Writer’s Block 2: What if you are at a plot impasse or you can’t come up with the next paragraph?
Backtrack to a place where the writing was going well and try to spot where it took a wrong turn. Just rearranging a few sentences sometimes gets you going again. Once you realise the problem, you can work to fix it.
Many established writers leave a page, paragraph or even a sentence unfinished at the end of a writing day. Then they can pick up the thread the next day in the very thick of the action instead of having to get up to speed by kick-starting a story you’ve allowed to run down to a low ebb.
Another method to erase the fear of failure is to do something else. Try to recharge yourself with images from magazines that fit the story you are working on, or smells (for a Caribbean story go and peel a banana; for a Christmas story, sniff pine toilet cleaner!) or visit a location that fits with your fiction. It will kick-start your creativity in a pleasant way, instead of beating yourself up about your ‘failure’.
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