Writer's Block Isn't One Thing: How to Get Unstuck Fast

About fourteen minutes into our conversation with author Sylvia Liu, Lisa stopped mid-thought. "Oh my God, I have to write this down," she said. Sylvia had just mentioned two words, stakes and agency, and a plot problem Lisa had been wrestling with finally clicked into place. Her words: "You just unstuck me."

That moment is the best argument for this episode. Writer's block feels like one giant wall, but Sylvia's point is that it's actually an umbrella term. It covers too many ideas and no focus, no ideas at all, the muddy middle of a novel, and the stretch where life is too loud to write. Different blocks need different tools. Here are a few of the ones she shared.

Don't pick one passion. Mash up three.

Sylvia's fix for both "too many ideas" and "no ideas" is the same: make lists. Write 20 things that are on your mind, or 50 memories you keep returning to. Then don't choose one. Combine two or three that have nothing to do with each other. Her silly example: summer camp, horseshoe crabs and ghost stories become a summer camp ghost story with horseshoe crabs. "Because you care about all those things so much, then you'll love writing about it, hopefully."

It works. Her middle grade soccer mystery grew out of a couple of years spent obsessed with the World Cup. By the time she started writing, she had the knowledge to "throw in references that I just knew about," and the story came quickly.

Protect your input

Sylvia spent a year hate-watching the news after the first Trump election. Then she turned it off and started writing her dystopian sci-fi novel, which she drafted in about five months. If you can't face your manuscript, she suggests you stop forcing the next chapter. Journal instead. "As long as you start writing," she says, you're easing back into the flow with less pressure.

Fixes for pantsers who stall around chapter three

Sylvia describes herself as more pantser than plotter, so her stalls usually land around the 20% mark. She asks two questions: What are the stakes? And is your character driving the story? Then she suggests a trick that might change how you think about your plot: take the big reveal you planned for the climax and move it to the 50% mark. "And then see what happens." Suddenly the second half of the book has to become more interesting.

Small craft tools for small moments

Craft advice doesn't have to be big-picture. Sylvia once rewrote a mother-daughter fight from the mom's point of view, and the mom's dialogue and actions got richer when she went back to the original. She also sketches mind maps with her main character at the center, draws one thumbnail per chapter with emoji to track how her character's emotions change, and uses reverse outlining in revision. In the episode she describes what each looks like, and how the Beat Sheet Calculator can flag a slow start.

Get away from the laptop

Some of Sylvia's best scene ideas arrive on walks, not at her desk. Beth agrees: leave the phone and earbuds home and let the quiet do its work. Sylvia also recommends reading as a way to rebuild focus, including an Instagram community called TBR Live, where people read quietly together once a week.

The worst advice she's heard

Her answer might surprise you. "Just put your butt in the chair and write every day," she says, can add too much pressure. Getting at your block sideways, by changing what you're doing, often sparks more energy than gritting your teeth. She also shares how a random side character, or a handful of robotic bees she planted in her sci-fi world-building, turned out to be the answer her subconscious had already seeded.

More from Sylvia

Sylvia is a former environmental attorney who now writes middle grade stories and dystopian sci-fi. Her newest book, Now That We Don't Talk, came out October 6. She also co-runs KidLit411, a resource website and active Facebook community for children's writers and illustrators, and you can find her at enjoyingplanetearth.com.

Resources and mentions

• Sylvia Liu's website: enjoyingplanetearth.com
• Sylvia's newest book, Now That We Don't Talk, released October 6
• KidLit411, a resource website and Facebook community for children's writers and illustrators (co-founded by Sylvia and Elaine Kiley Kearns in 2013)
• Beat Sheet Calculator, which maps Save the Cat beats to your word count
• TBR Live on Instagram, a weekly 30-minute group quiet-reading session

Listen to the full conversation

We only touched on a few of Sylvia's ideas here. In the full episode you'll hear how she handles deadlines, what a "zero terrible vomit draft" is, why middle grade word counts keep shrinking, and why you should keep a close eye on your secondary characters. Hit play on this week's episode of Writers With Wrinkles, and tell us what unsticks you.