I do what Roald Dahl did: stop in the middle of a page. That way, you don't have a blank page staring at you when you start again.

Thank you so much for responding. I see that blocking out outlines and writing non-linearly are both common procedures among you, so I will try putting those into practice and see how it works out for me. Failing that, I'll just buckle down and power through a page or two and see what I turn up.

Thank you all again. I am still receptive to any more wisdom you experienced writers may have to impart. I could certainly use it.

It doesn't even have to be big and complicated; it can be as simple as writing down the beginning, the end and three things that have to happen in between.

You can also write small pieces with your characters, giving you a better feel for who they are and what makes them tick. Or, if you're writing some kind of fantasy of sci-fi, you can do short, lexicon style articles about elements of your world.

The blank paper (or screen) is scary but if you come prepared, if you have some idea about who your characters are and what they're going to do in the story, it will be easier to start.

And in my experience, writing tend to generate more writing. Start putting ideas on the paper and you will get more ideas and the story will grow bigger and take off in unexpected directions.

My second mission was going to be out very shortly after my first, which came out in early 2014. This... didn't happen. Indeed, it's still barely even started now. The thing is, I write little vignettes and struggle with connective tissue. This is why I do a lot of collabs - other people are better at that than I am. If in doubt, try asking for help! The worst people can do is say no.

Actually, the worst people can do involves swarms of deadly vampire bees, but we'll just ignore that for now. =]

Option one: The power method. Just power through it. just keep putting words on paper when you hit the wall. Though this can result in a stream of consciousness style work

Option Two: Inspiration. Writing, like painting or sculpture or any other kind of art needs some type of muse or source of inspiration. For me it is usually music of some type. It will usually set me in the mood to work.

Option Three: Let your subconscious do the work for you. I believe that all fiction springs from the writer's subconscious mind, so one way to get through the block is to let your subconscious effectively take over. Now this is more about training your brain to be more effective, which I can only tell you what works for me. As far as the subconscious goes, what I do is I write tired if I am struggling. For me that gives my waking mind more access to my subconscious and the wellspring of my personal writing. Of course by doing it this way, I need massive editing to ensure that it is coherent, but it does get me over the hump so to speak.

Now a full plot outline is something many writers use. That may be worth considering, but do not feel obligated to use something so formulaic. What I like to do is have a vague plot and characters, then I write in the moment, which is not that dissimilar to the way Stephen King writes, which brings me to the last piece of advice. First if you do not have it, I highly recommend acquiring a copy of Stephen King's On Writing . I am not sure there is a better book for the actual craft of writing than that. And a part of his advice is to read. If you read many things and expose yourself to many genres that can provide some much needed inspiration. But what I mean by reading, I mean branching out from your comfortable or preferred genres. For example if LotR or Harry Potter are your preferred types of stories read some Herman Melville or John Le Carre or Doyle. Branch out. It might provide that spark to get you through.

Sometimes, all you can do is learn how to force yourself to ignore the stream and continue on.

Try and make a goal.

Alternately, the outline method, which you should know from schoool, albeit for different purposes.

Block out the general outline.
Take it to the next set of details under each point.
Go to the next set of details for each of *those*.
And keep going, and going, and going, bit by bit.

Then you have gone from a very vague outline into an actual story.

Being a writer is much more than having ideas- it's about having the willhour to actually finish what you're working on.

-July, who has a Green Lantern ring

I also have sudden random style changes, so my writing is never coherent.

Think about how the story starts (e.g. where the characters would be in terms of personality and character), and where the story ends. Then work from both ends and meet in the middle. I always find this much easier to work with than just writing linearly, which for me tends to result in less interesting PPC missions and other writing works along with more writers' block and such.

Another suggestion: If you don't know what to do next with your story, improvise! More specifically, try a reasonably random change in events and see how it would affect the characters and progress the story. The less expected an event may be to you, the more engaging the resultant writing may be.

...except the only problem is, I don't really know if I have any to give. I just love writing. It's what I do for fun, it's my main source of entertainment, and it's what I hope to do for a living in the future. I write because it lets me get away from this crappy little corner of the planet I call home. I don't really know how helpful 'just have fun' is. :/

Of course, there are times you have to just grit your teeth and power through a speed bump. Sometimes I jump ahead in the story and write a little bit for a later scene; the scene might not end up getting used because it no longer fits once I go back to connect the dots, but it helps spark new ideas and keep the machine running.

But, when I do happen to get writer's block, what I do is take a break. I go get a snack, play a bit of WoW or Minecraft, or derp around on TV Tropes. Watch MLP or Doctor Who. Daydream about the future. When I come back I'm able to get back into the flow pretty easily and finish whatever I'm working on.