My bible for beating writers block

I'm working my way through his Kindle books on writing right now -- currently on Revenge of the Penmonkey.

While I agree with a lot of what he says, I hate the way he keeps banging on about outlines and reading your work aloud. The former I do sometimes, the latter never.

I pretty much agree with his philosophy on writer's block though.

I have some of his books and think he's a scream. Sadly, in his 250 and 500 books, he doesn't say anything that's really new for me. I do love the way he says it though, which is why I love those books.

As for his advice on writer's block? meh. I have my own way and it works for me every time so I suppose I'd be a bit lukewarm about his advice on that.

I like Natalie Goldberg's advice about writers' block, which she gives in Writing Down The Bones: just keep your pen moving, and if things are distracting you, write about that: "there's a dog barking and it's stopping me from concentrating on my writing and I remember when I heard a dog barking from behind the garage on the high road..."

What is Mr Wendig's advice?

Old Hack said:

What is Mr Wendig's advice?

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Write through it. Get and keep the blood moving (ie get up and move around: walk, exercise, have sex..). Caffeinate yourself. Consider alcohol to loosen things up (but don't depend on it or the gist therein). Talk to yourself. Talk with someone else. Talk to your imaginary friend. Write in a new location. Consider you have a block further back in your story. Outline what you have to see if you can find the blockage further back. If you outline, consider tossing it and going off on your own without it. Change the font (write long hand, change margins and/or linespacing). If you're writing a novel, turn it into a script, short story or different kind of story telling method. Use timed writing (also, bribe yourself that when you get to X point/page/words). Eat healthy. Don't write linearly. Look at pictures/play with photoshop. Research. Realize that maybe you don't want to write that part because it's boring...and consider dropping it because if it bores you, it's gonna bore the reader. Take a day off. Remind yourself (tell yourself; deny it's existence) that writer's block is a myth.

...pretty much covered everything that can be found in this forum section of writer's block in the advice members have shared.

I'm cOnfused. He doesn't believe in writers block but then goes on to say EVERYONE gets it. So what's his issue? That writers dare to claim it as their own? And the. He proceeds to give various steps to break out of it. Mmmkay.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I'm cOnfused. He doesn't believe in writers block but then goes on to say EVERYONE gets it. So what's his issue? That writers dare to claim it as their own? And the. He proceeds to give various steps to break out of it. Mmmkay.

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I think he's saying he doesn't believe in it as some magical, inescapable thing. Like "Oh, I have Writer's Block. No writing for me today!" No, that's crap. Just write. You may not be inspired to write something incredible today, but nothing stops you from writing.

I always find that those who say it doesnt exist have never suffered from it.

"just write through it" is similar to telling a person with a brOken leg to just walk it off because you've never broken your leg and can't imagIne what the big deal is.

Sure when I've had writers block I've tried the write whatever comes to mind. "here I sit in my chair staring out the window blah blah blah." that isn't "writing" that's just transcribing gibberish. Writers block is when you have actual projects to work on and you can't for the life of you think of the next line, the next scene. Writing gibberish doesn't help in that case. You'd just end up throwing that out.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I always find that those who say it doesnt exist have never suffered from it.

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Well duh.

And people who say that (like me) would say "I've never suffered from it because it doesn't exist."

Shadow_Ferret said:

Writers block is when you have actual projects to work on and you can't for the life of you think of the next line, the next scene. Writing gibberish doesn't help in that case. You'd just end up throwing that out.

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I hear what you're saying. It's moments like these when having a strong, reliable process is absolutely vital. I have identified some techniques that work for me, and when I feel my momentum stalling, I whip them out immediately.

In the situation you're describing, this might mean pulling up my notes file and jotting down ideas for a scene, using a timer to get my fingers racing, focusing on quantity over quality and trying out different approaches. After fifty ideas I'll always have one or two I know I can use, and two ten-minute sessions of freewriting will always get me further ahead than two hours of staring at the screen.

For me, trusting the process is everything. When things are not working out, my writing sounds awful and I'm completely lost, knowing that I have the tools to dig myself out of any hole takes away the pressure that's often the reason for feeling blocked.

Being blocked is absolutely not a reason to stop writing.

Orchestra said:

I hear what you're saying. It's moments like these when having a strong, reliable process is absolutely vital. I have identified some techniques that work for me, and when I feel my momentum stalling, I whip them out immediately.

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Exactly. I have the same thing. It's a very specific process that involves more than 'just write through it' and it works for me almost 100% of the time.

That and sometimes it helps if I get up and do the dishes. The moment my hands hit soapy, warm water, all kinds of ideas of where to go next come to the surface.

scarletpeaches said:

Well duh.

And people who say that (like me) would say "I've never suffered from it because it doesn't exist."

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So if you've never had a drinking problem do you say alcoholism doesn't exist? If you've never experienced dark overwhelming anxiety do you say Depression doesn't exist? If you have no trouble focusing do you say Attention Deficit Disorder doesn't exist? If you've never been to war do you say Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome doesn't Exist?

Shadow_Ferret said:

So if you've never had a drinking problem do you say alcoholism doesn't exist? If you've never experienced dark overwhelming anxiety do you say Depression doesn't exist? If you have no trouble focusing do you say Attention Deficit Disorder doesn't exist? If you've never been to war do you say Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome doesn't Exist?

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Okay, Ferret. I am sorry, but you are over reacting. Writer's Block does not even belong in the same sentence as alcoholism, depression, or PTSD. Seriously. (And anyone who would even suggest it has never experienced any of those, not even second-hand).
There is no such thing as a psychological disorder that makes it impossible for a literate, other-wise healthy person to be able to write. There just isn't.
I am sorry if none of these techniques work for you, but how many of them have you even tried? Frankly, I have used nearly every idea pen-monkey listed, and each one has worked for me under different circumstances. Sometimes it's just a matter of picking the right one. Personally, I have found nothing works so well for getting through writer's block as just writing. Instead of rambling, I write about the story. I write what my problem is, why it's a problem, possible solutions and why they don't work. It helps me think out what the problem is, where in the story the problem is, and how to get rid of it.

redwren said:

Writer's Block does not even belong in the same sentence as alcoholism, depression, or PTSD.

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Yes, I see the self-contradiction of this sentence.

I think the analogy between alcoholism and 'writers block' or creative inhibition is a good one. Like alcoholism, it is a problem you must be vigilant against every day, lest you slide back into the problem.

Do wish those who say that it doesn't exist could have a little more empathy about those who really struggle with fear and self-hatred to the extent that it limits their ability of self-expression.

redwren said:

Okay, Ferret. I am sorry, but you are over reacting. Writer's Block does not even belong in the same sentence as alcoholism, depression, or PTSD. Seriously. (And anyone who would even suggest it has never experienced any of those, not even second-hand).

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As somebody who suffers from both depression and writer's block, this is complete BS. If you've never suffered from TRUE writer's block then there's no way to make you understand that it's real. Saying "just write through it" is the same as telling somebody who is depressed to "just be happy".

You know, looking at this thread, I think a big difference here is the sense some people have that the ability to overcome the problem is within them.

Layla Nahar said:

You know, looking at this thread, I think a big difference here is the sense some people have that the ability to overcome the problem is within them.

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*shrugs* It depends on how you look at it. I get from your previous post that, for you, writer's block is more about fear and self-hatred being inhibitors. In that case, yes, the solution lies in you

That's not what writer's block is for me. Writer's block for me is a great fog of cotton that takes up residence in my head. It completely blocks out the words and ideas. Some days, when it's really bad, I can barely speak properly because I can't find the right words in my head to express what I want to say.

Anaquana said:

*shrugs* It depends on how you look at it. I get from your previous post that, for you, writer's block is more about fear and self-hatred being inhibitors. In that case, yes, the solution lies in you

That's not what writer's block is for me. Writer's block for me is a great fog of cotton that takes up residence in my head. It completely blocks out the words and ideas. Some days, when it's really bad, I can barely speak properly because I can't find the right words in my head to express what I want to say.

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That's interesting. I think about this a lot. It seems to me that there are a number of things described as 'writer's block'. Some seem similar or related, and some seem to be very different things. What I've heard of so far is the kind of thing where people agonize about how to proceed, for me that's the creative inhibition. I've heard about people who have always been able to write, then suffer a trauma and find that where there was flow, there is a void. An example someone here gave was that this happened to her after 9/11. I'm really interested in where all these kind of things come from, and most importantly, how we can describe them better in order to be able to find appropriate approaches to help. For me to, the suggestion 'just write through it' is very difficult. Perhaps more specific suggestions of *how* to do that might be less off-putting. I hear you also saying it affect your speech as well. Wondering if you have found anything to help your situation.

I agree that so many different things are labeled "writer's block" that it causes confusion about what it is or isn't and whether it's even real or not.

Layla Nahar said:

I hear you also saying it affect your speech as well. Wondering if you have found anything to help your situation.

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The only thing that I've found to work is letting it run its course. Sometimes it only takes a couple of days to pass and other times it takes weeks. I try every single solution I come across or is recommended to me and nothing has worked.

Ilona Andrews actually posted a neat trick on her blog a few weeks back that I'm going to try the next time I get hit with writer's block. I'm not holding out much hope that it'll work for me, but maybe it'll work for somebody else.

dpaterso said:

beating someone up about something they posted back in January might not get you a flood of responses.
-Derek

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Huh. Wonder how I missed the date.