FountainPen320px-Stipula_fountain_penWhat writer hasn’t had to deal with writer’s block from time to time? There’s plenty of advice out there to help get over it, but this piece on Mythcreants has some of the best advice I’ve recently seen. If something seems to be bogging down your story, the problem might not be you—it might be your story. The article is full of helpful tips on troubleshooting to find that out, and how to deal with it if it turns out to be the case..

The simplest way to find out if the problem is in your story is to try writing another story. If the other story works just fine, then that’s a sure sign of where the problem might be. After that, you need to figure out the nature of the problem—is it something about your character, or your plans for the story that need changing? Or have you just lost interest?

It’s common for writers to stop working on stories simply because they lose interest in them altogether. If you are unmotivated to work on your story, ask yourself if this is a regular occurrence. Does it happen for most stories you write or just this one? If it’s a common pattern, do some troubleshooting to retain interest in your stories. If not, ask yourself, why am I losing interest in this story? How is it different from the stories that retained my interest?

It might even be an issue with neither the story nor your interest, but perhaps your work habits are getting in the way or your mindset needs changing. Perhaps you need to get more sleep, or simply take a break for a while.

This article is full of helpful advice, and I’ll definitely be bookmarking it for later use if it should turn out I need it.

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