As PR professionals, we are tasked with selling our client’s story to target media and influentials. We must convince them our client has something interesting to say that their readers would be interested in knowing. As such, one of the most critical skills in PR is the ability to write well. Not just the mechanics of writing, but the creative art of storytelling.
Anyone who has spent time writing for a living knows that sometimes the ideas seem to fall from the sky and the words flow freely from pen to page. Creative flow just happens. But there are days when the flow freezes over. No ideas come to mind and writing becomes an arduous task – classic writer’s block.
After experiencing a recent bout with writer’s block, I thought it would be helpful to share some of my own tips and strategies, as well as what I’ve learned from others, for melting the ice and returning the flow.
- Start writing. Something. Anything! Sometimes the best way to get started is simply to get started, even if you don’t have any idea what you are going to say or in which direction your writing is headed. The act of putting something down on paper or tapping away at the keyboard (even on an unrelated topic), often triggers the formulation of new ideas and loosens up the creative flow.
- Write first, research later. Once you’ve settled on a topic, flesh out early ideas with some non-stop-writing. Professional writing instructor and founder of the National Writers Workshop, Roy Peter Clark, suggests writing for 10 minutes without stopping even before you’ve completed your research. Clark says, “Your early writing – call it a ‘zero draft’ – will teach you what you know and what you still need to learn.” He also suggests you lower your standards at the beginning of the process and raise them later, so your desire for perfection doesn’t inhibit you from getting started. Clark’s tips were published on the popular online writing resource Grammar Girl.
- Do your homework. Information junkies may do better with the opposite approach – research first. In his article on overcoming writer’s block, published on the Psychology Today blog, author and journalist Steven Kotler says, “If I have nothing to say, then maybe it’s because I literally have nothing to say. I haven’t done my homework. So the first thing I do when stuck is more research. I read everything. I dream up questions and then I call people a lot smarter than myself and ask.”
- Make it personal. If you have any leeway with the direction of a topic, try to align it with what you already know or what interests you. Having some familiarity with or interest in a topic makes idea generation much more natural. And chances are if it interests you, it will interest someone else.
- Tune out. Often the best ideas come while taking a shower or weeding the garden. Creativity often takes place in the spaces between forced thought. That’s when our brains are free to process information and make connections from all the input rattling around upstairs.
- Get moving. We’ve all heard it many times, but it’s worth repeating. Exercise, and the subsequent release of endorphins, can clear your mind, rev up your mood and restore brainpower. But be sure to skip the headphones. Exercising without music allows your mind to wander and your thoughts to become clearer (see “Tune out” above.)