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Inspirational Block: What It Looks Like And How To Kill It Stone Dead

I imagine that all those Terrouge readers who like to write have had this problem many a time in the past. It's the thing you get when you sit down at a piece of paper or an empty word document and you wonder exactly how you're going to write anything on it.

Here's what some folk say: Just Write.

But as we all know, that's an awful lot harder than it seems. Certainly you can write about something on the table right in front of you - you can write about how you felt when you first cracked out a drawing you were particularly proud of, or the first time you got caught snitching cookies, or your first bicycle ride/crash.

So here's an idea for you. Pick a card.

This is actually a very easy way to start yourself on a writing spree. Get a deck of blank cards and on each one of them, write a random word from your dictionary. Let the pages fall open, plonk your finger on the page with your eyes closed and use the word you've landed on.

Do this with an entire deck of cards (and you are allowed to use a 'nearby' word if it's better).

Then. Pick a card.

You have fifty-two writing prompts now. Choose one at random and write something about it. For instance, say I chose the Green/Jack Of Hearts. I would then write something about the colour green, and it might go a little like this:

Green is the colour of forests and growth.

But don't stop there. You've got three things to write about now. Elaborate, like so:

Green is the colour of forests and growth, as it appears in rainforests and on snakes and in the most precious gemstones pulled from the earth.

There's something here which catches my eye. Gemstones from the earth. Mining. I could write a story about a mine, and in true Blue Peter fashion, I already have. Green was the word I used to start myself off when I began writing Tiran. It's now 17,000 words long.

So write yourself a deck of cards, and don't be afraid to need inspiration sometimes.

By: Jason