Guest Rumpelstiltskin Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Writer's Block Cue Scary Music and Thunder I think it's safe to assume that every successful author has faced the unnerving grip of writer's block at least a few times in their lives (or perhaps a great majority of them have). Because each of us is unique in our writing ability, there is no fail-proof plan to overcome or avoid it. There are also a vast number of reasons that could cause writer's block, which all come with various solutions, depending on the individual writer. During the intensive searches of overcoming the plight, I've found an overwhelming amount of responses, each varying from one writer to the next. My solution typically involves turning on music and pacing around the room like a maniac until I refocus, but that's not going to work for everyone. Therefore, I've compiled a list of causes of writer's block and possible solutions that may be helpful to some people. You Just Can't Think of Anything to Write The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. --Mark Twain It's the blank word document that stares you down. You write the word 'the' twenty times and erase it. Then you surf the internet for ideas and three hours later you've watched a thousand videos ranging from microwavable recipes, funny cat videos, and this week's hot vloggers doing God-knows-what and your word document is still void of writing. This is a highly typical cause of writer's block and, because of this commonality, there are a ton of options to explore. Ideas are everywhere. You can try some creative writing exercises to get those creative juices flowing. For example, try looking for a prompt to write a quick short story/one-shot about. Or try doing some free-writing about virtually anything, because it can lead to some impressive brainstorming. If you write a short about a cat who wandered around a barnyard in an otherwise plotless manner, that's fantastic! Who knows, it might lead you down the path to something. Maybe that cat has an owner. Maybe that owner is an old, rickety spinster with a social disorder. Maybe he great-niece, who is her complete opposite in every way, comes to visit her for the summer. Maybe a whole lot of laughable incidents ensue and they both learn to love each other, they grow as characters, and are making plans to spend the next summer together, too. Heck, maybe it's all told through the eyes of that barnyard cat you started with. Who knows? That's the beauty of it. Even if it doesn't turn into a story, it's a great way to get started. Or perhaps you need to literally step away from the keyboard. Go for a hike and get some fresh air! Do your dishes! Listen to music (and pace around the house like a madman). Call a friend. Go swimming, or sledding, or read a book (might I suggest "Swann's Way" by Proust?). Do something different for a little while to refresh yourself because there's a good chance that you're overthinking this entire situation. Of course, I'm talking a brief stepping away, perhaps a few hours. I strongly suggest writing something at some point in the day, even if it's 30 words of a half-hearted idea. Are you trying to be a perfectionist? Are you attempting to write an immaculate first draft? Stop that. Are your afraid that the introduction to your story is going to be complete and utter garbage that should never see the light of day? Don't be. It's okay if it's terrible, especially on the first go. Halfway through a multi-chaptered story, I realized that my first two chapters were completely irrelevant and could be worked in as minor backstory in other chapters. It wasn't a big deal because those two chapters is what got me started on the entire story in the first place. Editing and rewriting are your friends. Your Plot is Fizzling Out, Your Story is Going Nowhere When the ink runs dry, you're most likely writing at the wrong angle. ― Carolyn Shields Planning out your story thoroughly beforehand might not be your typical writing style. In fact, you may hate outlining, spreadsheets, and all manner of developmental devices on the face of the planet. You might want to rethink the process, however, because when you have a general plan of direction, plot development, and characterization you'll find that the writing process will move along without as many cracks and crevices. You may have even had an outline that was thrown out due to plot and character changes, and you might want to remake one. If you're like me, you love the thrill of character workshops and plot development, and you might even have pages and pages of spreadsheets, graphs, charts, drawings, and outlines. If you don't love these things, that's okay, too. Scribbling some direction on a piece of paper might be beneficial, however. Try a simple outline. Ask yourself these questions: What's your story's exposition? What happened prior to the story's start that is important in the story? Why does it matter? [*]What is the rising action? Were your characters involved in the rising action? How does this action affect your characters and/or how do your characters affect this action? [*]What is the climax? Which characters, if any, were the cause of the climax? What actions led up to the climax? What's the conflict? How does your protagonist, and your other characters, respond to the conflict/climax? [*]What is the falling action? What solution did your characters find to resolve the conflict that caused the climax? How does the resolution play out -- what happens to your characters? [*]Explain the Denouement How does the story end? How do all of those strings you've created during the story tie together? What is the final resolution? Does this sound familiar? It should . It's the basic plot-structure outline. By at least answering these few questions, you should have a general idea of how your story should progress. This isn't the official structure of all writing, but it will give you a starting point. Maybe you'll want to present the exposition in pieces throughout your work. Maybe you'll do it through a two-sentence dialogue in the second chapter. Maybe you'll wait until the very end for it's surprise reveal. The outline will just allow you to have all of your information in one place for your personal reference. Your Characters Have Been Watching Television for a Week Without Moving Writer's block' is just a fancy way of saying 'I don't feel like doing any work today. ― Meagan Spooner ...or doing irrelevant and moreover boring things. You can have the most brilliant characters ever, but their greatness will not shine if they aren't really doing anything. There is a light in this mess of non-moving characters. Writing pages and pages of characters who are mowing lawns, eating ice cream, and having meaningless conversation could reveal a bit about their personalities that you hadn't really expected, so save those pages (for your own personal use). You're getting to know your characters, but if they really aren't doing anything, then maybe you really don't like them as much as you thought you did. That's one possible issue here. There very well could be at least one character who isn't quite right. Maybe you need to ditch him/her. Maybe you need to reassess their personalities or backstory. Maybe they need a gender swap. What I mean, of course, is if 'Terence' is a great supporting character and best friend to your MC, but something just isn't right, think about what impact 'Theresa' will make in the same role. There is always the option of creating some kind of character outline (oh GOD she said that word again). Planning can be a critical tool in your writing process. Think about who your characters are, how they'll interact in your plot (what are the cause and effects?), and who they'll become. Will your characters change (are they dynamic)? Will they not change (are they static)? What impact will that have on the story? Or did the story impact whether they change or not? Why? How? Maybe you need to do some writing exercises to get to know your characters better! For example, you could try the mirror exercise! (Of course, this will be extra, outside of your story, as a fun exercise.) Have your character sit or stand in front of a reflective surface. What surface did you choose? Is it a mirror? A lake? A window of a car? Why did you choose that surface for your character? [*]What does your character look like? Physical Appearance/Posture! Anything odd? Unique? Why? [*]Is he/she frowning? Smiling? Something else? Why? [*]What is your character doing? Is he/she interacting with the surface? Are they moving at all? Do they have anything in their hands? What is the object, if anything? What are they doing with it? [*]Is anyone with them? Should there be? Why/why not? [*] What's your character thinking about right now? [*] What does your character want to be doing right now? Using techniques such as this may help you get to know your characters a little more, and these exercises are a ton of fun, to boot! You're Just Stuck You've lit the keyboard on fire recently with the sheer amount you've been writing, but suddenly you've hit a wall. Bam! Now nothing is helping, not even your super-clean, organized outline. What happened? Where did that fire go? The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. --Ernest Hemingway Chances are you need to slow down for a moment and take the time to go reread what you've written. There's even a chance that you've written yourself into a corner seven chapters back, and it needs your attention. Even if you're reluctant to admit to yourself that you're facing a gigantic flaw in your story, it'll be nearly impossible for you to continue without first fixing the affected area. Even if you do manage to pick up and carry on, chances are the flaw will cause that area of your story to not make sense. Or rereading will get you back on the right track of what you were on a roll with. Maybe you just need that brief reread to get yourself refocused. Perhaps the scene your writing just doesn't work with your story. Try approaching it from a different angle. Write the scene another way; write it five or six different ways. Maybe you'll find a better way to work with it. Or is it that one character that's not acting like themselves for no reason? Maybe they'll need to say or do something different in order for the scene to work. Most importantly I've found that always writing to progress the plot is one of the easiest ways out of a writing jam. Ensure that the scenes are always relevant in progressing the plot, and make sure the character's action reflect or cause the plot's progression. I've also found that writing for myself has served me well. Worrying about what everyone else is going to think, especially on a first draft, will only slow you down. We are, indeed, our own worst critics. I hope this has helped some of you and please feel free to add some more helpful suggestions, or discuss what was previously stated! Sources and Recommended Readings http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/writersblock/ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/06/14/blocked https://psmag.com/block-quotes-advice-from-great-writers-about-kicking-writer-s-block-725b9b315ce6#.etsqdqy1z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydearfoxy Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 It just occurred to me that I have a pretty good strategy to get words flowing when I'm stuck at a dead stop with writing in a general way. I actually stole this exercise from the Scottish Book Trust (M for some of the past winners). Basically, I write a mini story in exactly 50 words. Which takes some fine tuning, for sure. It's great because it's easier to write when I only have to deal with the story for 50 words. Then when I get stuck later, I can reread my past 50 word fiction stories and they give me ideas for longer stories. I used to write one everyday, and I hope to get back into that ASAP. p.s. Mods, I hope it's cool that I used this thread for this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rumpelstiltskin Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 That seems like an awesome strategy! Actually, I'm going to start doing that. I'll have to start another notebook full of 50-word stories . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooterbug8515 Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 This is an old topic but I am going to resurect it because well writer's block is something we all suffer and it is an issue that will never go away. So I think the tips in here are important to be reminded of. Also I would like to add to the topic by suggesting an amazing book that has helped me many times through blocks. It used to be titled "Writers's Block and How to Use it" but now it is called "On Writer's Block" It is written by Victoria Nelson and it gave me a whole new perspective on writer's block. (Link is to amazon to buy the book) The book literally takes writer's block turns it on it's head and makes it work for you instead of against you in a lot of way. Some of the biggest take aways I have gotten from the book is that Writer's Block is a symptom and it is a symptom trying to tell you something is wrong and we have to figure out what that something wrong is. For me, my most common issues are not having fun with what I do. I try to be a task master with my muse which is equivalent to an inner child instead of letting it be creative and have fun. This is why I always advise to step away and do something fun. Try not to force and strong arm your muse into writing or writing a particular thing. Another type of block I've learned about and find myself experiencing is the block of perfectionism/self-doubt. I worry it won't be perfect and have had to learn that my writing really won't be perfect and I can still have fun with it, and it still has value. I've actually talked about these types of block in detail on my blog that is off site, here and here. (Links provided if you want more detail of what the book talks about). Honestly I would advise people to pick up Victoria Nelson's book it's one of the best I've read and it has helped me so much with block. She really looks at the psychology of block and once you understand that working with it becomes so much easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowycorner Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 My Writer's Block is usually connected with my mental state. When I'm not in a good place, I can't read or write or listen to music, I just shut down, so I think for me it's really important to get out of that first before I can write again, which of course is tricky. What I found worked for me, though, many many times is longhand writing. Somehow, it's less stressful and daunting than the big blank word document. I feel (and I think I've read about this somewhere, too) that your brain somehow works differently when writing longhand, the physical movement of it does something to you that makes the thoughts and ideas flow more easily. I have gotten much more awesome ideas and revelations on actual paper than in a word document. I used to think that writing with hand would be slow and limiting (and sometimes your wrist does ache a lot), but it's actually been fine and after you get used to it a bit, your hand can keep up with your brain (or maybe my brain is just slow ). So I definitely second the 'Get Away From the Keyboard' advice, because again, if you're out there, hiking or just walking, sitting at a cafe, having a notebook with you, you can just write little bits and pieces whenever and then expand them on your computer. Combining this with a regular prompt system is even better. I once did a challenge where I had a prompt every day, there was no word limit, just a rule that you had to write for 10 minutes straight without interruption. Didn't matter if it was fast or slow, not very much or a lot, but you just had to go without stopping, and more often than not, I wrote out some nice or interesting things, some of which I used later when trying to overcome blocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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