I thought I would share my experience of this famed menace to all writers. Being absolutely honest, I had read about writer's block in articles and wondered what all the fuss was about; surely people could just think of a new idea and get writing? "Just get on with it!" I thought.
And then: BAM! Just when I thought I knew exactly where my story was going, just as I was finding some great rhythm, I came to a screaming stop. I went from from 100mph to zero in the space of half a page. Literally. And it drove me nuts.
It felt like my story had slipped away from me over the most trivial of things and my brain focussed totally on that single scene I needed to get through. But the trouble was that the more I obsessed over it the more the knot tightened and the less able I was to see a way past. So then I started to beat myself up over it. After all, what kind of writer can't even tell his own story, right?!
What really frustrated me is that I knew where I wanted the following scene and the rest of the story to go and I just couldn't get there to make it happen. For weeks. Yes, that amount of time. The harder I tried to think through the problem the more of a blank I drew and the whole creative process suddenly felt impossibly difficult which is not something I had encountered before. Scary times! I remember sitting in front of my laptop tapping away madly, deleting, trying again, deleting, the words diminishing, deleting, ... oh for the love of... deleting. Blank. A notebook full of crossed out scribbles...
In the end I decided enough was enough. I took to writing a (terrible) short story and re-visited a couple of ideas I'd had previously to try and get my writing mojo back a bit; to try and unlock that creative bit of me again. And then one morning, while I was in the shower of all places, it happened: that hallelujah moment. The key! The idea that would work! The bit I was missing! I wrapped a towel around me, darted to my writing cave and scrawled the idea on the whiteboard I have above my desk. And then I wrote it while it was fresh (once I was dressed!) and I never looked back. In fact, I would say it developed to being one of the cornerstones of the story. I believe my subconscious was turning this over when I relaxed and gave it the space to do so. Then it was able to process, assess and give me the solution. Our brains may not be completely understood but they are truly incredible organs!
I certainly don't expect the experience to be the same for everyone, but here's my advice, for what it's worth:
Accept it. I didn't consciously identify what was going on for quite a while so I struggled to know where to even begin. By accepting it you'll be more likely to relax.
Don't try to battle against it. I think this was my biggest mistake. I tried to go head to head with it and it just made the whole thing worse as I tightened up.
Write anyway to get past it. Write something. Anything. It certainly doesn't need to be perfect - not at that point. Maybe I should have just written that scene anyway, accepting it is not what I wanted and gone back to it later. Maybe a good idea would have been to leave the scene as a blank placeholder and hopped onto to the bits afterwards I knew I could get on with. Maybe the right thing was to work on something else. Either way don't stop writing altogether. Keep the juices flowing.
Trust in your subconscious. I had no idea about this previously but the way my brain must work is that it mulls over things when I'm not actively thinking about it. I get a lot of writing ideas at very random times too, so I guess that helps to explain it somewhat. But believe the answer will come rather than trying to force it.
Be prepared - you're not on your own. Think about what you might do if it ever happened to you. I was completely unprepared and it knocked my confidence. Now I understand it's part of the process and most (if not all) writers will experience it at some point which makes me feel less isolated. I believe I now have some tools in my belt to manage it more effectively in future but if I struggle with it again I will reach out into the writers community to talk about it. It is very supportive out there and I have no doubt other writers would step up to help.
Good luck and keep writing!