The Panic Jar: A Simple Way to Break Through Writer’s Block

What is a Panic Jar?

You’re 12,000 words into your novel. Everything is on fire. Your protagonist is staring at a wall. So are you.  The characters have gone quiet. The plot has stalled. You know how the story ends (of course you do), but you can’t figure out how to get it there. That’s where a panic jar can save your writing session.

While prepping for NaNoWriMo one year, I came across the idea of a Panic Jar. It’s a collection of prompts meant to kickstart your writing when your story gets stuck. Usually it’s good advice like adding a time constraint to create urgency or introducing a new character who brings nothing but trouble.

What do you do with it?

Your job is to take whatever it gives you and put it into your story. Not perfectly. Not elegantly. Just… put it in and see what breaks.

Especially if your first reaction is, “That doesn’t fit at all.” Those are usually the ones that help the most.

One small rule: use the first prompt you get. Don’t keep clicking until you find one you like. The Panic Jar works best when it catches you off guard a little. The jar leans toward disruption. Things that force movement, tension, or change. Here are some more examples:

• A stranger arrives who knows something they shouldn’t
• A secret is revealed at the worst possible moment
• Someone makes a decision they can’t take back
• The environment turns hostile (weather, setting, something unnatural)
• An ally becomes unreliable
• A plan fails in a way no one anticipated
• Something important is lost, broken, or stolen
• Time becomes a problem (a deadline, a delay, or both)
• Your antagonist turns out to be right about something

The Online Panic Jar

So I decided I needed a Panic Jar. But most of them are pretty DIY with popsicle sticks handwritten with prompts and maybe a little cutesy drawing on the top lid or lace around the rim.

But I’m a website manager.

So I decided to create an online version I could refer to without actually creating a dusty jar that I neglect for the rest of the year and spiders start living in it. Ick!

I’ve cribbed these prompts from all over the internet writer ‘verse but especially Apron Warrior as she had some great advice.

So it’s under Writer Resources on my blog. Every time you click the jar a random prompt will come up. Do you have a prompt to add to the Panic Jar? Leave it in the comments and I’ll add it.