Writer’s Block: What a Pain in the A$$!

Lots of people wonder why authors can’t just push out book after book. Why does it take months or even years to get the next story?! The answer: Writers Block!

It’s a real thing. You see, many authors design their characters, plot out the whole story, know what is going to happen in their little book world… until the characters go off on a tangent, they take a left when you wanted them to go right, and suddenly everything is on fire. That’s when the writer’s block actually hits. When your story goes off into a completely different direction than what you had planned, you get stuck. You have no idea what your story is now doing, or how to move it forward because it wasn’t planned to do whatever your characters decided to do.

Or perhaps you characters just stopped talking. Yes, author’s characters do talk to them. The are their own identities. In a sense, all authors are completely bat-shit crazy. We talk to our characters as if they are 100% real, breathing, beings. Our characters tell us what to do and how they will do it, so that we can create our works of art. When a character stops talking, we get stuck. We don’t know what to have them do, or not do in a way. It makes the process difficult, and some authors struggle to get out of the pit of despair.

The Witch’s Soul: Book 2 in the 5 Witches Series, was my longest bout of writers block. Not only did my characters stop talking to me, my story went into a completely different direction than I had ever thought possible. The story turned dark and foreboding. I knew where the story needed to get to, but not how to get there. I struggled for 3 years to get that story complete. I finally got it published in 2022. It was hard. Even now, I struggle to read it because I get so mad that it fought me so hard. It wanted to be a problem child and fight me every time I had it on it’s original path. It’s the reason I took a break from the 5 Witches Series and wrote Finders Keepers. Luckily, from that point on, it’s been better. I have the group of Novellas coming along fairly well. Eventually I’ll start on Book 3.

So, give your favorite author some love. Be sure to leave reviews on Amazon and other platforms. When we see those, it helps our characters feel better and want to be heard. It helps us feel not as sad about the writers block, effectively helping us get through it quicker as well. If you’re one of those people that say “well, my review won’t matter”, YOU ARE WRONG! Every review matters. Even those that aren’t 4-5 stars. Authors can’t get better and grow without knowing what readers do and don’t like. Our stories can’t get better without the constructive criticism we get from those reviews.

Please take the time after you’ve finished reading a book to go leave a review. Even if you didn’t finish, go leave a review. We can’t get better without them. Our writers block comes stronger without them. Help destroy writers block! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!