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Just realized my writer's block fix came from a fortune cookie
I was stuck on a short story for two weeks, couldn't get past the first page. I got Chinese takeout last Friday and my fortune said 'A strange visitor will bring the answer.' So I wrote that a talking raccoon showed up at my main character's door. It was dumb, but I kept going just to see what happened. That silly raccoon actually led me into the plot I needed. Has anyone else used something that random to kickstart a story?
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caseyl188d ago
That reminds me of a writer using song lyrics as chapter titles.
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marktorres8d ago
My last novel's whole middle part came from a misread street sign. I saw "Dead End" but my brain read "Deaf End" and I built a whole neighborhood where sound just vanished. It's wild how our brains can grab onto the wrong thing and make it right. That's kind of like what @caseyl18 said about song lyrics, using something outside your head to trick the thinking part. The fortune cookie gave you permission to be silly, and that broke the serious block. I keep a jar of random objects on my desk now just to shake things up when I'm stuck.
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