Short Story Writing: Article 19: Writer’s block

By: Ian Mackean
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:43:09
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Writer’s block

Many of us will come up against periods when we would like to be writing but just cannot do it - periods in which the difficulty seems much greater than the difficult patches we expect as a matter of course, and seems to go on for much longer. We may have no ideas at all, or ideas which fizzle out as soon as we try to develop them, or we may have become stuck in the middle of a piece of work and feel we cannot go on with it. There is no one type of writer's block, and no one solution, but I do think there are some useful things we can say about it.

The first is that it is important to make the effort to overcome writer's block. The longer we allow it to continue on one occasion the longer it is likely to persist on the next, and if we give in to it altogether there is a danger it might become permanent. 'Making the effort' might mean forcing ourselves to do something we don't want to do, but it does not necessarily have to be that way, and we need to recognise that there might be times when we exacerbate the problem by making too much effort, and that what we really need is a holiday. If we have recently finished a difficult piece of work, for example, we may simply be exhausted and need some time off to allow the batteries to recharge.

The second is to take into account that writing is emotional work as much as intellectual, and draws on the unconscious mind as much as the conscious. There are probably unconscious emotional forces at work in writer's block, and the method we employ to try and un-block ourselves should acknowledge this. The block may not be simply an absence of ideas about how to carry on, there may be a presence of feelings actively working against carrying on. We might be able to get our ideas flowing again if we can find out what those feelings are and give them a chance to express themselves.

The method of un-blocking we find effective on one occasion might be the complete opposite to the method which works on another. Sometimes we might find what works is to force ourselves to sit down and write, and keep on writing, no matter how painful it feels or how bad the writing seems until eventually the block gives way and we find our writing flowing again. At other times we might find the solution is to put writing completely out of our minds and enjoy doing things completely unconnected with writing for a week, or a month, or more. During the break we might think about whether we have come adrift from the reasons we started writing in the first place, and discover that we can reconnect with that original motivation.

The key to overcoming writer's block is to try. The idea of 'disrupting routines' which I mention in the article on 'Inspiration' can help with writer's block, (perhaps writing itself had become too much of a routine?) but I should like to suggest a couple other ways of trying to get the creativity flowing again.

Why I do not want to write

In the situation where we want to be writing but can't it seems we are in a state of conflict. It may be helpful to assume that there is part of us which doesn't want to write, and this exercise is intended to help us allow that part to speak.

Take a piece of paper, or open a fresh file on your word processor, and under the heading 'Why I Do Not Want To Write' use free-association to put down absolutely any thoughts that come to mind. They can be possible, or theoretical, or even fictitious reasons, or you can imagine you are speaking for some hypothetical other person and not yourself. Just 'listen' for any reasons which might pop up. If you were part way through a piece of work when the block came up you might look out particularly for any thoughts which might be associated with that particular piece of work.

No one is going to see this so you can write absolutely anything, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. The idea is to give whatever is blocking you free rein to express itself without censorship. When you have written all you can think of you can then stop and think about whether there might be any validity in any of the ideas which have come up, but even just doing the exercise might help shift the block, and you might even find yourself getting an idea for your next story in the process.

Free-form writing

Another useful exercise can be to set a fixed period of time, perhaps half an hour, and sit down and write non-stop as fast as you can for that period of time. Start with a blank mind and just put down the first word that pops into your head, then the second, and keep going. The important thing is not to stop. Don't worry about making sense or about grammar or punctuation - it can be nonsense, just a stream of random words. No one is going to see it and you don't even have to read it yourself. The idea is to get behind the conflict over whether you do or don't want to write and kick-start the creative process. You don't have to be struggling with writer's block to find an exercise like this enjoyable and helpful.

If we persist in trying, or if we take a holiday from writing if we decide that is what we need, then sooner or later, one way or another, the block should begin to give way and we should find ourselves getting back to work again with a sense that we have won a battle. This should be a good experience and it will help us not only this time but next time too, because our memory of having won the battle once will reassure us that we can win it again.

When we have been struggling with writing over a number of years we should find we come to recognise the particular kind of block we have come up against and know instinctively which method of approach will help.

Copyright: Ian Mackean http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/

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