Writer's Block, oh the bane of the creative mind. Oh the foolish crap we fill our heads with.
There's no such thing as Writer's Block. What you're suffering from is a lack of planning or fear… or a fear that you haven't planned well enough. But you can overcome it! Here are three things to think about:
1. Basic Story Idea. What's your book about? You should be able to answer this in a paragraph. I'm not talking about details or world or concept. I'm talking about the truly basic "My book is about a boy who saves the kingdom from an evil sorcerer." If you can't write it in a nutshell, you're not ready yet for narrative.
2. Beginning, middle and end. Do you know your ending? What happens in the middle? Even if your ending is as simple as "Hero saves the world from utter destruction", that's an ending you might not have thought of before. Of course, as you start to work your way backwards, you might end up refining your ending to have more details. Try writing it out in a simple list, like this:
Beginning: Boy's family is killed by sorcerer. Orphaned boy is adopted by ex-soldier, who trains him to be a fighter.
Middle: Boy thinks he can kill sorcerer, although he's far from ready, and nearly gets killed himself. Mentor dies saving boy's life. Boy is saved from death by sorcerer's apprentice who want to team up for revenge.
End: Boy and apprentice save the world!
3. Characters' goals: what do they want, why do they want it, what will they do once they get it? Again, if you can't answer these things, you have work to do.
Boy wants to kill the sorcerer who murdered his family. He thinks revenge is a way of honoring his family, as taught by his ex-soldier mentor (soldier has his own list of goals). If boy succeeds in killing sorcerer, boy will have achieved life's goal and he hasn't thought what he'll do when he's done. But boy will find family and love by the end of the book softening his lust for vengeance and giving him a choice for a more fulfilling life.
If you already know the highlights of plotting--you have a beginning, middle and end, you know your characters--and you're still stuck in a chapter, try doing this:
a. Take away something your character wants. Or give it to them, but upon receipt, new problems appear. This is a good way to keep the action moving forward to the inevitable conclusion. Hero needs to get magical item (sword, stone, pendant, etc.). Maybe he gets it, but it's cursed or maybe it's not exactly what he needs because he believed a lie. Maybe the item is exactly what he needs, but his trusted friend is actually a double agent and steals it from him.
b. Kill a major character. That should shake things up.
c. Dial back on your world building/concept explaining. Don't get bogged down in your world at the expense of your plot. Keep it simple by thinking What happens next?
I like the image of dominoes. For every tile you set up, you're adding to your picture. When the reader turns to page one, the reader starts a chain reaction that will reveal your picture when they're done. Satisfying and lovely.
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