Goodreads asked Guy Winter:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Guy Winter When I'm writing, I will always make sure I'm also reading some of my favourite stories, and especially movie scripts- even if only for a snatched five or ten minutes at a time. Generally these will be stories that I already know extremely well (like Chinatown, Withnail & I, Shallow Grave, Reservoir Dogs, PG Wodehouse novels). Movie scripts are great because they're much shorter than novels, and the way they're written (in scenes) makes them easier to pick up and put down again. The point is not to incorporate the style, or even the atmosphere, of these masterpieces into my own work- it is all about stepping into a different world, to give me more perspective on the one I'm writing about. I won't be reading new novels whilst I'm writing, because I want to save that exploratory mind-set for the world I'm trying to evoke. The familiarity as well as the rapture of the language of old favourites is what I'm looking for. It refreshes my mind. Often five minutes in a cherished alternative existence will be enough to unlock the next idea.

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