The Writers Block Thread

You'll never know if it's good enough to be published unless you try. If you've put a lot of time into it then you may as well go for it. If you've never completed a draft before then this will be a good opportunity for you. The satisfaction of completing something may top how good you think it is.

 

If you've never completed anything before, I'd definitely continue. If nothing else, you'll get past the psychological barrier of finishing a first draft. We learn through doing.

 

Finish this, edit after you're done with a new book.

 

@ILaughAtTrailers If it was me: I would try to analyze as many details of the story as possible so that I could see which ones I could change into something more interesting.

And if you're not into the same kind of deconstructive outlining that I am, maybe think of it this way:

Imagine that you signed up for a 5k run (3.2 miles). You train and train for months and drive to what you think is the site of the race on what you think is the date of the race, but you find out when you get there that you are actually at a 3.2k (2 miles) race course a week early for the 5k.

Would you just go home disappointed? Or would you run anyway just to stay in shape for the actual 5k later

Me, I know in my bones that I am A Runner - despite not competing professionally - because I know that I am the kind of person who runs 5ks when he's bored. Is that how you feel about writing?

 

Organise and plan first.

 

Working as a musician taught me that writer's block is a luxury few professionals can afford.

 

I think that's a good way to think of writer's block, a luxury.

In writing, the consequences of a false start are a lot cheaper than other creative undertakings that would exhaust specific materials (cooking, painting, etc.). Perversely, the fact that the stakes are so low, that it's so easy to start, just seems to make people question themselves and put it off more.

So you want to create something, but you have no idea what? Brainstorm any kind of starting point and work it out as you go along.

If you genuinely can't come up with ideas, maybe you should wait until something does occur to you, or you should take up a hobby that's not about communicating ideas. But sitting around saying "I wish I had an idea", or complaining about that to others, is kind of amusing to me. What does it mean to want to write if you don't have something in mind?

I've spent a lot of time creatively stumped, for sure. But I only got out of it by changing the way I think about inspiration, mostly by taking responsibility for whether or not I actually come up with ideas. Some people complain about writer's block like you're supposed to just receive ideas without doing any work, and it makes it hard for me to take the whole concept seriously.

Here's where I stop being an ass and give the advice that's helped me:
The most practical advice I have for this somewhat psychosomatic condition is to learn how to chase your own thoughts, instead of letting them slip into oblivion. If something strikes you as weird, or interestingly complex, or profound, or... perverse (trying to think of a different word, but it works here too), or in any other way intriguing: follow up the idea, explore it in writing, come up with an invented scenario for it or just reflect on it. Tease it out and scrutinise it. Articulate it and elaborate it.

The writer's notebook isn't just a cliche, you need to become a collector of ideas. That's all it takes to get started.


(This relates to why I chose the avatar that's got people confused about my gender. The character spends the whole movie telling people he's a writer, but almost no time actually writing on his gorgeous Underwood. The moment depicted is the moment he gets over himself, after being confronted with serious, non-self-inflicted problems, and goes to throw his Underwood and all his pretensions off a bridge. It's not even clear whether he keeps writing after the end, but I like to think of this as a crucial moment in the development of any writer, when you let go of the bullshit and understand what writing, or not writing, really is.)

 

So how did you overcome it?

Even though I was once a working musician, I didn't learn this lesson. We only played one original song because in those days, bands could get work without originals. In fact, they were frowned upon and we only managed to sneak that one in because—being completely modest here —it was a damned fine song.

 

Guess it means you're all dressed up with nowhere to flow. I dunno, in every pursuit, pastime and calling there seems to be a contingent who are more in love with the label than with what it entails. Not saying everyone with writer's block fits this description of course, but all the gear, no idea appears to be quite common these days. Great post btw. Collecting up all the little thoughts that occur throughout the day is something I don't do rigorously enough.

 

A different attitude helped. With inward searching it became clear that I'd been victim to pretentious notions about artistic perfection and inspiration. It was no longer feasible to wait for the right kind of wind, or for Jupiter to be aligned with Mars, before work could begin. Further contemplation revealed a suffocating pressure of expectation - other people's as well as my own - and once alleviated I was able to enjoy the creative process without the fear of failing, approaching it more lightheartedly almost as a child approaches play. With enjoyment came improvement, leading to greater enjoyment, and so on. Actually I think children are blessed with numerous attributes conducive to creativity - keen imagination, synaesthesia, open mindedness, undeveloped egotism - strengths that often atrophy in the monotonous clock-punching mundanity of adulthood. It was helpful to rekindle them.

Perhaps more practical, I once read an article that suggested 4 main pillars of creativity. I can only remember 3 of them, but they were:

1) Domain relevant knowledge. If you're to create then it is helpful to have an understanding of the tools, techniques & medium at your disposal. If you're to write then some grasp of the subject might also be good.

2) The will to get on with it.

3) An environment conducive to productivity. a) The physical environment but also b) The psychological environment, as it isn't helpful to be around people who are negative about what you're doing.

Those 3 work together but I've found that improvements even in just 1 area can lead to greater creativity.

Finally, constrained creation was a revelation. I read an article about the Oulipo and was intrigued by the idea of freeing creativity through restricting your options. It works well for me because one of my reoccurring blocks is paralysing indecision in the face of overwhelming creative options. Some people thrive on this, but I find it difficult.

Ha, nice. Ninja style!

I wonder how many great tunes and have gone extinct without due recognition.

 

Perfection is the enemy of good enough.

 

I am a pantser not a outliner so I don't really ever have a problem writing but I have written terrible things just garbage not well inspired but they get saved and i read them and see if something sparks in me to develop a different idea if I write something and it is garbage it is still a thing that was in the world before. I have a lot of saved files that are only four or five sentences.

 

Pantsing is a way to do brainstorming to come up with ideas. It is an inefficient way to do it but some people can't do it other ways for reasons I am still researching.

Don't many people have problems staring at a blank screen trying to just write?
I would expect it would be easier if they just randomly wrote down ideas and double spaced until they had something that might guide them with the actual writing.

I still cannot grok how anyone expects to sit down and just write and end up with a novel at all let alone a good one.
I guess that as the photo club says "Fix it in Photoshop", and the garage band musicians or indie movie makers say "Fix it in Post".
I guess pantsers answer is to fix it in revision and editing.

 

That's a big one for me. Any wisdom to pass along on how to get around this? I keep thinking I've got it licked and suddenly, there it is again. It's the biggest reason why I keep walking away from things.

 

I read a book on procrastination that had a section on getting over the fear of failure which is a big problem many people run into that is a cause of writers block.

 

I think this is a really key idea. It's why fridge magnet words are more enticing than a blank page.

Once you have a problem to solve, you have a focus, you have some concept of what completion/success would be, you have an interesting challenge, and you escape choice paralysis. You don't have to think about the million different things you could do, you do have to find what works within your set limits, and working out how to push up against them has led to amazing things.

Either setting yourself arbitrary constraints or just identifying some logical constraints for whatever you have in mind really helps get you into the problem-solving mentality that has so much to do with creative "flow".

 

It's a matter of self-analysis really. For me, it helped to cultivate a kind of artistic detachment from the work. It's just play. Even if it goes wrong it's not so bad; failure presents a great opportunity to grow. Learn the lesson and move on up to the next plateau, the next idea. Consider that you never really know how something is going to turn out until it's finished, and when you've finished and it seems bad, not to worry as bad things can always be improved through revision. Of course it's more difficult to revise something that doesn't exist.

Depends what you want, probably. A chef who bins every meal for not meeting his expectations may take consolation from a sense of artistic integrity, but he isn't going to be in business for long.

 

I get a spark and I see a character in my head and it goes from there. I see it play out in my mind and write what i see. I don't need to know where the story is going, trusting that i will get somewhere. It works for me and there isn't much to "fix in post" but there is some stuff. Revisions and editing as to be done on both sides of the fence. There is always something to change and fix but i get the story out and like i said if it's garbage then it's garbage not everything is a masterpiece, and i am okay with that.

 

Maybe you have Stephen King's knack for doing it that way. Most of the people I have worked with cannot do it like that

 

I get that alot of people can't do it that way. My brother-in-law is a writer and his world building and character design is insane but he ends up spending more time outlining and building than writing. His latest idea is already a 50 page outline and he told me that is was only half the story. That just seems crazy to me I wish he would just write something because his ideas are great and the way it looks it would be a great read. Back on point here, as insane as the outlining process seems to me i guess the way I write is insane to others. I guess I have just never experienced writer's block so I am not the guy to listen to.

 

I can see where some use planning as an excuse to procrastinate the writing.
OTOH James Patterson does 90 page detailed outlines. He hires someone to do a rough draft. Then he revises and edits.

 

True. It is the amount of changes that is different. As well as the rework and wasted effort that gets deleted.

 

Yes exactly that, TB. Less time spent picking through the different pathways, and more time spent travelling along one of them. And there are so many different and fun ways to constrain yourself.