Update: July 20, 2019 Writer’s Block

I am not writing my WIP straight through on a timeline, as if telling a story orally. Usually, I write down scenes or notes about scenes as they come to me, then I insert them into the proper point in the story later. I have also learned to use a rough outline, which I didn’t need for short stories. These two tactics help with the occasional bouts of writer’s block. If I cannot dream up something for one scene, I pick another point in the novel or a scene for which I have notes and start there. In essence, I take what military strategists term the path of “least resistance”. If I am blocked at one point, I go around it to another point that I can overcome easily.

Author: Phil Slattery

Publisher, Rural Fiction Magazine; publisher, The Chamber Magazine; founder, the Farmington Writers Circle. I have written short stories and poetry for many years. In my careers as a Naval officer and in the federal government, I have written thousands of documents of many types. I am currently working on a second edition for my poetry collection and a few novels. View all posts by Phil Slattery