Free Stuff Friday: Writer's Block

One of the methods I use to fight writer's block (or just plain lack of writing ideas), is to steal from my experience as a drama coach. Yeah, in addition to teaching high school English, I coach competitive speech and drama. I'm that big of a geek.

Anyway...one of the most popular events is improvised duet acting (IDA). In this event, a pair draws three characters, three situations, and three settings. They then choose two characters, one situation, and one setting, and plan/deliver a four to seven minute scene. You can see where this is going...

Sometimes, when I'm really "blocked", I draw. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't.

Today's freebie: a list of 300+ character types (download the PDF). The IDA rules dictate no characters under trademark or copyright. Most of the characters on the list are general types, but if you cut 'em up and draw randomly, you can land some fun combos. Let your writer's-blocked brain sort that out.