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Writer's Block
Dragonpol
https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
Writer's Block - have you ever had it?
Do you believe it exists or is it just a feeble excuse for inability to write?
How do you try to overcome it?
I write non-fiction articles, mainly on James Bond and I have had writer's block for a while now. I have plenty of ideas but being bothered enough to get them down on paper is much more difficult than thinking them up initially.
It's usually applied to writers of fiction, but in reality any kind of writer can get it.
Let's discuss it in this worryingly blank space. :)
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Comments
Yes, a kind of literary version of "hair of the dog that bit me"! I think you're quite right. Writing your way out of your predicament, if you will.
I find sometimes it's a matter of getting the right inspiration to hit to get things rolling again.
The harder then you try,the worse it gets !!
Now I am grumpy and the world irritates me, which I am fine with :))
Just out of interest which books did you write?
So to get him passed the blockage he used to paint things , I have on my desk a large lump of rock from Southern Ireland which is a very loud orange it's called the Tango Stone and today serves me very well as a paper weight.
Maybe this thread will serve as the spur to get you back to typing up your work. I certainly hope so.
It may do though time is often the issue I have quite a busy life, when I do have time to myself I tend to just want to unplug. Though the seed of an idea is often a catalyst
When I write I like to work from outlines, as that way I know where I'm going and that layout and sense of direction is important to me, lest I write a hundred random pages of nonsense. Other times I'll just sit down to write anything, not to make something worth publishing, but to practice descriptive passages, characterization, dialogues, etc. I try to write something every day, and keep to that. Even when I have nothing in me to do creative fiction or I'm dry of ideas, I can turn to nonfiction writing like I have with my Bond film analyses in the past year to exercise other writing styles, or I just come on the forum and write mini-essays while talking to you wonderful people. At any stage, I am at the very least flexing some writing muscle every day, whether it's through fiction, nonfiction or something in between.
When I am tired of writing period, I also have an artistic side and I go back to drawing and design to refresh myself. I am thankful I can do both, so that I can rest my brain after a lot of writing by exercising my art side, and vice versa when art exhausts my energies. I don't know what I'd do if I just wrote or drew, and had no other side of myself to slip into to get a break from another.
My own position, as someone who has suffered from it frequently, is that it exists. I don't have any sure-fire way of getting through it (I've seen "just write anyway" work for others, but I'm not one that it helps), there are just moments when the block lifts and I'm capable of writing again. Sometimes I'll read something and see if that helps.
One thing that has worked for me is what you describe: reading other's work. I've found that when I spend some time reading other people's work, especially works in the genre I'm working in at the time, I feel juiced afterward to do my own story. You read a writer's book and think, "They did it, maybe I can!" and you're somehow sent back on the path, revitalized. At times, that works fine for me.
The same thing works when I'm exhausted from art, and I look at work other people have made. After spending the time seeing the other things artists have made, I again feel drawn back to do my own thing and add to the rest.
Oh, which Common?
In other words never give up
Yes, the instigator is a writer, claiming that instead of "writer's block", they instead get "creative block". They also used an absurd amount of quotes from others to "prove their point" that writer's block doesn't exist.
I love that he thinks there's a difference between writer's block or creative block. Is he degreed in bullshitting?
There is a difference between creative and analytical writing, I have done both and veer away from creative writing for reasons forementioned.
King, I believe, writes in the neighborhood of 2000 words per day. The man is just insanely prolific. At my best, with little else going on in life, I've managed 1000-1500 words per day regularly.
I've found writer's block to take on three different forms for myself:
a) Complete lack of inspiration in what to write (before beginning)
b) Hitting a block midway and not knowing how to continue a work
c) Being completely unsatisfied with the quality of what I'm writing no matter how many ways I try to rewrite it
I don't think that third one technically counts as writer's block, but it should since it effectively destroys one's spirit and impedes upon further progress of the work.
Which is the most dastardly? Hell, they all suck.
My current fix is to set a timer for 20 minutes, in which I'm allowed to do nothing but write. Or stare at the screen. But that gets so boring I'm forced to think of something.
If just one section of a work feels too difficult to tackle, I'll write the fun, enjoyable bits around it. Then I'm forced to sit down and do the hard graft section, because otherwise I'll waste all the work I've put in on the rest.
My personal phobia is dealing with edits. If I've sent something of mine out to someone for comments, I'll put off opening the commented version for days or weeks, even if I've been specifically told "this is good, there aren't many comments".
Generally Wimbledon and Tooting, sometimes Wandsworth. Good for the dog too.
Glad you finally made it, chum. It was worth the wait! ;)