the story taking place?
In the future.

Type of genre?
Science Fiction / Horror.

Setting?
A space station orbiting Mars.

What are the characters?
A brilliant scientist (hero)
His female assistant (possible love interest)
An evil general (villain)
A team of covert –ops

The military has discovered a micro-organism on Mars that, if injected into a human host gives you super strength and telekinetic powers. The downside is that it destroys the host within three months. A brilliant scientist uncovers the plot thanks to help from his assistant.

Conflict: They must outwit the evil general and his team of covert-ops who have been injected with the organism.

Resolution: Do they win or lose?
They win.

How?
The scientist creates an anti-virus serum.

What change does the hero go through?
The scientist who was pro-military has a change of heart when the evil general infects his assistant. The assistant who was envious of the scientist's mental prowess must rely on his intelligence and her own wits to stay alive.

At this point, it is just a matter of getting the sequence of events in the right order for maximum impact. Hopefully, these techniques will help you create some unique ideas of your own. For non-fiction creators, you could generate ideas from your life, the experience of others, articles /news topics, or historic events using the same techniques.

Please respond to this post if you have some tips that we have missed or had feedback you would like to share. We would love to hear from you. If you liked this, stay tuned for more to come.

Want more tips? Check out these below
Overcoming Writer's Block Part II
The Top Ten Tips When Writing for the Entertainment Medium
Types of Story and Why it Matters
Character Types Will Make Or Break Your Story
The Importance of Plot and Subplot

Enjoy!