How do you deal with the dreaded writers block?

[Demented]

It comes for all of us at one point or another. The dreaded writers block is the bane of any writers existence. Nothing is worse than when you're on a roll and all of a sudden you hit that brick wall where you just can't squeeze out anything creative towards that project. What do you do under such circumstances? 

Usually what I do is I ask questions of my story and my characters until I feel out where the snag is and fill out those answers accordingly. That tends to do the trick for me most of the time, but even then it can take some time depending on how much information I'm missing to continue the story naturally. I'd be interested to hear what tricks and techniques other people have learned to break through writers block. 

[Wayne Gray]

Beta readers can help here. Good questions concerning the story, and possible avenues you didn't anticipate are both possible. I know that can help me.

[Myr]

This article from @Comicality might help a bit:

 

[Talo Segura]

So, we are talking writers block inside a story? You've started the story, but don't know where it's going. I sit down and think about possibilities, anything and everything, and I could do that for days. Until something clicks and I've got a great idea as to what happens next. Then I try to map out what happens after that, where things are going, maybe even how it ends. Often if you have a good idea of the ending, it's easier to get there. It's a challenge, but there is always a way forward, you just need to find it.

 

[W_L]

For me, writer's block usually occur when I spend too much time trying to tweak a story. I get too involved in my head and can't easily get myself to commit to a particular plot line or idea. A lot of my stories died that way in their infancy, not for lack of care, but due to over-exposure.

Preemptive commitment to a plot was my first solutions, but it felt wrong to force situations and characters into a narrow gap. It's like I am forcing them to be whatever idea my story originally called them out to be. I don't ascribe to the philosophy of predestination, so I don't like the idea of my characters being forced into such a narrative universe.

Best way to get over that kind of writer's block for me as I've learned over time is to commit to my story's characters rather than the plot. Who they are and their lives at the moment are far more important facts than any particular theme or plot. People don't fall under neat little boxes in real life, so I let them be themselves and the plot will flow logically from there.