What about writer's block

[tlm]

SunnyChristian's post caused me to wonder, what do you all do to overcome writer's block? Share your solutions.

[melw]

When i am faced to a place where i don't know where to go, i simply shift my attention to another story. I have more than one i have started. Then when i do go back to my main WIP I can usually write. I also do 'what if', and try to work out exactly where my characters are going and how they are going to get there.

I hope this helps some people out. This is my way.

MEL

[Lookin^Up]

Typically, in the process of writing a novel, I get bogged down everyone once in awhile until I can work out some sniggly point that bothers me. Ever since I raised my word count of Savage Worlds over 80k words, I've been doing the same to subsequent stories, and now it's happened again. I want to add a chapter, and I know generally what I want it to say. But putting in the details--indeed, how much detail should I put in?--is hanging me up.

In these cases, I take handwritten notes, explaining to myself the problem, outlining what I want to do, and thinking through the situation for the best, most realistic response. Usually that only take one or two pages of a small yellow pad, although it has been known to run longer. And, since God gave me this talent in the first place, I always pray over it.

Other methods may differ, but this one works for me.

[paulchernoch]

Amen, Dave. I have been praying, too. And outlining.

Lately my problem has been failing to ask the right questions. Once I thought things through, I found the questions, and the answers came quickly in some cases, slowly for others. Some of those questions are:

What plot goal am I trying to accomplish? (This is the easiest, and usually my original outline for the chapter is clear on this.)

What change am I trying to bring about in one or more characters? For my latest chapter I had no such goal. It made the whole thing feel empty. Several characters had just had major changes, so I was at a loss. Then I realized that one character had not had a major epiphany at all. She wanted people to take her warnings seriously. She had convinced a few friends the world was in danger, but the US government was not so receptive. Her need to be believed forces her to take a risk and meet with the Chinese ambassador. It made the whole chapter make sense. This freed me to make the core of the chapter a comedy, when all her efforts to run a state dinner lead to disaster. The contrast of comedy (where it was to have been serious) followed by danger coming out of the risks taken by a person with wounded pride is so much better than my original vague idea.

Once I had the idea of making the state dinner a disaster, reading from Emily Post's Etiquette bore fruit, because she explains all the things that can go wrong in a banquet, and the essential elements to be considered in planning an affair. (I'm no caterer - this stuff was a revelation to me.) Once I had the dramatic tone and motives in place, it gave teeth and focus to my research.

I even chose a particular hotel - the Barclay-Intercontinental Hotel off Park Avenue. Using the internet, I leaned the names of the function rooms, what they look like, how many tables they can accomodate, etc.

I also looked up some UN speeches on the internet to learn what jargon and phrases and greetings are used. And I just happened to come across a sad story out of China related to how they are handling their AIDS crisis that I could use as background for the ambassador.

The whole process - all for one chapter - is on the order of magnitude of preparation I would expect for a short story. If only I had applied this amount of attention to every chapter I wrote! (I'd be dead from exhaustion, no doubt.)

I had put this novel aside for months, and was afraid I could neer recover the intensity that I had put into the first two. Every chapter must be approached as an individual piece - that is where the variety comes from. I am happy that there will not be a sameness across the whole work. I hope the different approach I have taken to different parts of the story will improve the reader's enjoyment.

- Paul

[DrRita]

Research usually does the trick. Also writing in longhand can spark creativity.

[Phy]

I like OSC's definition so much that I do just what he does, and it works:
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/sep99/card.htm

As for writer's block, I regard it as my unconscious mind telling me that I'm making a gross mistake in the project I'm working on. It's not a problem, it's a blessing, and the mystery is to find out the mistake, toss out the ineffective section, and write a new version that works. This sometimes means throwing away as much as a hundred pages -- sometimes more -- but I have never found "writer's block" to be wrong. Whenever I'm stopped on a project, it's because I was doing something false or weak, and when I get it right, it becomes more powerful and true.

[paulchernoch]

Hey, Phy. Have you got that memorized, or what? Or maybe I'm having deja vu.

- Paul

[Phy]

<snort - this answer /does/ come across as a soap-box, doesn't it?>

The same question keeps coming up. I think people don't understand how writer's block works and what they can do about it. Like many solutions to common problems that plague us, the solution is less sexy (and more work) than we'd like, usually occurs as a result of something we have done but resist claiming responsibility for, and cannot be cheated by buying pills, potions, or any other shortcut.

And yet the good news is that writer's block is a favor to us, not the curse that it seems like at the time. When you can't see your way clear to move forward, that's a surefire clue that you need to cast your writer's pride aside and backtrack as far back as necessary to address the genuine problem. It's hard work and feels just a little humiliating, but once we understand what writer's block really is and how to quickly recognize it and use it as a tool, the faster we will use that knowledge to our advantage and go back and make things right (or 'write', to use the obvious pun).

[kriswrite]

I don't believe in writer's block, so that kind of takes care of the problem :D However, there is such a thing as writer stall...When I bump into that, I write on another project for a while. It sounds too simple, I know. But it works for me.

Kristina

[arembe]

Most of you seem to be referring to getting stuck or stalled, as Kristina, calls it. Which implies you're actually working on something. What do you do when you find that you're afraid to even start something? I love writing (or more truthfully, I love the thought of writing) and I really do want to write, but somehow I just can't get myself to start. So I tell myself I don't have the time right now. Or maybe I'm afraid what I write won't be any good. I know the answer is to just write anyway. But does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to start? Maybe I need some motivation or incentive? What motivates you to write?

[Phy]

I'd start by asking God if this is what He wants for you. If yes, nothing will stop you but yourself. If no, you have no business playing around with something apart from His will for your life.

I'm assuming that the answer is somewhere between a 'maybe' and a 'yes' for this next part.

The fact is that not everybody is cut out to be a writer. And of those who are, not everyone will have the determination to see it through the hard times. Those statements will either discourage you or embolden you. How you respond will be the first step toward your dream of becoming a writer.

The best thing I ever did was NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. The premise is simple - write 50k in 30 days. There is no concession for quality, just quantity.

I picked a topic I thought would give me a lot of dialogue and character interaction, and I created a large cast for lots of stuff to bounce off of. I budgeted 2400 words / day, and gave myself one day per week off to rest (I planned on Sunday, but it ended up being Saturday).

Then I wrote.

30 days and 55k words later, I'd finished a simple (if flawed and amateurish) rough draft of my first novel. But more than that, I'd pushed through days that I thought I couldn't write. I proved that I had the chops to wrist consistently.

Roger Ebert has written that the muse comes during the work, not before it. In short, you have to apply your seat to your chair and just start banging stuff out. Maybe it's good, maybe it's utter dreck, but the act of writing is like priming a creative pump, and before you know it, you'll have proved to yourself that you really can do this, and nothing will ever take that confidence away from you.

Until the next time you stare at the blank screen. ;)

It sounds cliche but the best way to prove you can write is just to write. Start by writing 100 words per day, every day. Bump it up to 500. Bump it up to 1000. But write each and every day for a month. Make it a priority and promise yourself a reward when you make it.

Best wishes.

[tlm]

For arembe;

We all have stories in our brain. Yours may be oral (my Uncle was the greatest story teller I have ever met. He wasn't about to write any of them down, though). Some tell the story through poetry or song. You need to find the medium for your stories. Then you know what your next step should be. Seek God's will.

For everyone;

I don't really ever get stalled. I always manage to plunge through on a project.

The only times I have really had writer's block were during times of extreme emotional stress. For example, I wrote constantly before I married, but the writing almost dried up during my marriage. Right after my divorce, I went back to college and my professors kept encouraging me to submit my research to various professional journals (that wasn't even the kind of writing I planned to do, but it was the writing I had to do to pass my courses). Within weeks after my graduation, I was writing just like I did before my marriage.

The last writer's block I had was right after 9-11. I was so overwhelmed with sadness that I couldn't write anything for months.

I really respect the idea of the Nano writing, but could never do it. I am compelled to edit as I go. I do believe in writing every day, though.

[mel3]

I listen to music. It really really helps!
I find pairing a particular piece of music and its tone/mood with what I'm writing helps to get the creative juices flowing.
Or, I read other writers I admire and become inspired by them.
Mostly though, I pray.!

[arembe]

Thanks, Phy, you said what I think I really needed to hear! I really do need to ask God if this is what He wants me to be doing. And if it is, I have to trust Him to lead me and motivate me.

I also "know" in my head what you said about Roger Ebert: "Roger Ebert has written that the muse comes during the work, not before it. In short, you have to apply your seat to your chair and just start banging stuff out. Maybe it's good, maybe it's utter dreck, but the act of writing is like priming a creative pump, and before you know it, you'll have proved to yourself that you really can do this, and nothing will ever take that confidence away from you."

I'm going to take your advice (it's the best and most direct I've ever gotten! Thank you!!)... I'm going to first of all pray about it. And if I get the go-ahead, I'm going to "Just Do It!" (sorry Nike :o ) because from what I understand, it really is like "priming the pump" (I've even used that analogy myself because occasionally I'll get a glimpse of it when I have actually sat down to write something).

And I'm sure that what I write might (no ...will) be dreck, and I've heard that I need to give myself permission to write badly. That's what a first draft is, after all. But it's that darned editor in me that is stifling me. That's something too that I'll be asking God for helping in overcoming!

And Toni, Thank you too for your advice! I will pray about what type of writing I should pursue as well. Knowing that might make it easier to start.

[Phy]

One last thing while I'm thinking about it.

Give yourself permission to write your dreck. Write it loud, write it proud, write it every single day. This is one thing I learned from NaNoWriMo - you have a lot of dreck in you, and you /can/ write 50k words of it in thirty days! Whee!

But here's the thing: there's something magic in writing, always writing (and reading, always reading - the two go hand-in-hand). When you begin, you might think your dreck is pretty good, but there comes a time when you realize your dreck is pretty bad, and that's good, because then you can start to change it, hone it, improve it.

I've mentioned that I just finished reading Brandon Sanderson's Elantris novel, his 'debut', his 'breakout' novel. But it wasn't his first novel - it was his sixth.

Everyone seems to be saying the same thing; you have to write out your million words of dreck, you have to write five bad novels to get to the good stuff, and on and on and on. I just picked up a slim new 'HOWTO' book by my favorite mystery author Walter Mosley. He says the same thing. Write everyday. Get it all out. It's like the stuff in the old hand-powered well pumps. You start pumping and the first stuff that comes out is all gloppy and icky. But you keep pumping and you start to see more water and less sludge. And you keep pumping and you keep pumping and sooner or later, you'll be delivering the coldest, purest water you've ever tasted. It's hard work. Many quit before they succeed. But if you have the calling, and you stay the course, you /will/ succeed.

...or so they all say. I'm with y'all. I'm still solidly in the 'Journeyman' stage, daily writing out my dreck. It's a long road. I'm proud to walk it with y'all together.

[paulchernoch]

I was only able to write about three sentences last night. I was just too exhausted. Though I had a full outline for the remaining half of the chapter I am writing, I just could not force myself to write. Sometimes sleep is the answer.

- Paul

[tlm]

Sometimes sleep is the answer.


I totally agree with that. I was working on an ending for my MS last night and was determined not to sleep till I had something to work with. Then, as I was falling asleep, I came up with something far better.