Wednesday's Writers Block Bypass Exercise

Got Writer’s Block? 

Yeah, it happens to the best of us.  Life gets in the way and your brain is taken in another direction and before you know it, it’s been days or weeks since you last looked at that book you’re trying to write.  Perhaps you need to jumpstart your creative mojo, and that's what this series is designed for. Not to explain writer's block, but to help you move in a different direction.

What jobs have you given your hero or heroine? Whatever it is, you have to write it believable. Don’t write your hero is a math genius if you are clueless in mathematics. I once read a time travel story, set 100 years in the future, where a bacterial meningitis outbreak broke out and the heroine broke into a vet office to find the injectable antibiotics needed. First, medicine expires and second, a 100 years will have any liquid evaporated. Since I’m in the medical field, this completely took me out of the story. 

Not My Job

Give your hero new responsibilities, including a chance to prove himself/herself.

>List three interesting jobs in your world, then brainstorm how your hero might fill them.

> Imagine your hero is drafting a resume. What would he/she list for “career goals”?

> If your hero were to pretend to have another occupation, what might it be?

Sometimes it’s makes for great drama to take your hero/heroine out of their comfort zone and plop them into situations that leave them scrambling to figure out. Like Ally Sheedy in the movie “Maid to Order”. It’s a reverse Cinderella story where she’s a spoiled rich brat whose fairy godmother turns her into a maid in her own home. Perhaps take your hero’s strength and turn it into his or her weakness, and let your imagination run wild with that. 

Happy Writing!

  

***John August designed these cards to help writers fix plot holes, spice up stock characters and rethink your themes.  They, of course, do not guarantee you’ll get published or that you’ll become the next J.K. Rowling, and of course they are only a tool to help you think outside the box. I make no monetary gain with them nor do I expect anything in return.  I do not own the contents in these cards. If you're interested in them, here's the amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Writer-Emergency-Pack/dp/B00R6ZLIOY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502046610&sr=8-2&keywords=john+august