I couldn’t decide what to write about this week. I had two ideas I was working on but neither seemed sufficiently complete and so I’m going for a third topic – all about where to start.
Now this doesn’t mean where to begin a story as such – it’s more about how to break through writer’s block, and how to get ideas onto a piece of paper. So here are a few techniques have worked for me. I hope some of them work for you, and if you have a great technique please share it in the comments!
1. Buy a really nice notebook. Or, if money’s tight, ask for one as a present for your birthday/Christmas/Eid/whenever you might be given presents! Most of my notebooks are just tatty and scruffy, cheap things, but when I’m really stuck, or having a really bad writing week, I sometimes like to dig out a lovely hardback book, with thick pages and a magnetic cover or a little envelope in the back to store cuttings etc. It makes me feel like the words I am writing have a high value.
2. Buy the nicest pens you can afford. If you write things down, it’s far better to have something that doesn’t smudge, isn’t scratchy and makes you write clearly/neatly. It looks better and for me at least that means it feels better. Your pen also needs to feel good in your hand. You can write with pencil but it doesn’t stand the test of time so type up notes made in pencil as soon as you can. That leads on nicely to number 3…
3. Type up notes. I’ve said before that I’ve written pieces based on old notes that I’d forgotten about, so having notes available to read through every so often in an easy format may give you just the idea you’ve been looking for. If you don’t want to type them up, put them all somewhere safe and easy to reach.
4. Have a defined writing space. You don’t always have to write there – I certainly move about a lot – but it’ll be the go-to place when you’re stuck to put you in the right frame of mind. If you have no room at home, you could go to a cafe, the library or a pub, a park – wherever works for you, and makes you think writerly thoughts!
5. Use your senses. Take pictures of scenes you’d like to describe, or listen to music to put you in a certain mood, or use oils or room spray or perfume/aftershave to set a scene. Sometimes it’ll trigger a useful memory or set a train of thought in progress that will help get you on track. And if not, it’ll make your writing experience more enjoyable.
6. Use colour to trick your mind. Sometimes, I write in a different colour pen, or on different colour paper, to change my perspective. If something isn’t working, for whatever reason, changing the way it looks can make me see it differently. Also, when writing on screen I use tracking which automatically changes things from black to red or green when I make amendments.
7. Take a break. I say it over and over again – anything can be research for a writer, from walking down a street to going to the gym to climbing a mountain. Taking a break from thinking about your work is helpful to clear your mind, but may also lead to something entirely new – a different direction that you weren’t expecting.
So there’s a few ideas to try on those troublesome days – let me know how you get on with them if you try them out.
Happy writing,
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
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