Writer's Block
How To Fight It
By
Alexander Gordon Jahans
So, what are my qualifications to talk about this?
Well I’ve been writing on and off for myself since 2009, producing short stories, scripts and novel length pieces of prose. Most of them haven’t seen the light of day, some have been deleted and none have ever been sold or won awards. I did do a BTec in Media and TV Production and got a 2:1 at Creative and Professional Writing and Film Studies but this isn’t about the quality of my writing. This is about the advice I have regarding the great demon that tortures writers, the eponymous block. To that end it is relevant that you know I am now too disabled to work and write as often as I can because it provides escapism and a sense of purpose. When I have not been able to write I have noticed my mood is affected and the dark days come more often. I have to fight writer’s block because when I don’t make progress in my writing I feel it.
Defining Writer’s Block.
It is always good to define terms. Someone I recently got into an argument with on twitter got angry with me for asking them to define the basic writing terms they were speaking about but it is important. One woman’s Mary Sue is another man’s Protagonist Hero. Something particularly true given I am autistic.
Writer’s Block is an inability of the creative writer to create. Simple as that. The words don’t come.
What’s interesting and important for the purposes of this piece though is that Writer’s Block itself is peculiarly vague and different for every person and at different times. The brain is a complex machine and creativity is a complex process. Writer’s Block describes a symptom that feels like a problem. The reason I think people struggle so hard to fight Writer’s Block is that they are trying to problem solve at the wrong place.
Types of Writer’s Block.
So if Writer’s Block in fact describes a symptom with multiple causes we need to outline them before we can begin to attain solutions.
Creative Block:
All things are equal but you don’t know what to write.
Energy Block:
You know what you want to write and how to write it but when you get to the writing you can’t focus and get stuff done.
Creative Insecurity:
You think you know what you want to write but every time you start to write you end up deleting everything because it’s just not good enough.
Energy Insecurity:
You can’t focus on your writing because you are tired from stressing about other things in your life.
Solutions:
Now that we have outlined some types of Writer’s Block lets discuss possible solutions.
Creative Block:
Writing is a process. It is not just output. The writer needs to take in ideas from the world around them then digest them.
If your creativity is stumped then first you need ideas. Read more, listen to audiobooks, watch letsplays, play videogames, talk to your friends and take an interest in politics. Inspiration is something you have to find in the world for yourself. It’s when you find an idea and say “I want to explore that.” When I need inspiration in a hurry I watch fanvids because they are like idea concentrate. The ideas of actors, writers, directors, editors and costume designers compressed into a few minutes with music to provide a uniting theme.
Next you need to think on those ideas. Think of it as though you have harvested the grapes from the vineyard and now you need to let them ferment before they can become wine. I find that walking while listening to music helps for me but others like showers or doing chores. Procrastinating by doing something dull like cleaning the house is actually leaving your mind free to think about your story and how the characters, setting and plot will all interact.
Then you need to flesh out what actually happens. Fermented pulped grapes are not wine before you have filtered out the pulp. This is called Pre-Writing, figuring what happens when and getting that all important starting sentence to work from. You don’t have to write anything down to Pre-Write. My process often involves doing some walking while I run through different takes on how I want to write the scene so that when I start writing I know where I’m going. That said don’t be afraid to make notes and flesh out where the story is going. I like writing long multipart stories with ensemble casts and multiple plots going on at once so sometimes it can help to first outline the plot in brief in terms what characters are doing in each scene when. That way I can go back later and focus on continuing the emotion of one set of characters arcs through their particular plots.
Energy Block:
Creativity is a complex process arising from a complex muscle that has a lot of complex tasks to perform. If you don’t think your brain has a lot of complexity to coordinate because you feel your life is dull then break down how many individual steps there are in making a cup of tea. This is why human like robots are a long way off. Our brains are fantastic machines that work hard and fast so it is normal and understandable for us to come to a task, know exactly what we want to do but be unable to fulfil it because our brains don’t have the energy.
Energy is not simple either. You can’t just write when you get up. For me I need the right mix of being fresh from waking being caffeinated by diet coke, having eaten breakfast so I have slow burn energy and nutrients with a kick from the adrenaline of exercise. I know well that sleep is hard to come by and exercise is hard to do but even pacing around the kitchen for a few minutes can help get those endorphins flowing and remember to eat and always have a drink with you. Dehydration will make you tired and if the temperature is too hot or cold for you that will drain your energy too.
Creative Insecurity:
My favourite writer, Douglas Adams, was infamously plagued by this type of Writer’s Block, to the point where many tales are told of his producers or publishers effectively locking him in a room with a computer and a deadline to force him to just get something out. One of my friends quite clearly has this type of Writer’s Block too, forever fretting that their writing isn’t good enough. Heck I’ve had a version of this too. After a fanfic I wrote caused me to lose friends I became so terrified of writing something that could be perceived negatively that I kept deleting what I wrote and worrying that it wasn’t good enough.
The solution - stop panicking and just write damned thing - is far easier said than done. So I have more practical solutions. Chiefly, I think the goal is to attain a flow state. In a flow state you aren’t thinking about yourself. You are lost in the moment, focused on your task. How do you achieve that though?
Well, I use a process that is almost ritualistic in nature. There is comfort in ritual. Writing is scary, a leap into the unknown with your heart on show for all to see and snark at, but ritual is comforting. I have my favourite cardigan and my favourite dressing gown. I have places I like my favourite drink placed just so and I have my prewriting ritual so I am pumped and know what I want to write before I arrive at my desk.
This is actually important, trying to write from a blank page is hard so write something. This is part of why I like prologues in medias res but just get something down so you aren’t staring into the void and never just arrive at your word processor with no idea of what you want to write. The page is your stage and it is very easy to get performance anxiety if you walk on to the stage with no idea of what you want to perform. This might seem obvious but I think it bares stating.
Another thing I do, is I listen to music that is thematically appropriate to what I write. I have it turned down low so I can write but it stops the awkward silences when I think of what I want to write next from allowing negative thoughts to creep in because there is no awkward silence there is just the music that continues the theme I want to tell.
Energy Insecurity:
As I mentioned about I recently had a big bout of Writer’s Block because I felt anxious about whether my writing would offend people. I ended up getting a prescription for anti-anxiety meds after I deleted a half a million word story and the backups once I had completed it. It is natural and normal to not be able to focus on your writing if something else is weighing on your mind. This is why I can’t write when I am angry at somebody or when I am having a ptsd attack.
I do however have suggestions to help with this kind of Writer’s Block. Having a ritual before writing can be calming, the familiarity bringing serenity and prioviding a break from the outside world. I also use a programme called Focus Writer so I’m not distracted by anything on my computer and I have big over ear headphones so I don’t hear notifications or people calling to me. Shout ther distractions and sources of anxiety.
Anyway, I hope this helps people.
Remember a bad draft can be edited later, a non-existent draft can’t be made better.
