Writer's Block

 This is a compilation of  3 blog posts that appeared in January 2008 on my regualr blog. www.michellestyles.blogspot.com. Hence the length.

Now I am not sure I have ever written about writer's block, but I do know about it. Writing lumpy day old porridge that slowly congeals on the plate is NOT writer's block. You can work with lumpy day old porridge. You can play with it. You can make it better. Or you can see ideas that did not work and can make it better. In other words, it is a bad page, not a blank page. Bad pages can be fixed. Blank pages are just blank.

True writer's block is something different. It is when you become a dry husk, totally squeezed out of ideas. And you become afraid to put the next word down. Or you become physically incapable of putting the next word down.
This is often in response to some severe stress. Your mind is so busy coping with something or several somethings that the creativity and energy needed to sustain it disappears and all ideas flee.
For example when my father died and then I had my first child, all my desire to write ended. Vanished. The world became a shadowy grey place for awhile and I had to go through the grieving process as well as adjusting to being a new mother. Then a few weeks later, my brother became seriously ill and eventually died. And I can remember thinking what is the point of wanting to write romance. I should want to write something deep and meaningful, but nothing deep and meaningful would come. During this period, I also gave up reading romance and mostly confined my reading to factual texts like how to look after children or gardening.
I thought whatever spark I had had gone forever and became afraid to try, so I put fiction writing to one side for about 12 years. Oh my daemon after awhile would try to tempt me and I would get flashes of stories, tantalizing glimpses of the sunny uplands but I resisted, remembering what it felt like to be a dry husk. During that period, I would write the odd article for newsletters or keep an occasional journal but I did not feel capable of writing for publication.
It was not until I was hospitalised in 2002 that I thought right -- I am going to try to pursue my dream and became serious about writing again. It also helped that a lady in the bed near me said -- you know in times of trouble, you can't go wrong with Mills and Boon and Penny Jordan. And I thought - oh I was wrong. Escapist literature is fine. In fact, it can be very necessary.
Then in 2003 after I joined the RNA, I read an article in their magazine. I think it was a report on a workshop. Anyway, in that article they did say that grief and other severe stress could trigger writer's block and a load rolled off my back. There was a distinct trigger. While I dealt with my grief and everything else in my life, I had true writer's block. But true writer's block does not last long. It is the fear that it leaves behind that lasts.

There is a saying that writers who need money never suffer prolonged blocks. This is because the need to survive is often greater than the fear of failure.
Writer's block is in many ways a luxury because you are giving into fear. People who can not afford to don't tend to have it.

Writing Impediments are caused by FEAR. And writers are subject to many fears. These are sometimes known as the Crows of Doubt, but they are different from true writer's block. I am saying this because certain authors deny that writer's blocks exist.

And if a writer has a bigger fear -- say the house being repossessed, or a great need of money, chances are they will not let the impediments stand in their way. Basically, Bigger fears tend to drive other fears away.
Writer's impediments can be a luxury.

So what are the common fears --

Fear of the blank page.
Fear of not having enough time to write.
Fear of writing nonsense
Fear of not knowing what is happening next
Fear of finishing
Fear of submitting
Fear of getting it wrong.
Fear that it comes easy for everyone else.
Fear that the daemon has left you.
Fear that you are going to be found for a fraud.
Fear that your novel is fluke.

This is not a complete list and other may have their own particular Crow to add.

Right, hopefully from the previous two parts, you will have been able to determine the type of block or impediment that you have because there are very different solutions.

For example, if you are suffering from true writer's block, there is no point in trying to sit down and write. You need to get away. To do something else. Possibly structurally creative like sewing or cooking. Reading outside the genre you are writing may or may not help. You also need to give yourself time. Time to refill the well. Make a contract with yourself that you will take time and make it specific. Then go back and try. If you are experiencing the same thing, repeat. You will know the difference.

If it is FEAR, taking time out will only exacerbate the problem. So what can you do?
1. Write and write every day. The most successful writers write something every day because the story is fresh in their minds. Set a minimum goal. A paragraph can be enough. A sentence. Four words even. Work regular hours. Set up a schedule. I get up early and work then because my subconscious has been working while I sleep. Some people work better at night. Know your work pattern. Take regular breaks. Reward yourself with breaks.
2. Get away from your computer and all electrical equipment and write long hand. Rediscover the joys of putting ink on paper. Scribble a note on scrap of paper. Then go back to the computer and type up what you have written. In this way you have a definite task. I do this one a lot.
3. Simplify your rituals. Everyone has rituals (see Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit) but sometimes those rituals become all consuming and do not leave any time to write. Books have been written in noisy offices, with screaming babies, on trains, planes and the kitchen table. You do not need two hours to get a sentence down. You do not need a clean computer screen or all your emails answered. Or your blog updated. Quick and easy is best.
4. Write a simple generic sentence, knowing that it is easier to fix a bad page than a blank one. You do have to remember to go back and revise them. But one sentence means that you have started. And one word follows another. Force yourself to open the file. Learn to work with the entire document rather than dividing it up into individual chapters. For example, use bookmarking. Ctrl end will take you to the end of the work. Insert break will give you a chapter break. that way you are not constantly starting with a new document. But remember to backup.
5. Force yourself to finish. Commit to the end. Write the ending or decide what you are going to give yourself as a treat. Work on one book at a time. Or have definite times to work on each project. For example James Patterson apparently moves around the dining table, with sets of papers. When he is sitting in a specific chair , he is working on a specific book.
6. Have a definite place to work. Make sure all your tools are there and you do not have to search them out. But remember writers have been known to read dictionaries and thesauruses for entertainment or distraction. It is amazing how attractive a dictionary can become at times. If you use the internet as a distraction. Make sure your workplace computer is not connected. Keep your work place simple.
7. Get exercise. Exercise frees the mind. Dickens and Kipling both used to walk miles every day. Walking improves the spirit. Getting outside can make you notice things. Movement. You see things and perhaps even come up with ideas.
8. If you really think your work is POS and hopeless, try this exercise. Bernard Cornwell did it. And it may help with your confidence. Find an author you admire. Take a scene in the middle of the book. An average scene. Type it up in the font you use. Print it out. Read it again. It probably looks different and not necessarily as good as you thought. The printed page looks different to the typed page. And ALL writers write average scenes at some point. Not even Dickens or Shakespeare wrote pure genius. Then go back and look at something you wrote. It worked for him.
9. Read about how other authors work. See what their habits are. What fears they fall prey to. Know you are not alone. I think it is Paris Match that has hundreds of interviews with writers about how they work.
10. Avoid crutches such as alcohol or drugs. Ultimately they sap creativity. Know that the creativity comes from within you, not from anything else. It is the desire to write that shows you have talent. Everything else is learning to control and maximise that talent. But learn to relax.
These are just a few suggestions and hopefully they help.

Basically it boils down to a Fear of Rejection or some how of being mocked. And this fear can paralyse you.
You need to remember that fiction writers because they deal in the realm of emotion and emotional tension, feel things more. Thus they feel fear more. Most writers tend to have a thin skin. this is because they need to feel and there is nothing wrong with it, BUT they can develop strategies that are counter productive. Writers tend to more likely to suffer from depression than the average human being ( but this is another post)

It is not a true writer's block, it is Fear. And Fear can be conquered. It is one of the reason why people study the writer's craft. It is why people speak of having a toolbox. There are ways to stay productive. And not every coping strategy works every time.

So when you think you are suffering from writer's block, you have to decide if it is true writer's block or merely an impediment.
The cure for true writer's block is to take a break. The cure for impediments is slightly more complicated but involves not taking a break.

An Impulsive Debutante* (M&BH Sept 08)*A Question of Impropriety (M&BH Nov 08)* Viking Warrior Unwilling Wife (Hh Dec 08)
website: http://www.michellestyles.co.uk * blog http://www.michellestyles.blogspot.com