The last few weeks I've been struggling with something most writers deal with on a semi-regular basis. This lovely uninvited guest has set up shop in my brain and is making sure to eat up any bit of inspiration that might come my way. The pest I'm talking about is, of course, the dreaded writer's block.
Writer's block is horrendous enough when it only lasts a while, but it's even worse when you're on a deadline and suddenly all the things you wanted to write about sound completely trivial and unimportant. In my own experience it's a lot easier to recover from creative writing block than journalist block. When dealing with journalist block, it can sometimes seem like there is nothing interesting happening in the world at all. Whatsoever. Sometimes it feels like there's actually a physical block in your mind keeping anything good from coming out the other end of the pencil or keyboard.
So, in an attempt to make this article slightly more useful than just me complaining about a writer's worst enemy, I'll leave you with a list of some prompts to hopefully kick out the nasty parasite for a good long while.
1. What's your favorite show (or book, or movie) right now? What makes it so amazing? You can start off with a simple list, but try to get into analyzing what about it resonates with you.
2. Go to a random news website and pick one headline that looks interesting. Read about it on different sources and try to summarize it with a new perspective.
3. Try to find some old assignments from college or high school. Pick one of them and re-write the essay. When you're done, compare it to the old one and see how your writing has changed.
4. For creative writers, go pick something you really like (say, Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead) and read some fanfiction of it. Skim through until you find a story that really excites you in the same way the original does. Reading can be a quick way to find some inspiration.
5. Go to tvtropes.org and click the button for a random trope. Find a way to use that trope in a story or article.
6. The best advice prompt I can give is to get out your computer or notebook and start writing. Pick a thought that's floating around in your head and just start writing it down, no matter how boring it seems. Keep writing until you have something you think might be worth writing about. In the words of Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Janeway, "sometimes you just have to punch your way through."
