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@steward-of-the-pen

*rushes in after a long absence* I hear a fellow author releasing a desperate cry for help!!

I got your back, fellow author.

As someone who has written over four novels and published two, I am very familiar with your predicament. First of all, take @evelyn ‘s advice, because that sounds like the best thing for you at the present moment. The advice I have for you is what comes afterward.

Why do I write? When I was 13 and first discovered that I had the talent, my life was hard. Things that were going on in my life at that point stressed me out and drove me to such despair that I even began to question why God bothered to keep me alive. I know the answer now, but back then, what kept me going was writing. Writing was my escape. When life got so hard that I just wanted to run out the front door and give up on it all, I poured out my heart through my characters and what they went through. I felt so powerless and alone. I created a character who wasn’t afraid of anything and who had understanding friends and a supportive family. I felt like my life had no excitement. I gave my character the experience of a lifetime. I felt like I never had the right words to express how I felt. My character had just the right words to say at just the right moment.

It got me through the toughest years of my life.

What am I saying? Use your experiences in your writing. Pour out your soul onto the empty page. Use your life to symbolize your writing. What will result will be the deepest plot and the most relate-able characters ever heard of. If you think you have no inspiration or connection to your story, think again–you ARE the story.

And what happens if you get stuck? Well, like Evelyn said, take a short break. I would often take a week or two just to destress, to not worry about the book, but also to think more about the book. When I stopped forcing the ideas, the best ideas ever just came to me, in what I like to call ‘brainwaves’. When you feel ready to write again, you might still be stuck, even though you want to write. Perhaps your plot is in a slow point. I get that a lot. That’s when you have to push through, perhaps have a couple characters discuss a deep subject together, something that might be important to the character’s arc later on. That often helps me. But again, if it becomes too stressful for you, just take a short break and don’t worry about it.

Lastly, brainstorming with friends is always helpful. What’s your favorite genre? What life lessons have you learned lately? If you could have any qualities in the world, what would they be? If you could live any kind of life imaginable, what would that life be like? The answers to these questions become the building blocks to your next bestseller.

I hope all of this helps. If you need more, let me know! I’m always ready to cross swords–er, trade ideas–with a fellow author!

Being a writer is a hard life, not for the faint of heart. But it is also the most rewarding, and if anyone is up for the task, it is you. Fit’al n’ar muraak me’alti dongves, my friend! *salutes*