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Fighting Writer's Block
- Part I
The Four Real Causes
By David Taylor
I don't believe
in writer's block. It's like "dyslexia" and "backache"
-- terms so general as to be almost
useless when it comes to trying to help someone. A dyslexic can
have problems with short-term memory or visual discrimination.
A backache can be either muscle or nerve related -- or both. The
first thing a doctor has to do is get past the wastebasket terms
and find out what's really going on. Same
with "writer's block." Here's what I do believe:
The persistent inability to begin or finish writing projects has
at least four origins, all of which are remediable.
Cause
1: Writers are sometimes not ready to write
Perhaps the hardest
thing about writing is not knowing
what to write. This condition accounts for most instances of writer's
block as I've come to understand it. The key to knowing what to
write is knowing the format of the thing you're writing.
Imagine trying
to make a chair without any concept of what one looks like or
what its purpose is. Yet everyday I work with writers attempting
to do just that: to create a how-to article, novel, short story,
essay, business letter, or even screenplay without knowing it
has a seat, legs and back designed to support the weight placed
on it.
I'm not talking
about formula writing. A formula is used to produce identical
items in quantity, whether that's rubber duckies
or romance novels. I'm talking about form: the underlying structure
that gives shape to writing in the same way that a glass gives
shape to the water it holds.
Many experts
tell you to "research and plan thoroughly." Good advice.
But often the real problem occurs prior to researching or planning/outlining.
That problem is: Not knowing the underlying pattern for the kind
of thing you're about to write. Without that pattern (also called
a "template"), the writing problem may present itself
as a lack of research or planning, but those are merely symptoms
of something else.
For students,
not being ready to write can mean: not knowing how to decode the
writing assignment and identify an appropriate template that will
supply what the teacher wants; or not knowing how to write a controlling
statement that predicts the chosen pattern. During my 15 years
of teaching college writing, almost without exception, once I
helped a student to understand the underlying pattern of what
the teacher wanted and we came up with a solid controlling idea
that fit the pattern, the student was miraculously "cured."
Applying this
same analysis to freelance writers, "not being ready to write"
can mean: not knowing the project's format well enough, whether
a roundup article, profile piece, advertising slim jim, or infomercial TV script; or not knowing how that format
is being adapted to the target magazine or outlet.
Now, before you
start lifting nostrils into air upon reading the word "form"
or "template" in connection with your writing, recall
Shakespeare's sonnets: 14 lines of rhymed iambic pentameter. Bill
wrote some pretty good stuff within that rigid form. All writing
has patterns, even post-modern "plotless
stories." It's what you put in the pattern that counts.
Cause
2: Writers are sometimes afraid to write
The fear of writing
can come from as many places as there are individual neuroses.
Here's a general list that applies to most of us low-grade neurotics:
Favorite writers sitting on the
shoulder saying you'll never write like them. And they're right.
By definition, you'll never write like Faulkner, Woolf,
Bellow, or Beattie. They are them, you are you. And you should
never try to write like them, unless it's an exercise. You have
to write your own stories in your own voice. They did their thing,
now it's time to do yours.
Confusing
the fear of failure with the likelihood of failure. When
we sit down in front of the blank page, we often have an irrational
fear of not being able to duplicate our successful writing efforts
of the past. And that's silly, because our prior success was gained
through skill and work, not magic or luck. Your skills haven't
gone anywhere. All you need to do is put in your normal time and
effort.
Being confused
and humiliated by poor teachers who are themselves poor writers.
This used to drive me nuts when I was teaching. My most important
work was salvaging egos and undoing the harm these teachers had
done and myths they had promulgated. Not intentionally. But when
nonwriters try to teach writing, it can get pretty ugly.
Cause
3: Writers often try to compose in their heads
Headwriters
fail to distinguish between editing and composing. They try to
come up with the right thought and its correct expression at the
same time in their heads. Ouch. There is a time to create and
a time to evaluate. Both are legitimate parts of writing, but
they are best done at separate times. Otherwise, the normal writing
process becomes an exercise in task overload and frustration.
What is the normal
writing process? Individuals differ, thank goodness, but generally
writers go through the following stages, sometimes looping back
to them as the work moves toward its final form.
Prewriting: This
is everything you do before you sit down to write: read, surf
the web, take notes, talk it over with others, do interviews,
daydream about it, scribble on napkins, whatever. The subject,
slant and materials are being stuffed into your mind and tumbled
together.
Planning: Sitting
down and making a list, drawing a schematic, writing a summary
or treatment, maybe even the dreaded outline. "Speed zero
drafts" fit in this stage when used to explore possible structures.
Composing:
Your attempt to match thought with words as you explore the soft
underbelly of thought, and try to use writing to discover what
you really think and feel. Initial drafts should be seen
as experimental works, written quickly and considered disposable
-- in whole or part.
Editing: This
is where the shaping begins. You shape the work's overall structure,
its paragraphs and its sentences so that they form a unified whole
and march toward the effect you want
them to have. You delete stuff, add stuff, move stuff around.
You fret over sentences and the nuances of individual words. You
make it sing.
Proofing:
OK, time for the grammar police. Pull out the dictionary
and style book. Apply polish to your punctuation. Make it shine.
I hope you took time to read about
each of those steps. If you did, you couldn't help but notice
how very different and even conflicting they are. How on earth
can you "explore the soft underbelly of thought" and
worry about the grammar police at the same time? If you're trying
to do so, review your ingrained writing process with an eye to
separating writing tasks that should be kept discrete.
Make no mistake
about it: Changing your writing habits will be hard and will require
discipline. Things might even get worse before they get better.
But, man, is the change worth it.
Cause
4: Writers often start in the wrong place
We know how important
the first paragraph is when someone evaluates our work. Yet it's
often difficult to write a final version of this crucial paragraph
until the rest of the piece is done or close to it. That's because
the first paragraph must set the stage with just enough suggestion
without giving it all away. It must set the tone for the entire
piece and compel the reader to continue on.
Sure, it's imperative
to get the first paragraph just right. And, I promise, you'll
have plenty of time to do so. But instead of sitting with pencil
or fingernail stuck in your mouth, trying to write the first paragraph
before anything else is written, maybe
you could just start somewhere else. Anywhere will do. If you're
stuck on the first paragraph, bag it. Write down, "First
paragraph goes here," leave a space, then write "Second
Paragraph" and start there. Be prepared to skip over anything
that tries to keep you stuck. Save that part until later. The
answer will likely become obvious later on when you've done more
writing and know more about the thing you're creating. Or, at
the very least, write a first paragraph and be prepared to throw
it away or substantially revise it. Again, approach writing in
stages, not under the gun to produce a polished first draft.
Confession: There
are times when I spend more time writing the first paragraph than
any other part of the piece. Writers who do this are, I think,
actually using the first paragraph as a time to think through
the piece they are about to write. The inordinate amount of time
spent there isn't wasted if you're productively working out a
slant, tone, and organizational structure. Just be conscious that
this is your method and don't get so frustrated that you end up
"blocked."
This Article was found at: http://www.articleblast.com/
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