The question I’m always asking is: what is going to work to help get this author back on track to complete their novel draft or revision?

Feeling stuck, writer’s block, or a sense of overwhelm is pretty common in the self-editing and revising stages, and even when you are drafting, flow gets stuck and finding momentum can be hard.

I’ve been working through some creativity coaching materials recently and some great ideas came up!

Here are some ideas to consider:

The Box Strategy

The theory goes if we have too much freedom we get overwhelmed with everything we could do, so putting some limitations gives our brains something to push against and we can come up with ideas because we have some boundaries on what we can’t do.

Genre, for example, acts as a limitation on our creativity. We know we won’t be bumping off all the characters in a romance and a historical has limits due to what was invented and available at the time.

Try out some of these limitations on your current or future story worlds and see how they spark ideas for you.

You have to kill off one of your characters…

You have to explain the story in 10 words… (that’s mean, how about 100?)

Your story is limited to one location…

You have to write dialogue from the POV of a different character in the scene

You are forbidden from using articles (a, the, an) or adverbs for a whole page

You can only include setting details that you can find in your writing space

Hopefully you can see this could be really fun, and also endless! Having boundaries can help and if it helps you overcome the blank page or revision wobbles, I hope you can find a way through.

In the current climate, it can be hard to maintain momentum and our creative spirits might feel a touch battered and bruised. As with habits and changes in life, it’s usually best to aim for teeny tiny changes instead of mega lurches. I like the ideas of Micro-Shifts: Write just 10 words, sketch a setting location for one minute, or write for 5 mins only.

Microscopic dopamine hits and a sense of getting something creative done today. And then try again tomorrow!

Artistic habits and practices are built up over time and you don’t have to write every day, or hit x number of words each week: be kind to yourself.

Practice care and self-compassion. It’s not a race and most deadlines are often self-imposed and arbitrary (of course there are real deadlines in publishing!) but take it slow when you can.

And with that, you don’t have to do it alone!

This week, I’ve had a trio of excellent coaching sessions: talking, supporting, and boosting authors, with a critical eye, and a desire to bring the best out of their stories.

Feel free to reach out and I might be able to help with your specific creative writing concerns!

Image by Alexa from Pixabay