How do you solve writer's block?

I just to tell third-graders in my daughter's class: Don't think, just write.

 

When I was an intern, an editor told me that if I ever had writer's block, just to write it like I worked at AP.

Obviously that wouldn't have worked for features, but it really prevented me from ever just staring at my computer screen when I was on deadline.

 

My strategy for pretty much any story is to think about what I would tell my best friend about the story. You need to adjust the person you're talking to based on your audience, but generally something jumps out. Getting good at that mindset will prevent you from burying that money quote or ignoring that random occurrence that maybe didn't have any direct impact on the game but was the most interesting thing that happened during it.

 

What if your best friend is a moron?

 

Or if you didn't have any.

 

So are your readers.

 

Writer's block? What's writer's block?

 

I'll sit there and write through it. Then I read what I wrote, delete it all, curse at myself for being a hack, and repeat until I get out of the funk.
It's even more fun when you're 20 minutes to deadline.