Holly Lisle's How to Beat Writer's Block
I have been a fan of fantasy author Holly Lisle for many years. In addition to her prolific output of novels, Holly has also written extensive resources for other writers at her website and in ebook format. I have found her ebooks to be packed with great advice and instruction to an advanced level of writing craft.
I've just completed the How to Beat Writer's Block workshop myself and you can read my review at the link below. I'll also be writing up my reviews of her some of her ebooks shortly.
My review of How to Beat Writer's Block
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How to Beat Writer's Block reviewed
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Although I managed to break a major case of writer’s block a few years ago, this year I found myself struggling through a series of minor blocks. The latest session arrived three weeks ago – just in time for me to try out Holly Lisle&rsqu...
5 Tips to help you break the block
- Set a ridiculously easy target, like One Sentence; Fifty Words; Ten Minutes. After each successful session, increase the target by a tiny amount - Two Sentences; Sixty Words; Twelve Minutes. Most important, if you reach your target and the words are suddenly flowing, keep going. But stop before you're exhausted.
- Bribe yourself. Write a paragraph and you can watch a cool movie; write for half an hour and you can go out for a coffee.
- Challenge yourself to beat the previous day's total word count, even by just one word. But try not to count until you've completed the session.
- Use a spider diagram to figure out where your plot wants to go next.
- Give yourself a break from words and engage your visual creativity by painting, drawing, or taking photographs. Or stimulate your audio side by playing music.
Holly Lisle
In 1994, Holly was signed to co-write a novel called Glenraven with Marion Zimmer Bradley. As things turned out, Holly ended up writing the entire book herself when Zimmer Bradley fell seriously ill. At the same time, two traumatic situations ensured Holly had plenty of distractions to keep her from reaching her goals.
Holly has created a great deal of high quality resources for writers as her way of paying forward what she has learnt over the years of her career.
To get a taste of what she offers, download the free ebooks listed below. Both will keep you busy for weeks. Mugging the Muse is packed with great advice and chat from writer to writer - Holly makes you feel like someone out there understands what you're going through.
Finally, Holly has just launched her comprehensive audio and written course on How to Beat Writer's Block.
Holly says: "I realized that I'd won my dream, but I was letting it slip away from me. I'd beaten the slush pile, I had a stack of signed contracts and a stack of waiting deadlines. I'd conquered the odds millions of other writers were still fighting against, and I was letting my shot at my dream die... And I said, 'The hell with this.'"
Holly developed three techniques: one to reconnect with the muse, to instigate a meaningful conversation; the second to get that useful information down on paper as quickly as possible; and the third to kickstart every writing day and get the juices flowing without pain.
Holly's How to Beat Writer's Block course sells for US$59.95. In addition, she's offering a special deal of 50% off her four Clinic books together with the Writer's Block course. The Clinic books are usually $9.95 each, but for $79.95 you receive the Writer's Block course, Create A Character Clinic, Create A Plot Clinic, Create A Language Clinic, and Create A Culture Clinic. This is well worth it, and I've grabbed a package for myself. I'll review it as soon as I'm finished working through it.
Freebies
Download the following ebooks
- Introduction to Holly Lisle's Create a Plot Clinic
- This is the first 50 pages of her Plot Clinic ebook and contains so much information and analysis in itself that you'll be busy exploring the ideas for weeks.
- Mugging the Muse
- This is an old ebook, but a good one. If you don't already have your copy, grab it now. This is all Holly's advice for writers that she learnt the hard way at the start of her career. This one has to be downloaded through Holly's shop, but has no charge.
The four types of block identified by Holly Lisle
- Complete block - usually occuring after a tragedy or upheaval in your life.
- Inner Critic Block - that soul-destroying internal editor who criticises every word.
- Pages of Misery Block - you may well be getting the pages down, but they feel like each word has been extracted by digging them out through your eyeballs.
- Chemical Block - medication, drugs, and alcohol can kill your muse. If this is your cause, you need to get assistance with dealing with these before you attempt her course. (Otherwise you're just wasting your time and money.)
Holly's fiction
Find out more about Holly Lisle's Writing and Worldbuilding Clinic ebooks
- Create a Character Clinic
- A Great Character Will Sell a Book to an Editor or a Reader Who Isn't Sold on The Rest of the Book.
- Create a Plot Clinic
- You can create a novel, short story, or screenplay plot from beginning to end, even if you don't know what you want to write about yet.
- Create a Language Clinic
- Invent good names for your worlds, characters, and places. Create a complete working language, or just the parts you need for your story. Add depth to your worldbuilding.
- Create a Culture Clinic
- Create religions and philosophies, governments and lifestyles that are different than your own, that work together, and that feel real. Avoid cliches.
Read what some of the beta-testers have to say
- In a little over one hour, How to Beat Writer's Block helped me clear a weeks-long block and get writing again. I now know that I can beat writer's block any time in one hour. This course is the best investment in my writing career I ever made.
- The Plot Clinic class gave me a handful of useful tools, but the Block course gave me energy, which is both rarer and more universally applicable.
- I am regaining a sense of playfulness with writing. It's NICE not to dread the time I want to devote to my novels.
Read my review and discussion of How to Beat Writer's Block
- How to Beat Writer's Block reviewed
- My full review of How to Beat Writer's Block
- The claims made by How to Beat Writer's Block
- My discussion and verdict on How to Beat Writer's Block.
Do you need a writing mentor?
Are you stuck on exactly how to go about getting published?
If you're looking for a writing mentor, you've just found Holly Lisle.
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