What Causes Writer's Block? 6 Common Problems & How To Fix Them
Hannah Lee Kidder
NovelPad Author
Writer’s block is an umbrella term for problems that we aren't aware of yet, so we don't know how to fix them. Figuring out exactly what is causing your writer’s block is the only way to defeat it, so you have to become curious about yourself and your process to spot the issues.
Here are 6 of the most common sources of writer's block. Check to see if any of them might apply to you!
Watch this video for a few extra reasons that you might have writer’s block:
Let's get into it!
What Causes Writer's Block?
Writer's block is like a mouse infestation in your house—you can't get rid of the mice before you even know they're there! Or for me, you can't capture and adopt an aquarium full of mice through an entire winter because it's too cold for them to go outside...before you know they're there.
So let's sus out who's to blame, then we can face it head-on. Here are 6 things that may be giving you a writing block and solutions for the short and long-terms.
1. Perfectionism
Your problem might be perfectionism if you find yourself in an endless cycle of rewrites, revisions, and edits. Or if you can't make yourself actually release anything you've written because nothing feels quite good enough yet.
SHORT-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR PERFECTIONISM
These are some tips that can get you unstuck immediately.
1. Write without looking at the screen.
This isn't the prettiest solution, but literally typing with your eyes closed can stop you from getting hung up on what you're writing. Don't give yourself anything to critique while you're drafting.
2. Consider a non-computer tool.
Similarly, you may find it easier to write with something that isn't a computer, like a notepad and pen or an electronic typewriter. This works by basically tricking your brain. You're not writing Something Official, because you're not writing in your regular space, so the pressure is lifted.
Even $ swapping writing software$ can have the same effect, wink wink. Say you write exclusively in one program all the time—if you're getting hung up on perfectionism, opening Notepad and writing there can feel freeing.
3. Write in sprints.
I swear by writing sprints. They're a great solution for many causes of writer's block, because they help you push past hesitation, judgement, and over-thinking.
A common method is the $ Pomodoro$ , but you can experiment to find the perfect sprint lengths for you.
If you find it difficult to concentrate during sprints, you might try $ Cold Turkey Writer$ for a onetime $9 fee. It essentially turns your computer into a typewriter by locking you out of everything until you've completed your sprint. It's pretty intense, but desperate times...
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR PERFECTIONISM
What do we do about perfectionism in the long-run? Well, change your personality, babes xoxo.
Jk, but it does involve controlling your self-talk, which is easier said than done. There's a concept of thought cycles that goes thoughts > feelings > actions, and that rhythm goes on and on unless you disrupt it.
If you've got the thought "this isn't good enough," it's going to lead to a feeling of inadequacy, which leads to the action of not sharing your writing (or not writing at all), and that action reinforces the thought that your writing isn't good enough, and on it goes.
To interrupt this cycle, target one of those steps—whichever might be easier for you. If you fake it till you make it, you're attacking via the action step, and you'll eventually stop having those thoughts, and your feelings will follow. If you change your inner monologue by quickly correcting your thoughts when they are off course, you'll stop making yourself feel inferior, and you'll stop acting that way.
Find the point of vulnerability in your own behavior cycle and disrupt it from there.
2. Distraction
I'm not talking about environmental distractions here—I mean if you are researching, editing, or making mood boards for your story instead of actually getting words down.
This kind of behavior could be attributed to fear, avoidance, or procrastination, but if you've ruled those out, you might just genuinely be distracted by other aspects of the writing process.
SHORT-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRACTIONS
Your short-term solutions are simple—use Cold Turkey Writer or a non-computer writing tool, like we talked about for perfectionism. Blocking yourself from those other functions is usually all you need.
You could also apply writing sprints here.
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRACTIONS
To deal with this problem permanently, you'll need to build a system to keep yourself writing when you have those ideas and thoughts pop up during a writing session.
An example of this could be $ NovelPad's Note system$ , where you can drop a quick note on the page for reference later, or add one to your library that you can link to the scene you're working on.
This can ensure you don't lose those ideas, but you can quickly hop back to writing without getting distracted.
3. Lack of inspiration
If you sit down to write and just can’t—you don’t have ideas, or you have a few and you start them, but they don’t interest you enough to keep writing, or if you don’t really know "the point" of what you’re writing, you might lack inspiration.
SHORT-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR LACKING INSPIRATION
Immediately, you can borrow ideas. This can be $ writing prompt lists$ , an AI brainstorm, fanfiction, a spin-off of a story you enjoyed, a sequel/AU to one of your own stories.
You might try short form, like flash fiction or $ poetry$ . Finishing a project can be really motivating, and if you're stuck in a long one, like a novel, you might need to take a break and finish something smaller to keep yourself motivated.
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR LACKING INSPIRATION
Some more permanent solutions include:
1. Spend time being bored
Being bored and sitting with silence is a crucial activity for any artist—and person in general. Your brain needs quiet time to wander. That's where ideas come from!
2. Try The Artist’s Way
$ The Artist’s Way$ is a self-led course that helps you reconnect with your art's purpose and renew your creativity. Give it a try!
3. Build an ideal reader
If you're struggling to find the "why" of your project, imagine who you want to be reading it. You can find a photo to represent this real or imagined person. Write out a character sheet like they're someone you're putting in the book. Or maybe it's just a younger version of you. Get very specific about your ideal reader, and that can help you remember your overall goals with your writing.
4. Fear
Fear holds people back in every industry and endeavor, whether that's a fear of failure, of success, of embarrassment, of your own internal critic. This is probably the most common form of writer's block.
SHORT-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR FEAR
Fear can be a difficult one to manage, but here are a few ideas:
1. Pen name
Using a pen name can be a good way to get yourself accustomed to posting your writing publically and/or receiving people's opinions on it. If you're scared of judgment, this can be an easy way to test the waters without needing to be afraid.
2. Don't share your writing
If you're a new writer who has never published, it might just not be time yet. Focus on writing for yourself, pretending that no one else will ever see it.
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR FEAR
Your more permanent solution for fear is to grow your confidence by practicing, giving yourself a break, accepting that mistakes happen and you can learn from them, and easing yourself into sharing your work with others. With practice, it gets easier.
5. Overwhelm
It's easy to get in over your head with a project. While being ambitious and imaginative is great, sometimes the scope of it gets out of hand. If you find yourself losing track of plots, forgetting characters, and muddying the timeline with every scene you add, your block is probably from overwhelm.
Especially in $ genres like fantasy$ , where there's so much world-building to keep track of, or if you're writing a series and need to manage individual plots as well as the series arc, it's easy to get lost.
SHORT- & LONG-TERM SOLUTION FOR PROJECT OVERWHELM
There's really only one solution to this, and that's to get organized. This can look however you'd like it to—a large physical folder, a writing software, a mind palace if you're a Sherlock Holmes type creature.
Let's use NovelPad as an illustration to see what types of features you might want in your organization system.
1. Scene cards
Scene cards that can hold all of your scene information are a great building block for an organized novel. You can make $ physical scene cards$ , or simplify it with a program like NovelPad. Here's what their scene cards look like:
It holds all of your important information, such as:
- Scene description
- Location
- Date
- Character POV
- Word count
- Customizable color tags
- Revisions of that scene
- Linkable Notes for easy reference
You can click-and-drag the scene cards around on your Chapter board for easy rearranging.
2. Notes
We've already mentioned $ NovelPad Notes$ , but let's do it again! This system is totally customizable. You can organize Notes into folders—it includes all of the formatting options you'll find on the drafting page, like headers, bold, italics, highlight, etc.
You can link Notes to your other story elements, like characters, scenes, plots, or other Notes. Find the thumbtack icon to split screen your Notes library with your drafting page. No more clicking back and forth to reference while you're writing.
3. Plots, Characters, & Locations
This is a tough function to summarize, but NovelPad allows you to track plots, characters, locations, and other story elements. For example, on the Character board, you can see every scene a particular character appears in, chronologically. This makes it much simpler to tighten character arcs and spot plot holes.
4. Customizable color tags
Go to your Settings page to choose colors and labels for customizable scene tags, then you can assign them to cards on your Chapter board. You might use this feature for tracking the mood, writing phase, scenes to move or expand on, physical objects that appear in the scene, or whatever else may be relevant to your project.
6. Lack of Self-Care
Quite often, writer's block comes down to disregarding proper self-care, and this is a serious problem for many people.
Many creatives are neurodivergent, mentally ill, or both, and that makes it even harder for them to attend to their own physical, mental, and emotional needs. And neglecting those things makes writing effectively and sustainably impossible.
If you suspect you have this issue, the fix is fairly simple, though it will greatly vary from person to person.
Using a lack of executive function as an example of a problem that can cause this, the best solution is probably a simple checklist. That might look like this:
- Am I fed?
- Am I watered?
- Have I gotten any sun recently? (Treating your body like a houseplant honestly gets you pretty far.)
- Did I take any necessary medications/supplements?
- Have I slept enough?
- Am I physically comfortable?
Sometimes we're going through events and situations that are stressful and distracting. Dealing with those as best as you can is a part of self-care.
Give space for personal conflict, grief, big life changes like divorces, deaths, a new baby, moving houses. Processing those things instead of avoiding them will improve your mental health and lead to more focused writing sessions in the long run.
A short-term solution is to swap projects or incorporate your current grievance into what you're writing. For example, give your character a problem that you're dealing with in real life. This can keep you actively writing and help you process the problem for yourself.
And the biggest tip here is to take a break. If you're a professional author and rely on your writing income, this will be more difficult, but give yourself time and space to recover if writing just isn't happening for you right now. Trying to force it or punishing yourself can cause long-term damage and burnout, and it's just not worth it.
To sum it up, challenge yourself without punishment, get curious about your habits to understand what issue you're even trying to fix, and remember the behavior cycle—thoughts, feelings, actions. To change behavior, disrupt a part of that cycle.
Writer's block can be an amorphous, confusing, and frustrating thing to experience. Observe yourself and your writing process to find where your true issue lies, and do your best to address it directly. Good luck, and happy writing!
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