Does this ever happen to you? I’ll bet it does. I tell my husband on occasion that I want to want to write, but sometimes I just don’t feel inspired to pick up the pen. It actually bothers me when this happens. There are times when I can’t get thoughts down fast enough, and other times when I can’t force myself to write a few pages.

Well, I recently did something that helped so much I thought I’d share it with you. It happened again last week. I wanted to continue on my novel, as I’m on chapter 18, but no good thoughts would come. I wasn’t in the mood…..again.

What did I do that helped me find inspiration?

I sat at the computer and made one of my characters go through the same emotions as me. I made him frustrated, disinterested and annoyed that he temporarily lost his spark. He was me for that day. And I’ll bet each one of you at one point or another.

I had him grumble and groan to the other characters how he didn’t feel like doing anything, and you know what happened? Something I didn’t plan until I found myself writing it. The other characters pulled together and helped him through it. Before long, he had his spark back. And you know what? So did I!

Here’s another thing to inspire you since you can’t always put your characters in disinterested moods

I tell my husband where I’m stuck. Sometimes it’s not that I’m finding trouble wanting to write. It’s more the fact that I can’t think of anything interesting to put in a chapter or that I can’t figure out what my character should do next. My husband is the furthest thing from a writer there is. But that’s perfect.

Because he isn’t a writer, nor does he have any interest in writing, he’s the perfect person to help me. He’s objective. I give him an overview of the story I’m working on and tell him where I’m stuck and can’t figure out where the story should go. He always comes up with something interesting I can use. It’s because he’s not invested in the story or too close to it. He can think of what he would do in a situation, which is usually the perfect thing for my character.

So, if you find yourself uninspired, write that into your story. Make your character uninspired, then have the other characters pull him out of his funk.

And if you need to get yourself over a hump in the story when you don’t know where it should go next, ask someone. “Say, if you were in this situation (describe the story and where you’re stuck) and ask what they’d do about it. You’ll be surprised by the amount of information you’ll get that’s perfect for writing into your story.

The next time you don’t feel inspired or feel stuck, give these suggestions a try. Drop me a line to let me know what you think, please.

Happy Writing! Gina

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