A Good book for fiction writers.

Writers Block by Jason Rebulak

Being about 3inches by 3 inches with about 300 pages, this book is a block. It’s designed have on your desk, for whenever it may be needed. The idea being you can pick it up, open up a page randomly, and it may give you inspiration.

Some of the pages have single words, and corresponding photo’s, such as:
Tattoo, Conformity, Waiting and Voyeur.

Other pages have exercises to do, of which I’ve picked 3 randomly:

Write about a parent trying to explain the facts of life to his or her child.

Write about the most difficult phone call you’ve had to make.

Think of a person you don’t like and describe what you might say if you had to share an elevator ride together. Then describe what happens when the elevator breaks down for six hours.

The rest of the pages have advice and tips from writers, such as:

It’s ok to use personal experience. Hone your eavesdropping skills, take a notebook on buses trains etc, and jot down interesting overheard conversations.
One writer, cuts out photos of people in advertisements etc, and uses them as her characters.
Another writer says their most valuable tool is a book of baby’s names.
Another good idea is, looking in the Yellow pages, for interesting ideas for jobs for characters.
If you experience mind block trying asking yourself how well you know the main character.


I picked up quite a few ideas from this book, mostly from the writers tips. I don’t know how useful it will be when experiencing mind block, as I’ve only just got the book. Time will tell. (Cliché’s were also discussed) It is an American book and some of the exercises use American statistics, however the ideas are easily transferable. Being quite inexpensive, I believe it would be a good tool for any fiction writer’s desk.