• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

College Magazine

College Life, Dating, Career & Campus Advice

  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • College Loans
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • College Loans
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise

You are here: Home / Writers / Top 7 Ways to Push Through Writer’s Block

Top 7 Ways to Push Through Writer’s Block

December 4, 2018 //  by Isabella Petrecca//  Leave a Comment

Shares4FacebookTweet

You sit comfortably in your dorm, made cozy by the (fake) candles, snowflake decorations, and fuzzy socks. With microwave-made hot chocolate in your cupped hands, you curl up under the covers with a notebook or laptop next to you on the desk next to you. Your eyes can’t help but notice it and remember all the past times you’d meant to take time to write for pleasure but chose Netflix instead. Inhaling a sigh, you put aside the half empty mug gently so as to not disturb the peacefulness of your room. The desire to write and read and experiment with words and thoughts spills from your fingers as they grasp the pen or click on the keys. Your mind feels completely blank. So, you Google cures to writer’s block. But, you realize you don’t feel like taking a walk, or stepping away from the keyboard.

When grinding forward painfully seems like the only option, consider these alternative ways to get your juices flowing and cure your writer’s block.

1. Find a word

Pick a word and write what comes to mind. Create a story just from that word or even look up synonyms to jog your memory of topics you may have forgotten. Find other words that rhyme with the word you chose and use wordplay and rhythm to experiment with your writing. Trying a new style of writing exercised your brain. And hey, maybe you’ll even find a way to expand your voice.

2. Listen while you write

Write while listening to music. Music serves as a major muse for my life, and certain songs can put me in a different head space. The new feelings brought up from the song can give rise to an idea. However, choose to pay attention to the lyrics and the emotions. These parts to the song inspired songwriters, producers and singers. Now, you have the chance to utilize this for a muse. Don’t forget to try different genres!

3. Pick a friend

Pick a certain friend and think about your relationship to them. Now, change your experience with them. Use the existing relationship and your friends as characters for a new story. Because you know your friend’s personality and traits, it becomes easier to think of scenarios and plot around a fully formed person. Maybe instead of meeting your friend at school, you met in summer camp or an internship. Maybe, you imagine that you two didn’t get along when you met. Make up a crazy, far-fetched adventure that your characters have to go through. The possibilities are endless!

4. Go backwards

Retrospect can be a great tool for writing. Look through your old pictures, notes–clothes, even–and use the past to make something new. Put yourself back in a time when you felt scared or alone, but use your new knowledge to change what you would have done. Write from an older perspective but in a younger situation. We tend to romanticize our memories and experience when we look back at them. An event that may have felt horrible at the time could have ended up alright, or even have led to something amazing.

5. Lean into emotions

Sometimes, the best work comes from fully delving into small emotions. Try using a feeling and exaggerating how intensely you feel it. Maybe you have a crush on someone in your class. Imagine you feeling utterly in love with them from afar and go with it. Milk the emotions you feel, good or bad. Maybe you feel nervous about an upcoming presentation or job interview. Lean into the feeling, build on it, pay attention to how exactly it makes you feel. Allowing yourself to feel all the details through your writing may also prove therapeutic.

6. Change your perspective

Think like a kid, or someone of a different gender, race, nationality. Imagine yourself taller, or wealthier. Change one small thing about your life,  and flip it on its head. Shape the story with a change of point of view, or change of voice in order to spice up your writing.

7. Think positive

Writers and creatives alike tend to dwell on the negative. Conflict drives the story, but sometimes writer’s block comes from taking on something too big before crafting its basis. Remember the good things in life. Write about someone you feel grateful for, something you feel proud of, or even a time you couldn’t stop laughing. Sometimes these emotions or experiences become unused, and need more exploration to balance a story or poem.

Shares4FacebookTweet

Filed Under: Writers

About Isabella Petrecca

A Junior at Boston University studying journalism with a minor in biology. Enjoys music, poetry, baking, weird movies and laughing with good company.

You May Also Like

What is Clickbait Exactly? (A New Face Wash That Makes Your Eyes Glow in the Dark)

content creator

What Does a Content Creator Do?

12 Ways You’re Getting Commas Wrong (Plus Other Fun Grammar Stuff)

Woman looking up in front of book shelves

Want to Become Better at Critical Thinking? Read Books.

10 TBH Reasons Why No One is Reading Your Blog

writer's block

The Top 10 Ways Real Bloggers Beat the Dreaded Writer’s Block

best colleges for english majors

The 10 Best Colleges for English Majors 2019

how to become an editor girl on computer at cafe

How to Become an Editor

read the news

How I Put Down My Phone and Started Reading the News Again

Top 10 Colleges for Aspiring Editors

afraid future

It’s OK to Be Afraid

dave wedge boston college

Sharing Boston College Alumni Pride with Dave Wedge: The Ice Bucket Challenge

writer's block

Top 7 Ways to Push Through Writer’s Block

What Working at a Writing Center Is Really Like

I Absolutely Hated My First Major, So I Had to Get Out of It

Chase Your Dreams—Even If They’re Dying

The Year I Wrote a Book

Are English Majors Only Good for Teaching? Uh, No, Mom

oxford comma

When Should You Use the Oxford Comma?

Top 20 Colleges for Aspiring Writers

Top 10 Best Schools for English Majors

starting a blog wordpress

How to Know You’re Starting a Blog People Want to Read

car crash

I Hydroplaned and Got into a Car Crash—And Live to Tell My Story

best journalism schools will sloan

CM’s Top 10 Journalism Schools 2016

Previous Post: « College Taught Me Self-Love
Next Post: 10 Fall Beauty Products You Can Actually Afford »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment

Primary Sidebar



Trending Posts

good books for college students
228

10 Inspiring Books All College Students Should Read

Catholic School
57

Catholic School to College

friends
31

21 Gifts for the Artist in Your Life

sue and lexie the middle gifts for college students
26

Top 10 Gifts Every College Student Actually Wants

college party
20

10 Tips for Your First College Party that Will Get You Lit and Get You Home Safe

Featured Chapter: University of Florida

University of Florida Football Stadium

Footer

logo

College Magazine is the national daily guide to campus life. Our articles for college students feature university rankings of U.S. colleges, college guides, academic advice, college prep, career advice, student health and collegiate dating tips.

Written by students for students, by a team of journalists from universities nationwide, we’re on the pulse of the college experience.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Colleges

  • College Guides
  • College Rankings
  • Campus life
  • Academics
  • Dating
  • Freshmen Year
  • Health
  • Party

Majors

  • All College Majors
  • Most Popular Majors
  • Choosing a Major

Intern

  • Internships Directory
  • How to Write a Resume
  • How to Write a Cover Letter
  • How to Interview
  • How to Get an Internship
  • How to Network

Money

  • How to Make Money
  • How to Save Money
  • How to Get a Job
  • Credit Cards 101
  • College Loans

Travel

  • Study Abroad
  • College Spring Break
  • How to Travel Cheap
  • Things to Do

Shop

  • College Packing List
  • Gift Guides
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise

Copyright © 2019 College Magazine · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.