The one trick that finally got me past writer's block

I kept staring at blank pages for weeks until I tried writing a scene backwards - start with the last line and work your way to the beginning. It forced me to think about cause and effect in a new way. Has anyone else tried this or found something similar that worked?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_robin2mo ago

It kind of sounds like you're saying blank pages are some kind of serious emergency. I've had writer's block before too, but it's not like the world ends because you can't think of a good first sentence. Honestly, I just write anything even if it's terrible, then fix it later. Deleting bad sentences is way easier than staring at a white screen like it's a ghost. But if writing backwards works for you, fine, but it's not some magical trick that's gonna change your life.

palmer.jana2mo ago

The blank page thing really depends on the person. I used to stare at it for hours until I realized my brain just needs a starting point, even if it's garbage. Writing one terrible sentence is way better than waiting for the perfect one to show up. But the backwards method actually helped a friend of mine finish a whole novel chapter by writing the ending first. Different strokes for different folks, but the main point is just getting words down however you can.

margaretj402mo ago

But what if staring at that blank page is actually part of the process and not something to skip over? Honestly, I think folks like @palmer.jana are way too quick to jump to writing garbage just to fill space. Sometimes the silence and the struggle IS the work, and forcing yourself to write backwards or write junk just teaches your brain that it's okay to produce lazy work. Ngl, I've sat with a blank page for three days and the stuff I finally wrote was some of the best I've ever done, so maybe the panic over blank pages is the real problem here, not the pages themselves.