Breaking the Writer's Block Blues when Writing Articles

I recently had the opportunity to write ten articles for an "article sweatshop", as I have seen them so affectionately referred to. I managed to crank out ten articles in a few days, earning a few bucks per article in the process. To relieve the boredom of writing about similar topics over and over, I tried to create some innovative formats for writing articles. So here are some ideas to try if your stuck staring at a blank screen, trying to pry an article out of your head and turn it into words.

Q & A

A question and answer format can help to break up the information your trying to convey into an interesting and readable form. I found it helpful to think about questions I might have or want to ask about the topic at hand, in order to write an article that would be helpful to a newcomer to the topic. It also helped me to make my research more specific, because I was able to focus in on key issues that were immediately present to the reader, rather than wandering from one answer to another. Variations on this might include a True or False format, or a quiz style article.

The Interview

A interview with the an actual expert on your topic is definitely a plus, but in lieu of that, an interviewee of your own invention can be a lot of fun as well. This is still asking questions and getting answers, but you can use a goofy dialect, or amusing conversational digressions to add a little twist to your imaginary interview. You could interview a ditsy teen stereotype on a new fashion or an introverted gamer geek on a recent Xbox release. I've come across a humorous article in which a writer interviewed himself as Long John Silver, on the topic of copywriting. You might also consider interviewing a historical figure, like Socrates, or George Washington, to get a new slant on an issue. This can be a good way to make your article stand out from the crowd- just be sure it's unbelievable enough to make it clear that your inventing it.

How NOT to....