Beat the Block and Write, Write, Write!
By Marisa Masterson
Stuck! Stuck! I know what it is like to be beaten—or nearly so—by writer’s block.
Looking at the blank page of a notebook or the white rectangle on the computer screen can be daunting. What to do when I am mentally blocked? Here are a few suggestions based on what has worked for me.
First, I want to be specific. I write Christian fiction. My recommendations work best with it rather than nonfiction.
- One thing I do when writing is to outline 3-5 events I want to happen in each chapter. I consider where I am in the plot. What do my characters need to do or reveal to advance the story? This idea is not unique to me. My writing mentor taught me this when I made the decision to write my first book in 2019.
If possible, I outline the entire book’s events in a notebook. How do I know what will happen in my book? It all goes back to my book blurb.
- Before I write the blurb, I create two sentences to describe the plot as a whole. Remember those interrogatives from your school days—Who? What? Where? When? I concentrate on those four question words to draft a brief summary of the book.
Working from that, I expand to create the blurb. Without giving away the last half of the book, I create a blurb to introduce the hero and heroine of my book as well as the conflict which will drive the plot. This will help me when I am stuck for what happens in my story.
Allow me to share an example of this from my own writing. The book is Hotfooting from Hawthorne—a sweet romance in the Pioneer Brides of Rattlesnake Ridge series. It is my current work in progress. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D49LQR1F)
Ginny witnesses a murder while waiting for a train. She and her young charge run straight into the arms of an unknown protector, but will he give them a place to hide? These are the two sentences I began with and then went on to write the blurb.
Look at how much more specific the details about the plot become. Those are what help me later if I cannot think what to write:
She is a woman with trouble hot on her trail and a child at her side. He is a rancher who handles his Colt revolver with more skill than he does emotions.
Who can love orphans? Ginny struggles with this question even as she witnesses a murder that sends her on the run unwittingly toward the answer to her question.
Ginny Maxwell has one child left as she waits at a train depot in Hawthorne, Nevada. The others left one by one as the orphan train traveled farther west. She wanted to believe each had found homes where they would be clothed and fed. She could not hope for them to be loved. Growing up as a foundling, she knew adults rarely wasted affection on orphans.
While she and the unclaimed orphan wait for the eastern bound train that would take them back to Chicago, their lives change with one slash of a shiny knife. A man stabs a lone woman waiting on the platform. At Ginny’s gasp, he realizes she and the little boy have seen him.
A frantic race to escape begins, and desperation sends them into the back of a tarp-covered wagon. Hiding there, she hears the whistle. They missed their train and are stuck with a killer on their trail.
Deke Ramsey struggles with the day to day needs of his new ranch. He has put his days as a bounty hunter behind him. The man does not want the trouble he discovers when he throws back the tarp and finds stowaways in his wagon. He is hard put to ignore the child’s pleading gaze or the woman’s tempting promise to keep house for him.
What starts as an innocent arrangement will put him in the path of a killer and a group of do-gooders from the surrounding ranches. Will a forced marriage end in a happy family or with a dead wife and child.
Notice the italics at the end. While the end of the story has not been included in this outline of the plot, it is hinted at with the last questions.
- Beyond the book blurb, I also use answers to a series of questions about my main characters when I am stuck. I answer the question before I begin, writing as much as I can for each. It works as my brainstorming for better character development.
I want to make it clear that I did not invent the list of questions. It is from a book by Susan May Warren, The Story Equation. This book ranks as the most helpful guide I have read about the writing process—and that is coming from a woman who taught literature and writing! (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1943935114)
While I cannot include all of Warren’s key character questions in this blog post, I do want to highlight three of them. I make it a point to explore the hero and heroine’s darkest moments in life, their chief flaws, and lies they believe about themselves or about others close to them. These will drive the conflict later oneon. If you are interested, I encourage you to look for The Story Equation. The questions are broken down and explained in greater deal in the book.
One last thought on beating writer’s block—do not give in to perfectionism. You are better off writing something, even if you feel it is lacking than staring at a blank page. The scenes you put down in a notebook or type into your laptop can be revised and reworked. Nothing will come from, well, nothing! I suggest and encourage you to get those words scribbled down for future editing whether they are exactly what you want or not.
As a successful indie author once told me, “Keep your butt in the chair and write!” While writing is demanding work, it leads to great satisfaction for many—both for the writers and for the readers who also benefit.
To me, nothing is quite as satisfying as seeing one of my books in the top fifty titles of one of Amazon’s categories. I wish the same impressive results for you as well.
About the Guest Blogger
The smiling teacher, that’s what her students called this Michigan author. Marisa Masterson spent twenty-two years teaching writing and literature and loving almost every minute of it. After she had to stop teaching on top of the desks because of a disability, she wondered how she could still impact others.
Fast forward to 2024. She loves the connection she has found with readers after writing fifty-five books. In fact, she would love to connect with you as well.
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