Act Five- Winging It: Overcoming Writer’s Block

Mary May E -

Hello everyone! This week, I want to focus on a struggle I have been facing while writing dialogue and music- writer’s block. While some weeks I find myself in a writing groove, this week I found myself in a rut, unable to come up with fresh ideas. Luckily, I had some reliable ways to get my creative juices flowing again.

Since my plot is already outlined, I had an idea of where to take the story. I recruited some friends to my cause and had them sit in a brain-storming circle with me. I assigned each of us a character and explained the main plot points of the scene. I set up my phone to record the audio of the session and we had a conversation while embodying our characters. Once we finished, I was able to listen back to the recording, gather ideas, and even use dialogue verbatim for my scene. 

I use a similar technique for overcoming writer’s block when writing music. I record audio, and instead of engaging with others in dialogue, I sing and play whatever comes to my mind, often rambling. I do that for about thirty minutes to an hour, until I run my brain dry, or come up with a melody or a hook I can use in the musical. I’ve used this technique for many years when writing songs, and it hasn’t failed me yet. It allows me to string together different trains of thought and come up with something cohesive that I can further work into a final track for the musical.

Selecting a clip of a melody I enjoyed.
Final cuts from a brain-storming session.

Overall, this week was one of my more difficult and boring work weeks, but I managed to overcome my roadblocks, and I cannot wait to continue where I left off next week!

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Comments:

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    turhan_k
    Seeing the creative ways you tackled writer's block for the dialogue and music is awesome! Did you end up with any unexpected ideas from these sessions that you hadn’t originally considered?
    March 25, 2025 at 1:48 pm - Reply
    mary_may_e
    Thank you Turhan! And yes, I find that all my writer's block sessions end up with unexpected ideas and new perspectives that help me continue my work as well as polish it.
    March 30, 2025 at 11:56 am - Reply
    Michael Martinez
    All of your techniques for dealing with writers block are amazing. It certainly happens that creative people are not always able to produce on demand. I like that you have some tricks up your sleeve. When inspiration is a challenge, I always find that just sitting down and still doing the work is very helpful. Even if it doesn't produce exactly what I'd want, the consistency is key to getting over the hump. Great work.
    April 9, 2025 at 5:16 pm - Reply
    mary_may_e
    Thank you so much Mr. Martinez. I will definitely make sure to be consistent in my routines.
    April 23, 2025 at 1:24 am - Reply
    faith_r
    This is a really creative technique that I think most people wouldn't have even thought of! Is this a technique that you came up with yourself or did you learn it from somewhere? Would you say it's considered common and have you heard of other artists and writers using a similar writer's block technique?
    May 5, 2025 at 2:59 pm - Reply
    mary_may_e
    Thank you, Faith! I came up with the idea myself, but I am sure it is a practice that other writers or musicians make use of as well!
    May 11, 2025 at 2:26 pm - Reply

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