What to do when the blank screen gets the best of you

Every novel, article, or non-fiction book starts the same way. As a writer with an idea in their heads, staring at either a blank computer screen or piece of paper, and every time we want to write something new we are faced with that same blank screen. Sometimes the words flow, sometimes they don’t. So what do you do when the blank screen staring back at you gets the best of you?

I’ve heard a lot of different things about what to do to get the creative juices, and words, flowing when you’re stuck. Here are some of my favorites:

Edit: I really like this one because I love to edit. Before I start writing something new each day I go back an edit what I wrote yesterday. This gets me into my story again, reminds me what was going on when I left off, and what I’m hoping is coming next. It’s a good way to reconnect with my characters and get inside their heads again before I try to take them somewhere new.

Pray: Don’t just pray in your head though. Write or type out your prayer. Just let the words come as you think them. “Lord I don’t know where to start today” is a great place to begin. Tell God about your struggles; pour them onto the page. By the time you’re finished you may find your story comes to you.

Read: I write fiction so when I get stuck sometimes I turn to one of my favorite novels. I’m not really looking for ideas, I’m just trying to get my mind off of anything that is distracting me and step into a fictional world. By reading for twenty or so minutes I can relax and get into the right frame of mind to be creative instead of worrying about the kids, the bills, and everything else on my plate.

Skip the scene: A good friend of mine suggested this and I have found this is the one that works best for me. When I come up against a scene that just won’t come to me I skip it and I write one of the scenes that comes later in my novel. One that I have just had burning in my head for a while, one that I know how I want it to look. Once I get that one out of my head I can usually go back to the scene I was stuck on and bang that one out as well.

Do some more research: Sometimes I have a scene in my head that just isn’t ringing true. If I am really stuck I will go back and look at pictures of my settings, check my notes on my characters, even go online and double check some of my facts to make sure I have everything right. This helps me to get the scene straight and will usually help the words to flow.

Find an accountability partner: Having someone to challenge me with word counts and actually being checked on to see if I have accomplished those word counts helps to get me moving when I am stuck and just want to zone out of Facebook.

Most of the time one of these technique will get me moving on something I am stuck on. Sometimes I have to do more than one, such as edit and research, or read and pray. The key is not to get discouraged. Find one or a combination that works for you.

I had the pleasure of meeting Heather at a writing conference a few years back. The thing that strikes me the most about Heather is her wit and her dedication to balancing her writing and her family without making undue sacrifices that would result in the neglect of one or the other, all while striving to bring honor to her Lord. -Jen

Heather Kreke is an avid reader and hopes to inspire teens to seek God’s will for their lives through her writing. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and two young daughters.  

Reading or Writing: Which would you choose?

My Twitter feed is filled mostly with agents, writers, and publishing houses. It’s one of the easiest ways for me to keep up with book trends, what’s new in the publishing industry, and it’s a great way to find some new ideas for my own writing. I also love following the discussions of fellow word lovers about their writing habits and how often they fill their coffee cup throughout the day. On occasion someone will post a question that leads me to ponder an answer that is longer than the 140 characters I have to respond. I saw one such Tweet earlier this week.

The question presented was, if I had to give up either writing or reading, which would I choose. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one this question gave pause to. In fact, the responses she retweeted proved that. Rather than responding immediately, I decided to think about it a while.

I’ve taken breaks from both over the years, but after a short period I’ve always come running back. As I’ve said in previous posts, writing isn’t just a creative outlet for me. It’s how I process thoughts, work through struggles, and deal with conflicting emotions. It’s far easier for me to express myself with a pen than it is to speak the words. Writing is how I think.

Reading on the other hand is more than just a pastime. I use it to garner new information (or as a friend would say, add more useless trivia to my already endless recollection). Reading plays a pivotal role in how I understand the world in which I live. It also stretches me by presenting me with new ideas and concepts. Reading is how I learn.

Having to choose one over the other is like asking me which hand I would prefer to keep. I rely heavily on both.

Which would I pick: reading or writing?

When it comes down to it, I could find other ways to express myself if I needed to. I could learn to paint, dance, or polish the flute that’s been sitting unused in my closet since I graduated from college. It wouldn’t be the same, but I could learn to adapt given time. It might even be good for me.

Learning requires more than simply relying on hearsay. It demands diligence, study, and looking at actual sources. There are places I’ll never be able to visit, experiments I can never perform, but biographies and diaries can give me a glimpse at what others have spent lifetimes discovering. Coupled with that is the fact that I can re-read a book and still enjoy it more often than I can re-watch the same movie. Books leave more to the imagination.

While this isn’t a real decision I have to make, it did challenge me to take a good look at myself and I gained some interesting insights as a result. Anything I will write or say has been said before in some form or another — in pretty much every case, far more eloquently than I’d ever present it. It also reminded me I’d run out of things to say long before I could soak up a fraction of the knowledge of those who came before me. So when it comes down to it, I decided I prefer to learn as much as I can, and not just about writing. Perhaps if I’m lucky I’ll be able to pass on a nugget of knowledge succinctly enough that it will aid another seeker on her own journey.