Writer's Block Remedies

Try a New Perspective

This is an excellent way to add details to your plot and to further develop your characters. You might even choose to include it in your story, or maybe even create a new story with it.

First pick a section of your story that you want to work on. Maybe it's a really short chapter and you don't know what other details to add. Or maybe it's really long and you feel that it's boring. Maybe you're introducing a new character and it just doesn't seem realistic to you. It doesn't matter what the topic is, and it doesn't matter how long it is.

What you're going to do is write that section in the perspective of somebody else. It can be absolutely anybody. Most commonly, people choose another character in their novel that is directly involved in the scene. But you aren't just limited to that.

Maybe it's written in the perspective of a bystander; someone who has nothing to do with the story at all, but is witnessing the scene. What does he/she think is happening? What is he/she going to do about it, if anything? What is his/her first impressions of the characters involved?

If you're really looking for a challenge, could also use an animal or even an object to tell the story. Maybe it's the bench your characters are sitting on, the pigeon perched outside the office window, the painting on the bedroom wall.

This type of writing is very good if you have hit a road block because it really sets the scene in your mind. It cements all of the details of the plot because you're basically rewriting the same thing again, but the new perspective really gives you something to think about; how others would interpret the scene and their reaction to your characters. Even if you aren't suffering from writer's block, this is still a great thing to do to challenge yourself and build your plot.