Writers Block and How to break it.

The Gorn · Dec 9, 2005

Have no fear, The Gorn is here!

I recently had another bout of writers block. for those of you who are just starting out and have no idea what I am talking about, I'll be happy to explain

. Writers block is a common problem among authors and aspiring authors. It is what you call it when you are working on a writing project and suddenly find yourself unable to continue. Many make the mistake of quitting for good when this happens.

If you are expirencing writers block and have thought about giving up all togather, DON'T! Writers block is a perfectly natural occurance and happens to the best of them. However, not everyone breaks it the same way. I will tell you what I did and hopefully it will work for you. Believe it or not I just stopped. I had been blocked for a month and was going out of my mind with frustration not realizing that the frustration was only making things worse.

Finally I just put the manuscript aside and didn't even think about it. After about another week, I went back to it and new material came pouring through like a dam had burst in my mind.

Now, that was the method that worked for me but it may not work for everyone else. That is why I am now asking other authors and aspiring authors who have faced and defeated this demon to post on this thread and describe your method for breaking writers block so that those who have not figured out how to break it can get some advice and find a method that works for them. Sincerest apologies for the run-on sentence.

Garpy · Dec 9, 2005

In my experience the golden remedy, the magical pill...to writers block, is to save your file and walk away from it for a week or two and then come back and take a look at it again. This means absolutely NOT thinking about it at all, preferably work on another project or go buy a good book and read it. But DO NOT DWELL on your blocked project.

Everytime, for me, that works.

scarletpeaches · Dec 9, 2005

Interesting.

My 'cure' for it is the exact opposite, which is why I never get writer's block. If I feel a certain reluctance to go on, I steam ahead. Just write through it. I think a lot of blockage is just a fear of writing something less than perfect. Afterwards, once the whole thing is finished, I go back and edit and the surprising thing is, what I wrote while 'blocked' for want of a better word, often isn't as bad as I'd feared.

jst5150 · Dec 9, 2005

I bounce ideas off my wife or a very close friend. They usually suggest ways to write out of where I am or suggest a nuance I'd never discovered previously.

Otherwise, I work another project.

Jamesaritchie · Dec 9, 2005

WB

I don't believe writer's block exists, unless you want it to exist. The cure for "writer's block" is to sit down and write.

Those who believe in writer's block need to find a writing job where you get fired if you don't write, if you don't meet the deadline. It's amazing how fast writer's block disappears when your paycheck is on the line.

Garpy · Dec 9, 2005

I know what you're saying, James, but if I do that, I end up writing doo doo, and possibly veering off trajectory to some point that I really didnt intend. Echoing what someone else has said in a recent, similar thread....I think writer's block can be your subconscious telling you something's not working right. You need to back up, and take a look see what's causing the problem. And of course, IMHO it's best to take a break before doing that.

scarletpeaches · Dec 9, 2005

Perhaps you just need to give yourself permission to write crap. You can always go back and edit. No one needs to see your first draft. As Stephen King says, "You can't edit what you haven't written."

blacbird · Dec 9, 2005

Jamesaritchie said:
I don't believe writer's block exists, unless you want it to exist. The cure for "writer's block" is to sit down and write.

Those who believe in writer's block need to find a writing job where you get fired if you don't write, if you don't meet the deadline. It's amazing how fast writer's block disappears when your paycheck is on the line.

It's amazing how fast writer's block disappears when you have quick and continued success in getting stuff published, too.

caw.

SpookyWriter · Dec 9, 2005

I've had writers block on-and-off for the past several months. I know what's causing it, but I haven't been successful with the remedy. My problem is partly the agent process which is driving me nuts because I haven't heard a peep out of them yet. I have partials out to five agents, the longest submission is from September, and the most recent was three weeks ago. I queried one agent a month ago and he promised to have something soon. Still nothing, and so I wait and wait.

I have a few short stories circulating around and am waiting news on them. So, I wait and wait again.

My blockage is really simple; why bother writing or believing I will sell my work if it's crap? I just can't get over this feeling that I'm spinning my wheels and I could be doing something more productive with my time. Sure, I could continue to write on a part-time basis for the next few years, but what I need from the agent(s) is something to work on. I need one of these agents to just tell me if they like it or not, and maybe some constructive feedback would be great, but nothing is happening and so my frustration is keeping me from continuing.

Does any of this make sense?

P.S. I did the start a new project and not wait around, but the new project is a novel stuck at 60k words.

scarletpeaches · Dec 9, 2005

Why should the agent's opinion stop you working?

They like it, great, you need more stuff to send them so you write.

They don't like it, great, you improve your style and you write.

Novilia · Dec 9, 2005

Most people seem to think writers block is a subconcious thing, which I find interesting. I've never thought of it as a subconcious thing. My writers block is caused when I've written out a bunch of stuff that I kow is supposed to happen and I know what's supposed to happen afetr that but....I don't have a means of stringing them togeter, so I sit there and well write until I write something I like!

jst5150 · Dec 9, 2005

Another theory I've heard: writer's block is simply a manifestation of the:

-- Fear of Failure; or
-- Fear of Success

Celia Cyanide · Dec 9, 2005

scarletpeaches said:
Why should the agent's opinion stop you working?

They like it, great, you need more stuff to send them so you write.

They don't like it, great, you improve your style and you write.

Well, as Spookywriter said, "I could be doing something more productive with my time." So it's hard to tell if you should still write, no matter what the response is.

jst5150 · Dec 9, 2005

Good point, Celia. At least if you're playing the saxophone aloud, you have a better vector on whether or not carpentry, food service or stevedore work is in your future.

Shadow_Ferret · Dec 9, 2005

Garpy said:
In my experience the golden remedy, the magical pill...to writers block, is to save your file and walk away from it for a week or two and then come back and take a look at it again. This means absolutely NOT thinking about it at all, preferably work on another project or go buy a good book and read it. But DO NOT DWELL on your blocked project.

Everytime, for me, that works.

I did that. I started a novel, hit a sticking point, and put it away for nearly 8 years. When I came back to it I realized I had been going in the wrong direction, reworked what I had and continued on with a fresh set of ideas and finished it.

I'm now returning to another novel I had put aside over a year ago.

reph · Dec 9, 2005

There's a whole forum about writer's block farther down the Water Cooler page.

scarletpeaches · Dec 9, 2005

It just strikes me as weird that there's a forum designed for people who claim to be unable to write...which they then proceed to write in...

WordLady · Dec 9, 2005

When I was having trouble finishing my first literary novel, The Artist's Way helped immensely.

SpookyWriter · Dec 9, 2005

Celia Cyanide said:
So it's hard to tell if you should still write, no matter what the response is.

I can say one thing: "I had to read that quote a couple times because it is ambigious."

AceTachyon · Dec 9, 2005

I'm with James, scarlet, and others: I don't believe writer's block really exists--unless you want it to exist.

Then it simply becomes one of those excuses like "woulda, coulda, shoulda" and "Someday I'll..."

Writing stalled? Write about why it's stalled. Write through the stall, even if it's crap. (As in the joke, there might be a pony in there. But you gotta dig for it.) Or work on another project.

Do journalists get writer's block? I don't think so.

Oliver Stone is supposedly quoted as saying "Writing = (backside) in chair."

I completely agree.

zeprosnepsid · Dec 9, 2005

scarletpeaches said:
Interesting.

My 'cure' for it is the exact opposite, which is why I never get writer's block. If I feel a certain reluctance to go on, I steam ahead. Just write through it. I think a lot of blockage is just a fear of writing something less than perfect. Afterwards, once the whole thing is finished, I go back and edit and the surprising thing is, what I wrote while 'blocked' for want of a better word, often isn't as bad as I'd feared.

This is 100% what happens to me. I psyche myself out but when I force myself to write it's never as bad as I thought it was going to be.

That being said, I do think there is some merit in taking some time away from a novel. It can give you a fresh perspective. Writer's block or no, I think there are great advantages to taking a week off.

And sometimes writer's block is health related. I can't write a full sentence if I haven't eaten within the last 3 hours or haven't slept sufficiently.

The Gorn · Dec 10, 2005

Jamesaritchie said:
I don't believe writer's block exists, unless you want it to exist. The cure for "writer's block" is to sit down and write. Those who believe in writer's block need to find a writing job where you get fired if you don't write, if you don't meet the deadline. It's amazing how fast writer's block disappears when your paycheck is on the line.

This is Gorn. I have never been in that situation so I cannot offer an opinion. But in my own experience I have found that if I get blocked and come under pressure; the wall just gets higher and thicker.

PeeDee · Dec 10, 2005

for some writers, I suppose it's a fairly big problem (I pity da fool!

)

Usually, if I'm stuck with writer's block, or some sort of equivelant, it's just my subconscious sensing something wrong with the scene I'm working on, or the way the story's going. I never actually just run out of ideas of what to write. I've always got stuff to do. Writer's Block, or in my case, Writer's Slowdown comes from something coming out wrong. I just go back and re-write it, give it up, or start over, and keep on going. Or else, I get someone to give me a title and I bang out a quick short story to free the ol' pipes.

We should make a pill. Block-No-More. We could sell it for $20 a pop at GNC, Ebay, and other fine retailers of drugs.

(although I don't know if Block-No-More actually sounds like it would cure WRITER problems, per se...)

SusanR · Dec 10, 2005

PeeDee said:
We should make a pill. Block-No-More. We could sell it for $20 a pop at GNC, Ebay, and other fine retailers of drugs.

(although I don't know if Block-No-More actually sounds like it would cure WRITER problems, per se...)

Rytidol. Or maybe, Damnitol.

SusanR, MD

PeeDee · Dec 10, 2005

I think those would probably be two different strengthes of medication...

Writers Block and How to break it.

The Gorn

Going insane and proud of it

Garpy

keyboard monkey

scarletpeaches

jst5150

Vorpal Comics. Weekly Podcast. Twitch Artist. Vet

Jamesaritchie

Garpy

keyboard monkey

scarletpeaches

blacbird

SpookyWriter

scarletpeaches

Novilia

jst5150

Vorpal Comics. Weekly Podcast. Twitch Artist. Vet

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie

jst5150

Vorpal Comics. Weekly Podcast. Twitch Artist. Vet

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

reph

Fig of authority

scarletpeaches

WordLady

SpookyWriter

AceTachyon

Odd person

zeprosnepsid

The Gorn

Going insane and proud of it

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

SusanR

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?