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"Ohhh
Nooo!!!! Not The Deadly Writer's Block!"
By Comicality
It's like running on a track and
getting a cramp in your leg! It's like kissing some cute boy and
getting your tongue caught up in his braces! It's like having
your fucking car breakdown on you on an empty road in the middle
of damn BLIZZARD!!! Arrrrrggghhhh!!! I swear, if I end up going
to Hell when I die, I'm sure my punishment will be hours and hours
of sitting in front of screen trying to battle the curse of writer's
block! There's no way around it. It can be a bitch sometimes,
believe me!
What causes it? You're writing, moving along with
your story, everything is going great. And then, all of the sudden,
it's like you get your 'zipper' stuck somewhere in the middle
of a sentence. Everything you try to say comes out wrong, everything
you try to do seems silly, and your characters just seem to go
on strike and refuse to work with you. You can get stuck on a
single word, or on an important scene, or maybe the whole story
starts to fall apart in your mind and you feel like the whole
thing is written in vain. Hey...it happens. Don't worry about
it. It doesn't make you a bad writer, it's not the end of the
world, and it WON'T last forever. What you need to understand
is that it happens to everyone. It's natural. Just relax, and
let's see if we can help you through this.
First things first...DON'T PANIC! Don't get mad,
don't pound the sides of your head with your fists, don't Bruce
Lee kick your monitor out of the window. It won't help. Trust
me, I've tried all three. Hehehe! Most times, when your brain
freezes and the thoughts seem to stop dead in their tracks...you're
simply pushing too hard. A lot of times, authors get wrapped up
in work and family and friends...and they plan for a 'specific'
time to sit down and write something decent. So, when the ideas
aren't flowing as readily as we'd like them too in that small
time period, it can be aggrivating beyond belief. Other times,
we canput so much pressure on ourselves to make what we're writing
so potent and so emotional and so REAL...that our thoughts can
get clogged up and refuse to come out when we need them. And sometimes,
unfortunate as it may be, the urge to sit down and write just
isn't there. Whatever the reason, the best thing to do is to just
take a breather. RELAX! Whether it's for a few minutes, a few
hours, or a few days....just save what you have, turn the computer
off, and step away from the keyboard for a little while. Now listen
to me...when I say 'step away from the keyboard'...that doesn't
mean 'step away from the keyboard and continue to stress over
what you're going to write'. That won't help you either. So don't
sit on the bed with a pen and paper, putting yourself through
the same hell that you were with the computer. Simply turn it
off, step back, and leave it alone for a while. Grab a snack,
watch some tv, watch a movie, listen to some music...but get your
mind off of the story for a little while. Better yet, go outside.
Hang out with friends, go for a walk around the neighborhood,
go to the store or something. Take your mind off of things and
just let your brain rest for a bit. I've found that a lot of times,
if I go out and just 'live' for a little bit...the answer that
I was looking for will come tripping across me. And I'll be just
fine. Sometimes a friend and I will have a random conversation,
and they might say something that totally triggers an entire network
of new thoughts about how to handle the problem I was having in
the story. Suddenly, I can't WAIT to get back and start writing
again. Give it a try. Your stories have some kind of basis in
real life, so sometimes you need to live 'real life' to make them
work. Take a breather, and don't just let yourself wallow in your
suffering. Something as simple as a five minute break can massage
the ideas right out of your brain when it locks up on you.
Also, another method that's been helpful to me on
more than one occassion, is to simply go back to the beginning
of that story or chapter that you've written, and read it again.
Skim through it. The conversations, the scenery, the characters,
the time frame...everything. Read it as though you were someone
else reading it. Then, a lot of times, when you reach the part
that you were having so much trouble with, your mind will have
unfolded enough to just continue forward from there. It's like
magic. Suddenly, reading it all together like that, can help you
figure out what the next logical step is for taking the story
in the direction that you want it to go. So go back, take some
time to read what you wrote, and let the words remind you of the
initial plan. If you find any mistakes along the way, then you
have the chance to correct them and let them help you find out
where you need to be focusing for the rest of the chapter. Sounds
weird, but it helps sometimes.
And another way to beat writer's block (And one
of the reasons why I have so many damn stories going on at once
in the first place!) is to take a break from one story...and start
up another one entirely. Why do that? Because most times, your
current mood really effects how you express yourself. For example,
if you're trying to write a happy scene with a couple of boys
who are being flirtatious and cute and playful in your story...it
can be hard to do when you have had an AWFUL day at work or school,
and want to strangle everybody around you. It's equally hard to
write something angry and painful when you've just been asked
out by the cutest boy you've ever seen! Hehehe! If you've just
had your heart broken by someone you really loved...don't try
to force your way through a romantic story and talk about how
'wonderful' love is. Write what you FEEL. If one story isn't working,
and you find yourself stuck, just write something else. Sometimes
we just have something on our minds that we have to get out. So
do it. You'd be surprised how much of a powerful statement you
can make when you are channeling those current emotions right
then and there as you're feeling them. I consider the stories
I've written when I was heartbroken or really hurting to be some
of the most 'honest' and 'emotionally concentrated' stories on
the whole site. Stories like "Never Again", "Save
Or Sacrifice", "Decisions Of Love", "My Only
Escape", "My One Fallen Angel"...and others, they
really came from the moment, and usually started while I was trying
to write a different story entirely. If you can take what you're
feeling and channel it into a story (Or maybe just a short essay
for your eyes only), then you can say what you have to say about
it, and then get back to what you were writing before. Sometimes,
you can even work that feeling into the story you were working
on. Whatever your method is, don't ignore your feelings or try
to push them down long enough to write something that you feel
you're supposed to be writing. All art is about the honest expression
of yourself...so express. You might find yourself writing half
a story all in one sitting, just venting about whatever is on
your mind. The true power of writing is inside the emotions of
your heart, use them to your advantage.
Whatever works for you, try to develop a low stress
way to just seperate yourself from the story entirely, and come
back to it later. I know that writer's block can be a stubborn
mule a lot of times, and trying to 'drag' it along isn't really
going to do much more than anger you to the point of wanting to
quit anyway. So take a few deep breaths, smile to yourself, and
try to remember that the story will be right there waiting for
you when you get back with more ideas.
Oh....and if you ever DO get to the 'Bruce Lee kicking
the monitor out of the window' part......make sure your wearing
shoes. Otherwise you can REALLY hurt yourself. Owww!
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