OK. You have a few minutes ahead to write something. Great!
Except that you don’t know where to start and you are staring at a blank screen.
Not good.
So today, I have put together some tricks that could give you the little push that you need to get that writing done.
1- Write In Front Of Your Audience
Robert Cialdini, who wrote the excellent Pre-Suasion, A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade, explains that his best writing is often produced when he sits behind a window watching people passing by, rather than at his quiet desk.
Bernard Werber (French novelist), who writes a bestseller a year, always starts his day writing at his favorite café in Paris. Not only does it keep him away from procrastination but it also inspires him to write for the audience that he has in front of him.
Watching people passing by (i.e. your target audience) is far better than writing on your own. It also increases the chances of your book, screenplay or play being bankable.
2 - Match Your Writing With Music
In Pre-Suasion, Cialdini also explains a marketing experiment: When supermarkets play French music, French wine sales increase. Strange? Not so much once you know that everything around us influences our subconscious.
Knowing that fact, why not use it to your advantage? Are you writing a drama? Have you tried writing while listening to Max Richter?
If Fantasy is more your thing, have you tried listening to mystical forest music?
Find the music that works for you and you’ll definitely notice a change in your writing.
Music increases the level of dopamine in our bodies and also taps into the deepest emotions held in our subconscious. And as writers, that’s exactly what we need: feel and create deep emotions.
3 - The Zeigarnik Effect
Another tip that I have learned from Cialdini (and this one is priceless), is The Zeigarnik effect:
Never finish a writing session at the end of a paragraph. Why?
Because the brain doesn’t like unfinished tasks.
Finish the paragraph half way through, it will nag you until you get to the end.
So don’t allow yourself to finish it until your next writing session, it’s the best way to get back on it the following day.
4 - Don't Wait For The Inspiration To Come
I got this tip from one of my favorite anti-self-help book: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.
When the task is huge, we don’t even know where to start. And often, because of that, we don’t start at all (and beat ourselves up for it).
Mark Manson offers the best formula against it:
Action → Inspiration → Motivation
If you have no inspiration, don’t sit and think about it, start writing. Start typing. Do some research, work on it.
Even if you don’t know what you are doing. The simple fact of working on it will generate the right ideas to show up in your head.
So forget inspiration, start without it. Trust me, that’s when it shows up!
5 - The Power of Mini Goals
The brain is not good with long term goals. The further it is set in the future, the more likely you’ll become demotivated. I am not suggesting you shouldn’t have long term aspirations, I am simply saying pave your long term plan with small, easy and achievable goals in between.
After the achievement of your mini-goal, celebrate and reward yourself. Even if the world around you doesn’t find it impressive. Who cares? The most important thing is what you think.
6 - Do Something Else
It’s very often when we decide to give up temporarily that great ideas come to us. Doing the washing up, playing guitar or walking the dog are great for writer’s block. Reading about different topics from your story is also a great way to feed the project that you are working on. Although it may seem unrelated, your brain will make a way to establish a connection with your writing and unlock a new set of ideas.
So read this book on the origins of Jujitsu or binge watch The Leftovers, Peaky Blinders or The Affair. Even though you think you are not working, don’t worry because your brain is!
7 - Don't Put Yourself Down And Don't Aim for Perfection
It’s always when we are ready to write that comes this nasty little voice inside our head telling us that what we are writing is irrelevant, useless or pointless. Don’t listen to it. Don’t. Because if you do, you’ll get nothing done. Overcome it by telling yourself that surely, somewhere on the planet someone will like it and keep writing.
Good luck!