When you’re stuck behind a creative wall, imaginary friends can throw you a rope.

Lately I’ve been writing about the creative rehearsals I use to overcome procrastination. The first article tackled taxes, then a second was tailored for nonfiction articles. Now I’d like to play with some imaginary friends, and you’re invited!

The core idea behind creative rehearsals is that you’re still procrastinating, but you do some light trial runs related to your work. This will help you come at the work sideways rather than head on. Below I’ll detail six examples of creative rehearsals to use when you’re stuck on a story, and at the end I’ll include some other examples of rehearsals for breaking through blocks.

Dance & Music Rehearsals

Let’s warm up first. Put on some music. Something without lyrics works best. You can search for game or movie soundtracks that are in the same genre as your story. Classical music or jazz might work better for a literary piece. Dance music might pair with romance. Lofi is always a good chill background.

Now get up and start swaying around. Think of the characters in your story. Try to embody them, one at a time. How would they dance if they were all alone and no one was watching them? How would they dance if they were forced to by some authoritarian figure or regime? How would they dance if they achieved their biggest goal, if their wildest dreams came true?

If you feel silly, that’s a good sign.

Arts & Crafts Rehearsals

Do you have a picture of your characters in your head? If the answer to that is no, then we might have just uncovered a block that might keep jamming up your works. So let’s try doodling our way out of it.

We can start by creating a very simple character lineup. These are often used in animation as a reference of how characters will look interacting together. Try doodling some stick figures of your main protagonist and secondary characters — the antagonist(s), love interest(s)…