I don't really suffer from writers block, although I know a lot of writers have and do at various times. I tend to think of it more as "I'm stumped" at the moment (and yes, I recognize that this may simply be a matter of semantics). This can occur during the plotting stage of the book as well as the writing of it. This is about a plotting problem.
When I'm plotting, the problem usually comes in the basic form of "what's the big idea for the book?" An example of the "big idea" is trying to destroy the Nazis' atomic bomb lab in Operation Devil's Fire. Sometimes the stumped period can be a few minutes or several days.
I use a lot of resources (online and my continually growing library of WWII history books) to come up with the missions that Dunn and Saunders take their men on. Sometimes, I can get a couple of good ideas, but maybe not the "big" one.
Right now, I'm about 50% done plotting book 13. I have the first missions for Dunn and Saunders, and I have one that could be the "big" one. Last night, I began having doubts about it, and researched the idea, which actually seemed to make it worse. Perhaps it wouldn't work after all.
Bummer, dude.
I mentioned the problem to my wife and we discussed it for a while. She's really good at helping me think things through. Her comments allowed me decide to let it percolate over night.
This morning, the solution presented itself to me out of nowhere while thinking about something else, not an uncommon thing to happen. This doesn't happen only to writers. Anyone who solves problems of any kind can experience this. It often happened to me when I was an IT Systems Analyst.
Now that I'm satisfied I can make the "big" idea work, all I need to do is apply logical thinking to the story and determine what happens, then what happens next, and repeat until we reach the end.
By the way, I never wait until the book is 100% plotted to start. I began writing book 13 last Sunday, the 8th. No title yet. That's almost always one of the last things we come up with.
Thanks for stopping by.
Ronn
