Per bestselling author Cara C. Putman, most authors will likely get hit with writer's block at some point, whether they've written just one book, or 40 books. For her, it is something that must be factored into every writing project, despite her impressive portfolio of award-winning work. Her solution? Plan ahead for it and build it into the writing schedule. By giving yourself at least one or two extra weeks in your overall deadline, you are giving yourself the opportunity to work through the blocks instead of panicking, which can be counterproductive. This extra time will give you a chance to take a day off or revisit parts of your story that may not be working.
For Putman, she finds these three steps especially helpful: 1) Do something else creative to stimulate your mind in a new way; 2) Revisit your characters and make sure you fully understand their motivations, their dark moments, and their moments of joy; 3) Spend some time plotting. Putman strongly encourages writers to plan ahead for writer's block and to have a strategy in place to work through it. You are much more likely to persevere and stay on track with this approach.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Mrs. Putman! I've noticed that not understanding the full character can definitely drive you into the basement. I wasn't big on planning & I use to do all my outlines in my head. Then, I decided that my main character needed more people to engage with to make the story interesting. Perhaps, even give other characters depth. So. As I was writing the books outline, I stopped in the middle of it. I just started drawing a line to the margin & began outlines for each character. Later, this character outline became it's own page. The technique allowed me to focus on the plot & other areas. It helped me to avoid combing back through chapters trying to remember what a specific character dropped or stole. Writers block is a big thing & attacks everyone that doesn't have a cover-to-cover plan.