Writer’s Block Part 2 - Caught in the Block
Based on the comments of my last post, whether or not we believe writer’s block exists is not the question. We all know what it is, be it what we feel is just an excuse not to write or a feeling of a real absence of the muse. Either way, it’s there.
Whether writer’s block, by your definition, is something you can give in to or resist, or if it’s something that you are an innocent victim to, I think we’ve all been through it.
I have never claimed to have a muse and thus could never blame inactivity on his or her absence in my life. I have also never claimed to have writer’s block simply because I didn’t take my writing seriously when I was younger, and I would flit from project to project as I pleased, leaving things unfinished that I still have to this day.
I think the closest I’ve had to anything I’d call writer’s block is the struggles I’ve been having with my nano. But, yesterday at least, I barged through and got a nice chunk of writing done.
But is that the best way? Is forcing yourself the best way, if all you can type is “I can’t think of what to write” about a thousand times on your screen?
Take off the “writer’s block” label and just think about the feeling of not wanting to write or not being able to think of anything you deem good enough, if anything at all. Think about that.
Is forcing yourself to write the best way to get through it? If not, what else can you do?
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Writer’s block is an uniquely individualized affliction. It affects every writer in a different way, and every writer deals with it in his own way.
For me, I tend to analogize it to the common cold. There is no cure, save for the passage of time, and it must be allowed to run its course. I have heard several “remedies” for it, but they all sound suspiciously like cures for the hiccups.
I did, however, think I’d stumbled upon a true remedy, at one point. It involved a .357 Magnum and a couple of gallon milk jugs filled with various colors of Jell-O (yes, there was alcohol involved, and yes, the idea originated with the term “Jell-O Shooters”). Somehow, the loud report of the pistol in combination with the sight of colorful goo wiggling through the air jarred something loose in my brain and the words flowed like floodwaters in the aftermath.
Alas, repetition is the sine qua non of all science, and I have never been able to duplicate the effect.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:38 am
I recall reading a book called (I think) The Artists Way, & one of the exercises was to get up each morning & sit & write for 30 mins - write anything, be it current thoughts, commentary on the previous day - anything that came to mind, but to write for 30 mins.
I guess I should try it…
November 23rd, 2006 at 4:36 pm
A way I have used to break writer’s block is to
write off the top of my head. I tell myself that whatever I write will be thrown away. I might use of writing prompt, a song lyric, or twist a movie or TV I have seen into a new idea. Just writing junk you give yourself permission to say stinks can reopen you creative pathways.
By the way, I love your blog! It’s really useful to think about these writing issues and grow other writer’s knowledge of our craft.
November 23rd, 2006 at 6:47 pm
o_O Literal Jell-O shooters? Wow. Hehe. I wish we could have met in person right before you thought of that one. I would have loved to take part.
Marcus - It can’t hurt, and as I offer to all (with exceptions of certain activities) people who comment here and talk about starting up a new habit, if you do it, I’ll do it with you.
Sara - Thank you very much! That’s my goal for this little piece of the internet. Also, very good ideas. An extension of that is to have a very crappy notebook to write in when your doing that. Which is a good topic for the next post…
October 24th, 2007 at 4:56 am
[...] couple of posts (here and here) over at Fiction Scribe caught my eye. Jaime discusses the touchy subject of writers block, asking [...]