creativity Archives -

5 Ways to Stop Hating Your Story

April 27, 2023
Student Contributor
Guest posts, Stuck? Discouraged?, Writing Tips and Tools
0 Comments

By Lauryn Trimmer, Student Contributor Maybe you’re two-thirds of the way through your novel… and you hate it. Or you’re almost finished with the rough draft, but it feels like everyone else wrote a better story than yours. You wish…

When Creativity Dries Up

April 20, 2017
Student Contributor
Guest posts, Push Your Imagination, Stuck? Discouraged?, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tools
9 Comments

By Hannah McManus, Guest Contributor I have always been creating stories. I thought I always would. So I was blindsided when my seemingly endless stream of creativity dried up, leaving me in a creative dry spell that lasted nearly three years.

When Words Stop Coming

April 21, 2016
Student Contributor
Guest posts, Push Your Imagination, Stuck? Discouraged?, The Writing Life
2 Comments

By Sarah Noe, Guest Contributor At the beginning of last summer, the words stopped coming. I couldn’t understand it. I loved my characters, but they came out on the page flat. My prose was clunky. The theme, which I cared about, wasn’t strong enough to hold up the struggling plot. I was devastated.

Creativity Crumbling: How Toxic Ideas about Originality Will Destroy You

October 29, 2015
Student Contributor
Guest posts, Stuck? Discouraged?, The Writing Life
3 Comments

Sam Cooper, Guest Contributor: Tough criticism should be expected, but in the ocean of comments toeing the line of becoming insults, there is one dangerous judgment a writer can’t brush away. It sticks. “Your story doesn’t seem original.”

Help, I Have Writer’s Block! – A Different Perspective on the Monster

March 13, 2014
Student Contributor
Stuck? Discouraged?, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tools
3 Comments

Emily Tjaden, Guest Contributor Emily, a long-time student with The One Year Adventure Novel, recently experienced a breakthrough in her struggle with writer's block. We asked her to share it with us—because, let's be honest, we all wrestle with this monster sooner or later!