We’ve all been there: Found ourselves stymied by a paragraph or a scene, unable to bring it to life: We feel stuck, sluggish, blocked. What to do? What to do? I just came across an intriguing technique for overcoming writer’s block suggested by A.B. Westrick, a novelist and author of Brotherhood, in an online article about what she’d learned in crafting her story. While she applied her technique to characters in a novelistic setting, I think it can also be adapted to short stories and even to nonfiction. Here’s her approach, briefly described:

Instead of walking away from your work when you hit a major roadblock, dive into it more deeply by using sensory detail to jump start yourself.

Use the five senses to give your story more color and bring it to life with a shot of energy. Start by identifying odors, textures, and sounds in your character’s life in the scene that’s not flowing well. Give your character something to eat, for example, and then let him/her savor the taste. Think about the light in the scene, the weight of the air, the temperature of your character’s skin.

Write down everything your character is experiencing through his/her five senses in the scene you’re developing.

Then consider your character’s desires in that specific moment: What does he or she want, what’s in the way, what’s needed to get it? Really get involved relishing those desires and making them come alive — and see what emerges. As A. B. observed, “I don’t necessarily insert all of those details into the scene, but the exercise of identifying them loosens me up, getting me unstuck. Sometimes insights emerge. Sometimes the character takes the story in a new direction.”

I like the idea of delving into a scene when you get stuck instead of retreating from it: going deeper builds confidence while retreating undermines it. When you dive in and play with enriching what’s happening in your story at a specific moment in time by layering in sensory details, it’s far more likely that you’ll emerge with something new and exciting. I’m adding this to my kitbag for my YA novel.Why not try this the next time you get stuck and see what happens? Write on!