Screenwriting : The Dreaded DREADed Writer's Block by Angela Cristantello

I love to write in new and even odd places. Not just coffee shops (though I love my haunts) but places I can people watch. I live in Vegas, and many of my scripts take place here so it's like instant inspiration! My favorite place is in the mock St. Mark's square courtyard in the Venetian Shoppes, but I've written in parks, the lobby of the Cosmopolitan, even the airport!

Stop writing. Talk to people, watch a film, visit someone, do something to give me life to use. Then start writing anything. New script, new treatment.

Boom. idea jumps up in front of me.

I stock ideas. Let's say I'm working on something right now, but I already have an treatment ready for the next project and an idea cooking in my head for the third one...so by the time I reach to write that idea that's cooking, there will be a couple more in my head....so I never run out of it....basically I work slow.

I just start writing, without expecting it to be any good. Sometimes it turns into something, other times not, but simply putting words to paper helps. Lately I have also been playing with taking short stories and writing them up as scripts. It seems a good exercise, and frees you from coming up with a plot and characters.

One of the things that a 'staff' writer soon learns is that you and your muse show up at 8:00 am sharp and start writing. If you don't, there's no paycheck which means that you can't pay the rent or eat. It's the same for every spec (self employed) writer. Enough motivation?

This is all great! Thanks, y'all! And Doug, I feel like that would be far more "motivation" for me to straight up panic as opposed to writing something remotely decent. I admire the heck out of staff writers, Man.

Joanna Penn, one of my favorite writing gurus and the host of The Creative Penn podcast, mentioned in one of her episodes that she keeps a piece of paper tacked up near her computer that says: TRUST EMERGENCE. I love this idea and I've started saying it like a mantra when I feel stuck on a project. It helps me to remember that not all writing happens in front of the computer -- and that sometimes giving your mind time and space to work on the story without your (conscious) interference is not always a bad thing! :)

This is actually harder than it sounds, music isnt just the notes, its also the nothing between the notes. Force yourself to NOT write and wallow in the nothings. Sounds weird but it helped me.

I'm a writers' coach dealing mostly with writer's block situations. Message me and we can chat. I also have free videos coming out soon.

Never look at a blank page.

Sometimes writing a random improvised scene with the characters just for fun can bring up some interesting ideas and relax the idea that a scene has to be perfect. Also, music for the screenplay and music my characters listen to to enter their world again. Let your characters surprise you!

Taking a break and watching something. Black Mirror has a knack of removing block for me.

I take a long walk. And always have a notebook with me, because during these walks ideas, plot points, dialogues, scenery come to mind in a very clear way.

But writer’s block is not my biggest problem. It’s the ideas galore I have every time I set a writing goal! So on my phone I have an app dedicated to ideas stacking.

I've heard adding a layer to a character or looking at one of their traits helps. I never really think about religion for my characters but if I'm stuck I might figure out their religion or a hobby and add a scene. Maybe they love basketball so throw in a pick up game and they learn something from another player that advances the story or maybe they head to church because they hadn't been in a while and have a realization there.