Fighting back at Writer's Block

I don't believe in writer's block.

That's a sentiment that I'm sure you often hear touted around writing communities, but it's of absolutely no help at all if you happen to think you suffer from the (make believe) affliction. The reason why I say I don't believe in it is because I can always think of something to write about -- it's just that often those ideas are a load of shit. And then beyond that, the hard part is doing the actual time consuming writing. Face it, if you really want to write about something and you put aside the fear of writing about rubbish, you could churn out a thousand words right now about how your dog likes to sniff everything. Problem is, it wouldn't be interesting.

But lo an behold, my foolproof, patented method for thinking of story or article ideas is here to the rescue. I very much doubt that I'm the first person to think of such a technique, but I know that it works.


The 1-100 Technique

I came up with this idea while I was trying to think of interesting ways to teach descriptive language in the high-school where I work. The pupils were set the task of writing a piece which would include as many interesting movement based verbs as possible. Prior to this, I got the pupils trying to list 100 different movement verbs to use as a word bank for their writing piece.

Obviously these lists started off with "walk", "run", "jump", and so on and they then evolved into much more eclectic and descriptive choices, "ooze", "bound", "trundle" once the easy ones had been used up. By the time you get to 100 you've been concentrating so much and letting your mind jump so far around the subject that you pull out the most bizarre ideas.

So anyway, this works wonders when you're trying to think up ideas for a story. Jot down the numbers 1-100 on some sheets of paper (you'll probably need a couple of lines for each one) and then start writing down the first story ideas that come to mind and try not to stop until you reach that golden three-figure number. Start off with the easy and shitty ideas (those ones that come easily) and see where you end up.

You'll find you work your way through themes and ideas in big chunks and come up with the most unorthodox prompts, which may just prove to be your saving grace when you are faced with an empty word document or notebook.

Like I said, start off with narrative ideas. Perhaps go for a list of "What if?" scenarios:

What if...?
1. Humans lived in alien zoos
2. The sun exploded
3. We could cure physical disability

Or perhaps try a list of different character professions or traits:

1. A baseball player
2. A pawnbroker
3. A kleptomaniac

Or interesting objects or interesting places or interesting historical events. Who knows what gems you'll dig up.