HOW TO GET RID OF WRITER’S FREEZE

Free Digital Photos

We have all heard of writer’s block, but what is writer’s freeze? Let me begin by expressing the difference between the two. WB is the inability (assumed or not) to write due to a lack of ideas.

Writer’s freeze is different. It’s a term that I stumbled upon in my own writing as I’ve been hacking and slashing my way through this trilogy. WF is the condition where there are plenty of ideas. But here I am, writing this third book, and I am nervous about which ideas to choose.

How do I want my story to progress to my end? There are dozens of paths but only one road that’s right. So I’ve been frozen, trying to make sure that book 3 is more epic, more eventful, and more dynamic than the first two books. But I still want to write with the same themes while meeting the readers’ expectations in specific areas.

The ideas were there, but I was frozen. How did I get out of it? Here’s my suggestion to anyone experiencing writer’s freeze.

To get rid of WF, you must take risks. The past few posts have been about risk-taking, and now you can see why. How do risks help get rid of the freeze? Imagine being stranded in the snow. There’s little to no food to eat, and there are no signs that help is coming. Nights pass, and the days run together. Your hair gets longer, and your lips are cracked and bleeding. What do you do? Just keep waiting? No. You get up and go. Find help. You must take the risk of venturing out and getting to safety.

This is what I had to do with my third book. I was trapped in the same scene for weeks. I blamed it on external things, the new baby, the house needing to be cleaned, the two jobs, and the blog. But deep inside, I knew what it was. I was afraid to venture out. I didn’t want certain events to happen because of what it would mean to my characters.

But I took a risk…. Now the ending that I’d planned has just been trumped by an even more exciting ending, and new events have sprouted like green vegetation in this iceland. WF can be broken, but we must be willing to sacrifice it all.