Melissa Maygrove’s Top 5 Tips for Writer’s Block

I'd like to welcome Melissa Maygrove to my blog today, to help me with a problem I've been having for a while now. Plus, there's a chance to win a copy of Melissa's new book Precious Atonement. I'll leave it to Melissa to explain more...

I’m grateful to Annalisa for inviting me to visit. When I asked what she wanted me to write about, she posed this question:

I'm blocked, completely. What advice would you give me? [Imagine a really panicked whine here - Annalisa]

1. Take a break. Pressure to write can make you try too hard, which usually leads to nothing or nothing good.
2. Read some quality fiction. Often, a good book can get the juices flowing.
3. Read some nonfiction. It doesn’t matter what it is—a biography, the newspaper, some general research—it can be the spark that lights a fire under your muse.
4. Watch some movies or even a silly game show. You never know where inspiration might lurk.
5. Click through images on the web. You can do a Google search or meander through a stock image site. This is especially helpful when you need to add some description to a scene.

Bonus tip:

Do you have an idea for a plot, but keep hitting a wall?

Ask ‘What if ______?’, then mentally carry the plot idea to its natural conclusion.

Didn’t work?

Fill in a different idea and carry it through again.

Don’t be afraid to insert something that seems totally opposite of how you envisioned things would go. (e.g. What if her mother really isn’t her mother?) Sometimes entertaining a radical idea brings about a twist that transforms a good story into a great one.

Thanks for having me. I hope this helps.

Thanks Melissa, great advice. I'm going to curl up with a good book, a good film and plenty of chocolate... (because I know #6 would have been 'eat chocolate'!)

Ruined women don’t hope, killers don’t dream, and the dead don’t feel pain.

Rachel Emerson is resigned to live as a spinster. Her parents keep her shameful secret, and her only brother, Seth, vanished mere days after witnessing her rape, taking her dishonor with him and giving them all an alibi for their grief. But none of that matters. Appearances are useless if she can’t bear the touch of a man.

Jacob Evans welcomes pain as much as he seeks to escape it. The graves of his wife and child remind him of his sins every day. When Lawrence Emerson offers him a job and a chance to move west, Jacob permits himself a fresh start. But letting go of his past is only an illusion. Lawrence’s sweet, shy daughter captures Jacob’s heart and provides him a perfect tool for self-torment.

Despite painful lessons of the past, history soon threatens to repeat itself, and as Jacob’s love for Rachel grows, so does his agony. Giving his precious new wife the life she deserves might cost him the very thing he values most—her.

About Melissa Maygrove
Native Texan Melissa Maygrove is a wife, mother, nurse, freelance editor, and romance writer. When she's not busy caring for her tiny nursery patients or shuttling teenagers back and forth to after-school activities, she's hunched over her laptop, complicating the lives of her imaginary friends and playing matchmaker. Melissa loves books with unpretentious characters and unforgettable romance, and she strives to create those same kinds of stories for her readers.

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