Ask the Author: Tyler Hayes
Answered Questions (1)
Tyler Hayes
A three-step process:
1. See if it's just momentary and I can power through; sometimes I'm just having a case of the don't-wannas and I'll get back into the groove once I try to write.
2. If 1 doesn't work, take a step back and try to figure out what might be going wrong that isn't directly related to the WIP. Am I exhausted? Did I deal with a trauma trigger today? Is something stressing me out? Am I in pain? Sometimes writer's block is really just my system needing some time to recover and to come back to writing later.
3. If I'm sure nothing in 2 is an issue, I think about what about the WIP is causing me trouble. Usually writer's block hits me because I know on some level that something in the WIP is wrong -- that I've written myself into a corner, or a scene isn't adding enough to the story, or a character's motivation is flimsy, etc. I try to make myself confront that and determine what needs to be changed at whatever level it actually needs to be made at. Sometimes, that answer is sadly "this whole story is a problem," but at least I've figured that out before I invested too much time!
1. See if it's just momentary and I can power through; sometimes I'm just having a case of the don't-wannas and I'll get back into the groove once I try to write.
2. If 1 doesn't work, take a step back and try to figure out what might be going wrong that isn't directly related to the WIP. Am I exhausted? Did I deal with a trauma trigger today? Is something stressing me out? Am I in pain? Sometimes writer's block is really just my system needing some time to recover and to come back to writing later.
3. If I'm sure nothing in 2 is an issue, I think about what about the WIP is causing me trouble. Usually writer's block hits me because I know on some level that something in the WIP is wrong -- that I've written myself into a corner, or a scene isn't adding enough to the story, or a character's motivation is flimsy, etc. I try to make myself confront that and determine what needs to be changed at whatever level it actually needs to be made at. Sometimes, that answer is sadly "this whole story is a problem," but at least I've figured that out before I invested too much time!
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