My New Remedy for Writer's Block

I am taking a small break from my regularly scheduled fiction pieces to bring you this short article detailing my remedy for writer's block.

Writer's block sucks. It is an empty well of darkness where creativity should be. At worst, it can have a writer questioning if they even want to write anymore.

For me, it feels as if someone has taken my brain out and replaced it with those magnetic multicolored letters that go on fridges. I appear to be a toddler rearranging said letters into various nonsense and calling it 'writing'.

Thus we have a choice. We can wait for it to pass, or find a remedy that works according to our unique brains!

As for my very unique brain, this is the one that seems to work for me. I discovered it a month ago and have used it to thwart 3 cases of writer's block so far!

The truth is, it is very simple.

10 random words

It does not matter if you get them from flicking through a dictionary, clicking on a random word generator website, or taking them from conversations with others. Just get them and grasp them tight. They are the new foundation on which a new story will be written.

That's it!

Use those 10 words to write a story of any genre. Better yet, let the words decide the direction in which the story goes.

There is only one rule: All 10 words must be included within the story at some point. Bonus points if the words are repeated!

I have recently employed this technique when facing a very bad case of writer's block. Actually, it was more like a brick wall made entirely of writer's blocks!

In a desperate attempt for inspiration, I followed in the footsteps of an old Vocal prompt and went on the hunt for words. I went to a random word generator website (of which there are many) and picked 10 words from the ether. I stared at them for an hour when things suddenly began to click. The magnetic letters on the proverbial fridge door began to form sentences!

I proceeded to write the longest story I have ever written. While it was a great achievement, it is not word count that I concern myself with, it is quality, challenge, and enjoyment.

In terms of quality, I am by no means anything more than an amateur but I found myself writing more complex storylines within this '10 word technique', even including backstories and flashbacks for my characters!

The challenge in this technique comes from the one or two words that need to be shoehorned into the tale. I actually found this quite fun. The toughest was the word 'institution', which I had to find a place for in a medieval fantasy story. I decided to use 'the institution of marriage', which became one of the main themes! It was exciting that the words had such a bearing on the story!

There is something about solving a puzzle that is undeniably enjoyable, and this technique felt like a puzzle. Putting the last of the 10 words into a story feels like placing the final puzzle piece in and seeing the full picture on top!

If you are interested in this story which not just broke me out of my writer's block but smashed the writer's block wall with a swift, calculated. blow, I have listed part one:

(Perhaps you would even like to take my 10 words and make your own story out of them, yourself?)

Sharing this simple yet effective remedy gives me a lot of joy. While I usually dislike comments self-advertising, if you write anything using this technique, I would love it if you would comment them down below! I will even pop a few of my favorites in this article here:

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And remember, the rules can be bent depending on the level of challenge you would like. Perhaps 5 or 3 words for a smaller challenge, or only choose words beginning with the letter R? I think I shall try that next!

Happy Writing Everyone!

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