Feeding Your Creative Beast

If you're into writing, you are going to, under all circumstances, get writer's block.

Accept that now.

Once you've accepted that, the next most important step is to NOT PANIC when you get it. You're not the only person in history to get stuck, or have their muse go on a seemingly indefinite vacation. Just take a deep breath, regroup and consider all of your options.

First off, make sure you're feeding your creativity beast. Yes, your beast requires a constant stream of sustenance, and if you're not providing it any new sources of tasty creative juices, it will turn on you, snacking on what's left of your imagination until it is distracted with new food.

As a writer, you must make sure you are also reading. Reading is a fundamental aspect of writing. Not only does it get those juices flowing, but it continues to teach you more about the art of writing and perhaps even help to hone your own writing skills. If you are already reading plenty, don't neglect other sources of inspiration- painting, music, dance, gaming... anything that tickles your fancy will help keep you inspired.

Once you've made sure you've fed the beast, you can turn to resources at your local bookstore or even online to help give you a boost. In your local bookstore's writing section you'll find a few dozen writer's block books and kits, all designed in different ways to give you a spark. Some provide exercises, some a simple word, phrase or idea to run with. After all- just because you're writing a science fiction novel doesn't mean that starting to write anything you can come up with off of the word "ball" won't apply. Perhaps you use that keyword to start talking about a ball bouncing down a flight of stairs, which leads to you alter it to be a ball of energy that powers a spaceship- and, wait! The engineer's trainee dropped it during maintenance... and if the crew doesn't get it back in storage soon, it will melt through the ship's hull! Suddenly, you're back on track- just from seeing the word "ball". Don't underestimate the appeal of randomly writing from seemingly unrelated topics!

If you want help of the free variety, there are resources online- besides countless forums and writing blogs, there are tips, tricks and aides to be found anywhere and everywhere you can search. Take some time to see what's on the net- some of it is quite valuable information!

For instance, here's a great list of tips on solving writer's block.

So remember- just because you've been staring at the same page for five hours or five days, it doesn't mean you should give up altogether. You can always get back on track in order to let your creative beast run wild.