Goodreads asked Brenda Marie Smith:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Brenda Marie Smith Good question. Depends on what kind of writer's block I'm having. If it's simply a matter of not feeling in the flow of writing, I just write anyway, knowing that I can always come back later and punch it up, and that getting the story down in any kind of way at least gives me a starting point to work from. Writing is rewriting, so any writing, however poor, is not time wasted.

Now, if I'm having trouble deciding what should happen next in the story, I may take a day or two to think it through. Sometimes I make little hand-written charts or outlines. Sometimes I do some research. Often I seek the advice of other writer friends of mine. A writing group is invaluable -- people you can trust to be straight with you and help you polish and improve your work. And often in these cases, I just pick a direction and write it. I might write more than one scenario, then I compare and contrast until I figure it out to my satisfaction.

flag