It's been a long time since I've fallen into one of these. When I was a teenager, I basically had all the time in the world to write. That's mainly because I would scribble my novels when I should have been paying attention in class. Also, back then, I didn't have 3 kids to raise. What free time I had was my own and I would spend it either reading or writing.
Of course, now that I'm a mom and a business owner, I have to divide my time between my family and my work. This can sometimes lead to what I call 'situational writer's block'. Let's face it, it is best to write when you have that creative spark and that inner passion fueling your words. Unfortunately, life often gets in the way and when you actually have time to sit down and write, there aren't any words floating around in your head. And if there are, you're probably too exhausted to do anything other than sleep. By the time you wake up in the morning, what little inspiration you had was gone and you're back into the routine of packing lunches and shuffling kids off to school (or going to work). But all is not lost!
Why authors fall into slumps or develop writer's block varies from person to person and from circumstance to circumstance. How you break out of one has just as many possibilities as reasons that could be causing it. What I like to do is read or watch anime. I usually start with anime and then move on to books if I can't find anything interesting. I know, I'm a complete and total nerd. But I love the unique ideas behind different anime. I get inspired by all the amazing things I know I would never have thought of.
When I say inspired, I really mean motivated. When I see the end result of someone else's hard work, it makes me all the more determined to work harder at my own stories. And yes, this can mean that sometimes your work will be influenced by what you see or what you read. But I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. As long as you're not plagiarizing someone else's work, you're free to take an element from their story and incorporate it into your own in a new way.
For example, the idea of futuristic space battles doesn't belong to the creator's of Star Trek and Star Wars. Neither does the idea of a human-zombie romance. You of course need to go beyond just naming your characters and planets something different. But you can change the settings and the histories and motivations that drive your characters. Throw in a zombie eating plant or some spacial anomaly that makes both sides your intergalactic war work together.
Remember, not every story you work on has to be designed for publication. I love to play around with different concepts and ideas as a way to jump-start my brain when it gets stuck. I encourage you to give it a try. Why? Because it's fun.
The next time you're in a slump or stalled on the piece you're working on, just write something crazy for the heck of it and see where it takes you.
