Writers block: When your imaginary friends won't talk to
you.
This has got to be the most debated topic among writers. Is it real and how do you get around it? In my opinion it is very real and over the years I have devised a multitude of ways to get around/past it. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But I think the best advice I've ever received on the topic was this: Don't let it get you down. It will eventually pass.
As I said, I have devised a whole list of tactics for dealing with it. The most successful one for me has been to pick up a book - or a magazine or news paper -
and just start reading -Anything that will totally disengage my mind from the story at hand. Most often by 10 to 20 minutes in, I can stop and begin to think about my own work again. If nothing still stands before me, then I think about what I just read and what I liked or didn't like about it. Things like the writer's style or the choice of words they used. I analyze sentence structure or even topic and try to think about what's different between what I've just read and what I'm trying to write. More often than not, I have the sparks of some new idea and I set to work on it immediately. Even if I know I probably won't use it. The important thing is to get back to writing. Once the ideas are flowing again it's easy to get back to where I need to be and start being productive once again.
My second tactic is a bit more sadistic. I try to pick one chore around the house that I really do not enjoy at all, (preferably something mindless) like shampooing the carpet of washing out the trash cans or scrubbing the bath tub, and go do that instead. Then as I work I think about the story and tell myself that I can quit the task if I can work out the next scene in my head so it's ready to write, then I can stop and go write it. It's proved to be a very motivating tactic.
The point of this is – every writer has times when words are not our friends. Keeping a record of what works in getting past those moments can be helpful, but the real key is just to keep on writing and don’t give up.
you.
This has got to be the most debated topic among writers. Is it real and how do you get around it? In my opinion it is very real and over the years I have devised a multitude of ways to get around/past it. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But I think the best advice I've ever received on the topic was this: Don't let it get you down. It will eventually pass.
As I said, I have devised a whole list of tactics for dealing with it. The most successful one for me has been to pick up a book - or a magazine or news paper -
and just start reading -Anything that will totally disengage my mind from the story at hand. Most often by 10 to 20 minutes in, I can stop and begin to think about my own work again. If nothing still stands before me, then I think about what I just read and what I liked or didn't like about it. Things like the writer's style or the choice of words they used. I analyze sentence structure or even topic and try to think about what's different between what I've just read and what I'm trying to write. More often than not, I have the sparks of some new idea and I set to work on it immediately. Even if I know I probably won't use it. The important thing is to get back to writing. Once the ideas are flowing again it's easy to get back to where I need to be and start being productive once again.
My second tactic is a bit more sadistic. I try to pick one chore around the house that I really do not enjoy at all, (preferably something mindless) like shampooing the carpet of washing out the trash cans or scrubbing the bath tub, and go do that instead. Then as I work I think about the story and tell myself that I can quit the task if I can work out the next scene in my head so it's ready to write, then I can stop and go write it. It's proved to be a very motivating tactic.
The point of this is – every writer has times when words are not our friends. Keeping a record of what works in getting past those moments can be helpful, but the real key is just to keep on writing and don’t give up.
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