Tricks for overcoming Writer’s Block

I haven’t found much time to write today so today’s post will have to be a shortie. I’ve decided to share some of the tricks I use to overcome the Writer’s Block or being stuck in more general terms.

My foremost trick in overcoming Writer’s Block aka perfectionist streak is to always put square brackets around the passage that I’m writing. This is my method of tricking my brain into thinking that I’m writing a rough draft and then I will just write. Else my perfectionist streak always come to the fore and messes around with my head creating the impression that I have to put down the perfect wordings for a particular passage. Other people might prefer to use dot point lists, type using a different font, different colour etc. but you get the general idea there.

My second trick, used whenever the cause of the Writer’s Block isn’t my own perfectionist streak but rather some part of the story that is still in the nebulous of my mind aka not well defined yet, then I start asking questions of myself on particular points. Then ta-ta, the answers usually come straight after my typed question. Sometimes, I don’t get just one answer but a few alternative ones. Then I get to sift through them and pick one that I like more.

Sometimes I also find that if I close the Word doc that I’m working on and go to do a random writing exercise, then the Writer’s Block goes away by itself.

These are all the tricks that I’ve discovered so far. Others are welcome to leave comments about what other tricks that one could use to combat the Writer’s Block.

 

Moonlake’s Lyrics (7)

Today I will be sharing a set of lyrics that has an archaic Chinese theme for no other reason besides that I personally like it. Others might or might not be able to use it as an inspiration prompt. Also, my translation might be somewhat off given the archaic theme but I did my best. To give it a little context, the song is actually written for a TV drama starring a famous beauty in the era known as the Period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. For those with some knowledge on this period, this beauty was the daughter-in-law of Cao Cao (a feudal lord having the strongest kingdom in that period and considered a villain but his kingdom was the one that eventually triumphed over the other two). Specifically, she was married to the eldest surviving son of Cao Cao but reputedly she came to a bad end and the younger brother of her husband wrote a poem dedicated to her. In this poem, she was likened to a Goddess of a particular river.

The title of this song translates to Fairy within Water. Its lyrics is follows:

Long river, sunset, sparse flowers

The sad bird within its shell left its land of birth

How could the *streams and mountains be more lovely than you

Your beauty and virtue shower the land

A fairy within water who has her eyebrows lightly done

Wandering in a solitary boat for the sole purpose of having a look

The mortals are just waiting for one smile of yours

A hundred species of flowers are flowering for a thousand miles

Amidst a time of discord               Broken hearted dream

Yet floating shadows like pain but hasn’t started to hurt yet

Flower amidst a time of discord

Used up half of a life but love not yet thick

Love hard to promise                        Broken hearted tears

Begrudge autumn sights for being about to recede but not yet receded

Flower amidst a time of discord

Chasing the flowing waters back and forth alone

Bright eyes like snow that reflecting a true heart

Temporarily ask new rain on empty mountain

Saying farewell to a smile of yours today

Makes life and death leave its own regrets

The wind asks

Does *fragrant grass evoke hatred or not
*1. Streams and mountains also mean the Crown, referring to the land under one’s dominion

2. fragrant grass can refer to women, or rather, women who touch one’s heart, snippet from the Chinese phrase “where in the world are there not fragrant grasses?” that basically means you can always find another love.

Writer’s Tool: Palm Cards

I am sure that a lot of writers use palm cards as an organisation tool and different people use it in different ways. In this way I’m just discussing my particular usage of them.

To be honest, I started using them when I got stuck on a particular scene. I had a gut feeling that I needed it but when I actually tried to write it, something just felt wrong. After doing a Google search on getting stuck and writer’s block, I decided to act on one piece of advice I came across which was to do a plot sketch using a medium different to the one you usually use to write with. For me, that would be my PC and I suspect that’s the mode of operation for most writers nowadays. Anyways, so I tried to act on this advice and decided to use palm cards since I just happened to have a stack of them sitting on the top shelf of my computer desk and I knew that I would just be replicating what I do on my PC if I take out a notebook (For some reason, I’m tempted to either write straight paragraphs on blank pages like a blank Word document or a blank page of a notebook or dot point lists are in reality just dot point sentence lists with the starting noun removed).

And then magic happened. Something clicked in my brain and told me that I should write on each palm card:

  • A one-liner summarising the main event in a section. Underneath the one-liner, dotpoints on sub-events
  • A listing of the side-plots and plot hooks for the section
  • Thoughts from self and beta reader about what to fix

I write these three things in different colours so that each section stands out. For the particular novel series that I’m working on, each book covers 4 palm cards. I stick them onto a single notebook page in subsequent order so that it functions as a de facto whiteboard.

I’m very happy to result on that particular incidence, this exercise told me that the scene was definitely needed. Having that secure in my mind, my brain told me straight away that the weirdness I had detected was I had failed to create in my own mind and hence could not put down on paper the motivations for the conflict occurring in this particular scene. Also, my main take-away from was that if you feel really stuck, then tweaking the way you are approaching your writing might make all the difference.

Now, extrapolating outside of that particular incidence, I found that this palm card story board that I had created was also particularly useful for me in that it helped me to keep track of the various plots and plot hooks going on not just within the current novel I’m working on but across books (I think I’ve mentioned that I’m a side-plot maniac and I have planned all these hooks that link up events across Chapters, sometimes even across books, so yeah I have a tendency to lose track of them even when I usually do a Chapter skeleton before actually writing. My beta reader definitely alerted me that this is inherent in my writing).

So, I’m sure that’s only one use for palm cards. Feel free to leave comments on the alternative ways for which you have used palm cards as a writer’s tool.

Random writing (14)

The following is derived from flipping to a random page of a fiction and taking the new line that I see.

Prompt used:

“Get off me! Can’t a man be drunk once in a while? I ask you. Tonight of all nights.”

 

“Get off me! Can’t a man be drunk once in a while? I ask you. Tonight of all nights.”

“Of course you can. You can de drunk tonight and every night afterwards if you so wish to.” Tristan said in a cool voice and released his hold on Gabriel, who promptly fell down to become a drunken heap.

Tristan did not move or speak, merely kept his soulful glance on the fleshy ball that Gabriel had become, all his limbs curled up around his abdomen, a posture of utter vulnerability crying out for protection.

After a while, Gabriel uncurled himself and glared up at Tristan. “What do you want of me? Why does the world still want me? I don’t.”

Moonlake’s Lyrics (6)

For my 2nd post of today, I would share the lyrics of another song also by the title of “Wide sea and broad sky”. This one is in Mandarin and a newer song. Personally, I like the other one slightly more (probably because it’s in my mother tongue and anyway I like old songs more). Both are rock songs but the other one is more soft rock, I guess. Anyway, both songs have a similar theme.

I have once suspected                                                   I am walking in a desert

No matter what dream I sowed                                it never grew to fruition

I have barely opened my wing                                   when the wind turned silent

Being used to injuries and hurts                                                is that considered a gain

Fortunately for me                                                          I have never turned back

Finally I discover                                                               that truly there are oases

Having shed sweats                                                        life becomes profound/dignified

Only after walking through dejection can one see a new universe

# Wide sea and broad sky                                            after having been courageous

Have to use dedication                                                  to break the lock of destiny

Those who are callous                                                   thank you for having looked down on me

You make me learn how to not lower my head  living more spectacularly

In front of the window in the small hour                               after losing sleep for the whole night

Seeing the dawn                                                              already rising its head from the clouds

The sunset is lying low (as in the process)             The sunrise is the ripening

If it is light then it would be brilliant for sure

Repeat #

Wide sea and broad sky                                                                after wild wind and heavy draught

Turning back my head                                                    smiling and letting go of past sadness

Those who understand me best                                               thanks for silently accompanying me all this way

Letting me have good stories to tell

Watching the future                                                       arriving step by step

Moonlake’s Lyrics (5)

Today I’m going to share the lyrics of another classic aka old Cantonese song that is inspiring. The title of the song translates to “Wide sea and broad sky”, a term used to describe how open and wide nature (the world) is.

Today I                 watch the snows drift by on a cold night

Drift to far away with a heart that is gradually cooling

Chasing amidst wind and rain     cannot distinguish between shadows and tracks

Broad sky and wide sea,               you and I             would they change (who isn’t changing)

How many times              facing cold stares and contemptuous laughter

Never once given up the ideals within my heart

Momentarily absent-minded     the feeling of seemingly lost something

Has already inadvertently grown dim      the love within my heart (who understands me)

*Forgive me for having lived my entire life with uninhabited indulgence and loving freedom

Yet I’m also afraid that I will fall down one day

Anyone can turn his back on ideals

Why would I be afraid that it would just be me and you one day

Still free and self-centred

Always singing my song aloud    walked through a thousand miles

Repeat *

Anyone can turn his back on ideals

Why would I be afraid that it would just be me and you one day

Repeat *

Random writing (13)

Prompt used:

“Wolf-teeth moon          She looks habitual

I raise the cup                    drain it of all the wind and snow

Who tipped over the cupboard of the past life   enticing dust and quarrels

The hymn of Fate            numb reincarnations

You frown                           cry for the youth that will not return when called

Although history has already become dust           my love is not snuffed out”

She’s used to the colour of the moon now, desolate, rusty, somewhat unappetizing, like the ruins of a forgotten dynasty. I raise my cup in toast to her, draining the liquid within in a single gulp. It tasted slightly bitter, like a path well-worn through the pounding of wind and snow must have felt. I glance at her again and wonder who was it that stumbled into the storage chest of the last Reincarnation and scattered all its content hither and thither, letting loose a storm of dust motes and strife. Here the hymn of Fate starts again but after being numbed by numerous reincarnations, it falls on deaf ears. I glance at her again and retreat quietly into a corner to brood.

Random writing (12)

Prompt used:

“Wolf-teeth coloured moon       She lolls haggard

I rally the cup                     dramatise it of all the wind and snow

Who tinkled over the cupboard of the past life  entertaining dust and quarrels

The hymn of Fate            numerous reincarnations

You frolic                             crystallise for the youth that will not revel when called

Although history has already befallen dust           my love is not snored”

The moon is a strange off-white off-yellow colour, a somewhat rusty shade like the teeth of wolves. She is loitering, limping along as a gaunt shape. I gently press the carvings on the cup, awakening its powers. Wind and snow materialised within it, swirling lazily. I languidly extend my ring finger and the contents of the cup draw themselves into ethereal filament and twin themselves around my extended digit. I hear a faint tinkling sound from the cupboard where I lock away my past life. It is a merry sound, fit for entertaining dust and quarrels. I hear the hymn of Fate also, sung time and time again at each reincarnation. I hear your crystalline voice whilst frolicking, chiding youth for not revelling when prompted. Now history has become naught but dust and my love has not yet hibernated.

Moonlake’s Lyrics (4)

Another inspiring Cantonese song lyric for today. The actual song is called A Straight path and A Meandering Path. It is the theme song for a Hong Kong TV drama called Rainbow at Night:

How can one compete with anyone if no sweats are ever shed?

I’ve never had the extravagant hope      that the angels would be generous

How is it possible that one would see colour if one has not opened up one’s eyes?

Haven’t yet toiled            what right to wait for cheers?

 

Everyone knows that the lights won’t be dazzling before night fall no matter how beautiful they are

Given a backdrop of adversity    a life would be too resplendent

Have to walk no matter how difficult      not slowing when facing setbacks

I am used to the turbulence of tsunamis                               even the ordeal of travelling up a mountain of knives

*Without nightfall           there won’t be stars shinning

Brilliant even amidst darkness

If I faint one day               learn to treasure breathing

Who would always have luck undiminished?

When a day ends             there will be a new start

Pleasure and sadness pass within the blink of an eye

Falling into a bottomless pit         a hard turn of life

Efforts are hard to rein in             a ferocious tide can be stopped with enough effort

How can one be passionately in love if one is unable to treat oneself well?

Having learnt to treasure oneself             even breaking up would become a lovable experience

Even falling down would be spectacular                                let me create unexpected miracles

I see myself as a genius                 I would not deign to sigh for having fallen just one time

Repeat *

No matter the path in front is straight or meandering     it won’t be too late as long as one steps out

In such a dark night         the constellations are brighter

When there’s a high mountain in front of one    the courage to climb it would follow

The more difficult it is                    the stronger the will to not turn back

Everyone knows that the lights won’t be dazzling before night fall no matter how beautiful they are

Given a backdrop of adversity    a life would be too resplendent

Have to walk no matter how difficult      not slowing when facing setbacks

I am used to the turbulence of tsunamis                               even the ordeal of travelling up a mountain of knives

Note: the italic bit has an additional meaning in Chinese in that travelling up a mountain of knives is one of the known punishments in Hell according to folklore

Random writing (11)

Prompt used:

“Falling in love is always ebony  getting along too hapless

If not yours then don’t try so hard to make it so

The night is already decrepit but you still don’t want to sleep…

All you want is to love a person propitiously”

The process of falling in love is a dark one, a dark but glossy one. Dark because it’s like being in an endless tunnel, never knowing when you will get to the end. Glossy, well, that’s what attracted you at first, right? Oh yes, the real misfortune comes when the two are trying to get along, when they try so hard to tug at the common ground between them. I don’t know why love is so difficult when all one wants is to love a person propitiously. I don’t have an answer for that. And you still want to hear more? Sorry, the night is getting decrepit. And you say you still don’t want to sleep? Well, well, well, that makes two of us.