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I try not to start writing stories until I've got the whole plot stalked out before me. Then I seldomly get stuck, and if I do, I take a break or force myself through it (rewriting it some other day).

Well, personally, just stopping and listening to music helps me. It either clears my head so that I can just go back and read what I'd already written, then figure out from there. At other times, the music gives me an idea through it's sound or lyrics. It's happened, and some of my best, according to my friends, were written that way.

Oh, but in response to Kerydwenn, I think deadlines are pure evil. smile I think writers should have the freedom to write what they'll know is best, rather than rushing through to meet a deadline. Oh, but I don't know a thing about professional writing just yet.

This sometimes happens if I write a lot for a few days, or if I'm trying to get back into writing after a long absence. Something that helps me is listening to classical music while I'm writing.
Or, if I'm into something more lyrical, I'll listen to my favourite bands.
But if I need a break from writing to figure it out, I read books.

I write both books and numerous fanfics as favors for people.
When I get stuck on one, I write on another until I get new ideas.

They're evil, but they're a necessary evil. smile

I can only speak from personal experience and from what I gathered from a few other writers I know (some were published, some went the road of POD publishing), but the global result of comparing our experiences was as follows: without deadlines, we basically slack off. It's part of human nature. We convince ourselves that we're 'taking our time' in order to write 'the perfect story', but this in turn causes us to delay, and delay, and delay some more, and in the end, we still don't have anything. I know of one person in particular who took a few months off to write, then realized that all she was doing was cleaning the house, reading her e-mail, procrastinating... yet the novel didn't progress a lot, in spite of all the 'free time'. Not every writer will behave in a similar way, of course; it's just a recurrent trait in many. (Yes, myself included. xd )

That's one thing I like about NaNoWriMo--of course, you can't write a good novel in one month only, but once it's done, you do have a novel to work on, edit your heart's content, etc. Because of the deadline, we get our arses into gear and write without asking ourselves too many questions, instead of taking our sweet time, waiting for the magical moment of perfection to happen, enabling us to write the perfect story.

Now, if you're able to write well and fast, and never get stuck, hats off to you, you're a lucky one! biggrin

Well I'm usualy capable of thinking of something spontaneously... but when writer's block does happen I:
1. Stop.
2. Consult my best friend's girlfriend because she rocks and helps me with plot thinking and whatever else to do with my stories and creative plans and/or watch some anime/play some game/read some manga to get inspired by the plot and create something new.
3. Shout "EURIKA!" and start writing.

Usually banging my head on a common solid surface works for me. [Kids, don't try this at home] I don't really know if that'd work for anyone else. sweatdrop Usually, I'll have enough stories going on that when I drop one for a while, I have another to work on.

I actually have had the novel I'm working on now for*counts* about three years now. I started it the summer of seventh grade, wrote for about a year, left is for a year and a half, athen picked it up out of an old dusty drawer and have been writing since then. In the year and a half that I threw it away, I started many other stories, some fanfics, some original. I think that as long as you're writing something, whether it's a page or a whole notebook long, you can get past writer's block.