Writing Tip of the Day! How to Break Writer's Block: Write Scenes Out of Order!

For this series, I wanted to approach different tips, tricks, ideas, or processes that have helped me throughout my experiences with writing.

As writers, we can have so much to say! But once we finally get to sit down and type—crickets. Now, this doesn't happen all the time, but it's happened frequently enough that it can hinder a successful writing session if it's not handled with care.

One suggestion I frequently use is writing the scene that helps move my writing forward, especially when I'm stuck. With my first book, Dark Woods, most of the writing followed the standard order from beginning to end. I wrote the first chapter, the second chapter, and so on. At one point when I struggled with the dreaded writer's block, I wrote what I thought was going to be the final chapter to help, but I went back to writing the chapters in order. Writing Pangotha was very similar, but I experimented by hopping back and forth between a few chapters until they fused together. When I was stuck in the past, I would end up rereading chapters to help churn out new material where I left off.

My current work in progress has been a vastly different experience. Roughly half of my chapters (or idea folders) were not written in order. Instead of going back to other chapters repeatedly, I pick the most vivid or important scenes that I know I want to include in my story and dive in. This process has been immensely helpful by allowing me to write what is currently stewing in my mind rather than anticipating it and potentially losing the spark of each scene by the time I get to it. By doing this, it also helps new ideas blossom, leading to more fresh material to weave in.

As I write the random scenes or chapters, I label them based on what happens in the scene (instead of chapter number) and rearrange them later on when I can see where they best fit in the story. By doing this, I'm finding myself reaching my writing goals and feeling accomplished with writing sessions overall.

I hope you find this helpful. I know it will be helpful for me to have this notated—in case I ever veer away from this technique and find myself stuck. Follow me on most social media platforms under the name Author Sammy Jones, and you can check back here for more!