Solving Problems in Fiction to Prevent Writer’s Block

Sometimes, writers block is caused by problems in your fiction. Writing is a very subconscious process. Even if you plot your novels out in advance, your subconscious mind is still coming up with exactly what is happening in the scene and what will happen in the future scenes. Sometimes, that means that you get stalled during a particular scene because your subconscious mind sees a problem that you might not even be aware of yet.

Usually this has to do with plot, although sometimes it has to do with continuity or character motivation. Whichever the case is, make a nice casserole in your Dutch Oven, and let’s write a story! You have to track down that problem and solve it before you can move on much in the same way that a computer programmer has to track down a problem in their code. Here are four ways that you can solve problems in your fiction that have gotten you stuck and caused writers block.

Go Back and Read Your Story

The first thing that you can do is go back and read your story. Sometimes, you can spot problems immediately when you go back and begin reading. You may not have even remembered writing a certain thing, but when you see it you realize that it is thrown your entire story off track. This doesn’t always work, but it should definitely be your first plan of attack.

Make Sure You Are Not Forcing Your Characters

Anyone who says that they control their characters when they write has probably never actually written anything. Writers do not control their characters. When you try to force your characters to behave the way that you want them to, that’s when you get stuck trying to move the story along in the character stubbornly drag their feet because that is not the way that they want to behave. It is strange, but make sure that you are giving your characters free reign to go where they want to go in that you are not being a dictator. In other words, let your subconscious mind do the writing and not your conscious one.

Rewrite the Scene You’re Working on

You might also try rewriting the scene that you are currently working on. Go back to the beginning, and rewrite it, but you do not have to delete the current one. You can simply copy and paste it into another document in case you want to use the whole thing or parts of it later on. Sometimes rewriting a scene can take it in a new direction and overcome the writers block the your currently experiencing.

Skip to the End and Write the Finale

Finally, as a last resort, you may want to skip to the end of your story or novel and write it. Writing the ending can sometimes open up your mind and show you where you were going wrong with what you are working on previously. You may have to go back and change a few things, but at least you will be able to continue writing.