Writer’s Block

I have been suffering writer’s block lately. I have tried to work on my novel but just can’t seem to get the ideas to come together. So, I checked out a couple of books. I have only just started the first one. It is called Writing Fiction Step by Step: An award-winning author leads you through more than 200 exercises enabling you to complete a story or novel. It is by Josip Novakovich. The exercises so far have really made me think. He has 14 chapters, each detailing a story element. Each chapter is full of 10-20 exercises. Each exercise has Purpose, Tip, and Check sections. He also shows how each element works in a story by giving examples from current and past literature.

He states early on, that the exercises needn’t be done in order. He does say that they are all connected and that you should connect several (if not all) of your exercises together to form scenes. He says “The exercises thus build upon each other, and once you have finished the book, you might have drafts of a dozen stories and outlines with a couple of chapters for a novel or two.”

So far, I have found several exercises that will help with my novel. I have gone though and copied down several that I intend to put in my writer’s journal. If anyone has any great books about writing, please let me know. I am always looking for books (and other resources).

Well, back to reading…

---