Fiction Writing Made Easy | Top Creative Writing Podcast for Fiction Writers & Writing Tips

#20: 5 Strategies for Getting Unstuck While Writing

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Aug 12, 2020

Learn how to beat writer's block by analyzing story elements and genre conventions. Find out how to create flexible outlines and evaluate narrative drive for a cohesive story. Get practical tips for enhancing your storytelling process and captivating readers in the first five pages.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block by Analyzing Story Elements

01:37 • 4min

Unpacking Genre Elements to Overcome Writer's Block

05:31 • 4min

Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block and Enhancing Narrative Flow

09:45 • 2min

Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block and Enhancing Story Structure

11:45 • 3min

In today's episode, I'm sharing my five favorite strategies for getting unstuck while writing. Here's a preview of what's included:

[01:30] If you need help pushing past the first few pages of your novel, I have a brand new workshop just for you! It's called How to Hook Readers in Your First Five Pages. Click here to learn more about the workshop or to enroll for $47.
[02:00] Strategy #1: Zoom out and look at the big picture of your story before making any micro-level changes. Answer these three questions: What's your story's main genre? What does your protagonist want and need? What's the theme of your story?
[05:25] Strategy #2: Look at the obligatory scenes and conventions of your genre for inspiration and guidance. These will help you flesh out your story and make sure it’s well structured.
[07:20] Strategy #3: Consider what kind of subplots you already have in your story and/or what kind of subplots you might want to add in. Use the obligatory scenes and conventions of your subgenre to flesh these out.
[08:35] Strategy #4:Create a flexible outline for your story that you can use as a place to explore new ideas or to capture changes you want to make to scenes you’ve already written. Update it as you go.
[10:25] Strategy #5: Evaluate the narrative drive in your existing scenes. Does each scene lead into or cause the next scene to happen in a logical way?
[12:00] Key points and episode recap.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

Understanding genre: How to write stories that work (podcast and article)
5 questions to help you write better characters (podcast and article)
3 ways to uncover the theme of your story (podcast and article)
Conventions vs. tropes: What's the difference? (podcast and article)
3 ways to create narrative drive in your story (podcast and article)
5 things that kill narrative drive (and how to fix it) (podcast and article)

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