Forums » Smalltalk » Writing help please?

Hello!

I’ve been in a severe writer’s block for a while, and I can’t figure out how to get out of it. I’m writing a fantasy book called The Dragon Among Phoenixes (A placeholder title) and I want to write the part where the story first starts out.

It’s when the main character is entering this new kingdom days after the previous chapter and the chapter will end in her meeting the king of Ácolitus (The kingdom). I know where it starts and where it ends but I just can’t figure out how to write it for the life of me! The chapter before it needs to be edited, but I can’t think of anything for that chapter either.

If anyone has suggestions as to what to do to, please let me know! I’ve been stuck on this for literal months and I scrapped the first draft completely once before, I was 20-25 chapters into it lol.

Thank you for reading this!

Hey, I got some tips for yah. Writer's block is a nasty thing that a lot of writers go through, but you can alleviate it, hopefully... I'll give you a few ideas of what I do to help. The first and foremost is to take a break, just relax, do something your good at besides writing, and when your good and rested, go back and try again. Another thing that I personally love to do is roleplay as my character's IRL. Weird I know, in fact, my family thinks I'm mentally insane... But it works! Get into the shoes of them, play and act out a scene, imagine you're in the world. The third is just to make short stories. It doesn't matter what you write, writes whatever is in your head, does it! Do it now! No matter how stupid or redundant it is. (You can always burn it later!) Hell just write out stupid random words! Eventually, it will come out into something cool!

I hope this helps because I'm not really sure what more I could suggest!

Oh! One more thing, but I'm sure you know this already, don't worry about your first draft or second or third, it turns out you never get it perfect the first time... Who knew... Not me...
;-;

I’m not sure how much it’ll help. But every time I get stuck in a writers block I switch my font to comic sans, I’m not joking!! I did the other day and wrote more than I had in months

Thank you both for replying! I’ll make sure to try these out!

Sometimes when I get stuck, I find that writing something else completely different helps to get me going again. It doesn't have to be something long, complex, or even anything well defined. But just something quick and dirty is enough to get me into the flow again.

Here's a website I've used to find a story topic: 300+ Short Story Ideas

Good luck!

Thank you so much for replying!

I’ll definitely check this out and try these ideas out!

Crystaldragon,

I've never written a narrative book, but here's my advice as a reader of to them.

I would say to maybe draw some sketches of the scene you are starting with, then maybe that will help you visualize it and think of what to do next.

Maybe between the point that she enters and the point that she meets the king, she meets helpers, or overcomes or fails at smaller obstacles that show her personal traits (strengths or weaknesses). Maybe one obstacle shows the flaw that she must eventually overcome in order to succeed at the end of the book (you know...like how Tony Stark is selfish throughout the avengers movies, but in Endgame he finally overcomes that weakness to solve everything...I assume everyone has seen or heard about that movie by now, if not, sorry).

Maybe she helps people which buillds sympathy for the character.

Maybe she hears things about the king and we wonder whether they're true or not, building suspense for the moment when they meet. She hears things and becomes afraid to meet him, or eager to meet him, or something like that.

I'd love to read your book sometime. Hugs!

Thank you both for replying! I'll check out the link and I'll do some sketching! I also like those ideas!

@Abigail_Austin I'll make sure to send a copy once I get done with it! Rn all I have is the prologue that's complete if you'd like me to send that lol.

Yep. If you'd like to send it, I'll read it. But no pressure on that or anything. I'm on every few days these days.