How To Conquer Writer's Block

[libernaut]

How do you conquer writer's block?

Writing in a new place seems to work, taking your notebooks to a new spot, a cafe or something and trying it there.

Sometimes I find that I just can't seem to get any words down.

Anyone have any original solutions?

I really don't want to hear "just write" as trite as it is. and writer's block can happen while you are writing, just a lack of originality and flavor etc. so yeah

I mean really... Anything original as far as ideas to conquer writer's block? Because writer's block is very real and very frustrating.

[Jack of Hearts]

You don't want to hear the best advice?







J

[libernaut]

Isn't that typical of writer's block?
I just don't want to.
I know, I know, I know.
Write, right right.
I just can't get myself to do it!

[Jack of Hearts]

Could be. This "writer" has about fifteen false starts saved to his hard drive right now. He's instantly deleted probably 10 poems moments after finishing them (in the space of two weeks or so). It certainly beats the alternative- stewing in stagnation- even if you know the piece isn't going to hold up- because while you're creating it, it's divine. Nothing compares and nothing ever will.

Guess the point might be that the love is in the process, not the result- letting go of the end product seems to help a lot, maybe?




J

EDIT: Writer's block, of another variety (which you may be experiencing), is unknown to this writer.

[libernaut]

Yeah i agree the process of writing itself is great. Great point.

[hillwalker]

There's no such thing as 'Writer's Block'. It's an excuse for 'professional writers' who cannot meet publishing deadlines and who want to make the reader believe they craft every single word from marble.

If you hit the wall in a story you're working on, set it aside and start on something else. Your subconscious will continue to spin the creative wheels in the background and suddenly you'll get the urge to continue.

If you're really lost for words - start writing "I cannot find a single thing to write today because..." and let your pen churn out all the garbage it wants to. Eventually you'll clear the blockage and return to normal (assuming there is such a thing as normal).

As for being hung up on where to write, what kind of notebook or pen to use, etc., that's usually a case of someone wanting to appear to be a 'serious writer' rather than someone just wanting to write.

H

[Bluehound]

I definitely engage a different part of my brain when I am writing, and I know exactly what Hillwalker means about the subconscious working on stuff when you are not directly thinking about it. Trouble is there is a door to it. Once the door is open I am off and away for hours.
That is the process that you cannot force to work, which is frustrating and what I think most of us mean by writers block.

I have found that if I read some of my stuff that I haven't read for a while it helps me open the door to that part of my brain easier. And some of the forum games can also help get things flowing.

I like Corrupting wishes and Completing other peoples thoughts in particular, as it gives my imagination something quick and easy to work on. You need to find your kick-start.

[libernaut]

Hillwalker - I disagree with your statement about trying to appear to be a serious writer because a person writes in various places and uses different notebooks etc. I find different atmospheres inspire different things.

[Panglossian]

When no new inspiration abounds I edit/transform old pieces of writing. I'm doing this at the moment. I opened an old file which I'd labelled *BS* and found that if I go at it gung-ho I could just about salvage something from the ashes. To me it's like alchemy: can I turn base metal into gold ... can I transform the mundane into something that sparkles ... ??

Another thing I do when I hit a creative brick wall is automatic writing (or free association writing - whatever it's called). Method: think of an archetypal personality, concentrate, invoke that personality - say wiseman, a romantic poet, a dark soul, anything - then for a set period of time (10 minutes) just write and write and see what happens. Something interesting usually comes of it, even if it's the realisation that I'm a master of gibberish. :out:

[AuntShecky]

There's no such thing as 'Writer's Block'. It's an excuse for 'professional writers' who cannot meet publishing deadlines and who want to make the reader believe they craft every single word from marble.

If you hit the wall in a story you're working on, set it aside and start on something else. Your subconscious will continue to spin the creative wheels in the background and suddenly you'll get the urge to continue.

If you're really lost for words - start writing "I cannot find a single thing to write today because..." and let your pen churn out all the garbage it wants to. Eventually you'll clear the blockage and return to normal (assuming there is such a thing as normal).

As for being hung up on where to write, what kind of notebook or pen to use, etc., that's usually a case of someone wanting to appear to be a 'serious writer' rather than someone just wanting to write.

H

I believe I have to concur with this. I'm not even sure that the opposite of writer's block, the so-called "logorrhea," exists.

Some would-be writers claim that their problem is that they "don't have time" to write. Sometimes that's true, but other times it is an excuse. The remedy to that, of course, is to "make" time.

When the creative urge is compelling enough, it will beat back the demands of other family members, quotidian responsibilities, even the necessity of scratching out a livelihood.

[hillwalker]

Hillwalker - I disagree with your statement about trying to appear to be a serious writer because a person writes in various places and uses different notebooks etc. I find different atmospheres inspire different things.

That wasn't quite the point I was trying to make. I know of so-called writers who spend so much time choosing the right kind of notebook (moleskin), writing apparatus (Parker pen/sharpened pencil) and setting (absolute silence, a room with a South-facing window, etc.) that they never actually get around to writing anything. It's rather like someone dressing up in tennis whites then sitting on the sidelines.

If you are a writer you will find the medium and means to scribble any time anywhere whenever the urge takes hold.

H

[gruntingslime]

What a strange discussion about moleskin notebooks. I do like these kind of notebooks and I do spend some of my free time frivolously rubbing their textured surfaces and sniffing out their natural fibers... Writing in different locations can influence me, but it doesn't influence my writing very much, though the connection must come through on some level (that is, me—my writing?).

If you have writers block I would suggest perhaps you think about something other than the writers block, think of perhaps ideas you would like to delve into and examine them rather than write what you're actually writing, try to get a better understanding of what you're writing and perhaps some of your own motivations.

Try learning about some things that interest you. If you're going to write about anything you would generally know something about that thing, so perhaps if you learn a little more you can fill in some of the blanks that your imagination is inspired with but can't quite get at.

Try playing games with yourself, think about how your mind works beyond the relation of writing, think a lot about things perhaps. It seems to me that thought in general is one of the closest things to writing, just gear your thought in some way that you feel is leading in a similar direction to where you'd want to go when you write. Why do you write? Do you have some purpose you want to accomplish or attain, something you want to express? Some atmosphere you want to create? Do you have these things in your life? Try relating things to your life and see if there is anything you can tinker around with there, put things into a form of organization you would like to mirror that which would be present in your writings.

Hope some of these ideas will be of interest to your query.

[Delta40]

I tend to go over my old journals and postings. I also tend to write about writers block since its at the forefront of my mind and amazingly, I eventually digress into something and before I know it - Da Da! a written piece....

[Hopfrog]

I've just escaped from a three-month block that was brought on by a number of things. Two years ago I moved in with my mother to be her live-in caregiver, and this has given me the chance to write full-time; but mom is a lot of work, extremely difficult to deal with, and often I find it impossible to concentrate on writing the new book. What works best for me is to have many projects going at once, and then if I find it difficult to concentrate on the writing of one book, I'll try to work on one or two others. And I try to make these projects different in nature. This worked really well last year and the result is that I shall have four books publish'd by the end of this year. It may sound chaotic, working on different things, but it has worked for me. I also think that a writer's block is sometimes a sign that you are working on the "wrong" project and your writer's psyche is trying to tell you, "Hey, this is a waste of time, give up and find something else to work on." Forcing the work has always been a huge mistake and always results in bogus crap that ain't worth reading. Sometimes a block can be beneficial in that I'll stop trying to write and just read -- and in reading I find the gems of inspiration and awe that instill within me that ache to be a part of Literature and get back into the game.

[cl154576]

When I don't feel like writing it's usually because the thoughts and emotions are too painful, so I just wait until I'm able to write about them.

[Jack of Hearts]

Well it isn't viewed holistically enough. If you can't write, or are experiencing a creative block, you're not living in a state conducive toward that.


Art is the snail trail, not the goal. Living is the art.



"The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable."

- Robert Henri






J