I will inaugurate this thread and start collecting here articles from various authors I stumbled upon on the internet about writer's block and how to defeat it.

You are all invited to join in posting tips and talk about your own experience.

Cheers.

:love:

Beating Writer's Block


Author: Kate Hillard

Published on: August 3, 2001



It’s what’s most dreaded by many writers: writer’s block. It’s a tough, mean thing that prevents you from writing, even when you think you want to, and all writers who’ve done any kind of “devoted� writing have met with it. It’s tough to beat, too, and can last for days, weeks, months.

Some writers ignore writer’s block and continue to work – easier with nonfiction than fiction. However, some authors, like Nora Roberts, don’t believe in waiting for inspiration. For them, nose to the grindstone is enough. But for many other writers, especially hobbyists, inspiration is what drives us.

Having just gotten over a year-long case of writer’s block myself, I have a few hints to offer to those who suffer in the monster’s clutches. First, don’t expect your writing to be perfect. That’s where writer’s block usually digs in its claws first: you write something, think it sounds stupid, and don’t know how to fix it. So don’t expect it to be great the first time. It won’t be – but it can be pretty good, and you can fix it.

Next, you think all your ideas sound stupid, if you have any at all. Just remember: if you had the idea in the first place, and it appeals to you, it can’t be that stupid. So what if it hasn’t been done before? That’s the idea, even if it’s super strange. If it has been done before, lots of times, then don’t worry – it’s a tried-and-true favorite, and you can give it a new twist. No idea is stupid, except the one that isn’t used.

One thing you might not think of is showing your work to others. Don’t do it if you really need positive comments in order to keep writing. It’s best to keep it to yourself until you’re confident. I started to come out of my writer’s block back in April or May, but made the mistake of showing a short story to a friend (whose opinion I really trusted and wanted). She critiqued one specific angle of it, which upset me a great deal. I felt like it wasn’t good enough, so I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t write again until just a week ago (well, not fiction). If you’re desperate for approval, and it doesn’t come, you may be set back again.

Next, if you need inspiration, try taking it from your dreams. Or from something that’s happening in your life, or that you want to happen in your life. I used a mixture of these to come up with the plot for my latest novel. I knew after the first sentence exactly how the novel would go (unusual – I don’t usually know what’s going to happen at all until I’ve rambled on for a page or so, and then I only have a very general idea – so to be able to detail the entire plot after a sentence was a great feat). But don’t think this means that you have to have your entire plot setup before you even begin – give yourself some freedom to ramble and get used to writing again.

Last, find something that really excites you, even if it seems strange, or you’re not sure it would work. If it’s a story you want to tell, even if it’s a fantasy you just want to play out, then go for it! What better way to live all those bad, crazy choices than through a character you’ve created? Once you’ve got something, don’t be too quick to write it off if you think it will or won’t work, because you may be wrong. Keep at it, try to stay excited about it. And don’t show it to anyone or tell anyone about it too quickly, unless you’re steady in it, or you know they’ll encourage you to keep at it.

You can beat the monster! Just keep trying. Don’t push yourself, but don’t wait, either, if you feel inspiration. Look for inspiration in the strangest places – I actually got mine from a reader’s recommendation – she suggested I check out a site (which is now among my links). I noticed that people there publish really good stories, some of which are even novel length, and the company chooses good ones to publish. Therefore, I didn’t want to publish something I’d just made up in five minutes. Hence, my novel was born (thanks to Thushari Nanayakkara for her recommendation)!

Hope this helps.

How to Unblock:



1. Listen, here’s the adage, never forget: writing is the application of the seat of one’s pants, to the seat of one’s chair. So, stand up!



2. Do the opposite. Rebel, tear (in all senses, including literally!), and there’s the poem. Remember, too, that Every Poem Contains Its Opposite, or as is cryptically stated, Write the Poem Behind the Poem.



3. Remember Larry Eigner, who sat in his wheelchair all day every day for sixtysomeodd years. Looked out window, Berkeley yard, and tree. “The tree sits /” he pecked out with a single slow aimed finger, “and birds come.” So they do. Patience.



4. Poems are made out of words. Which words? What words? Where do you find these words? Words are all around you, eh? Write them down! (There’s the poem!)



5. Read. Read something, poem or whatnot, and you are able to use those words, or they could lead you someplace, and then those are the words.



6. Even if you’re stuck someplace, need a word, maybe you’ll want to think which poet can get you out of this tight spot, and open up their book, and find the word(s). Or not, i.e., try the words those words lead you to, try the words those words “come from.”



7. After a while, it’s true, you may have to trick yourself. Just become somebody else and write their poems. Fernando Pessoa would have half the magazine by his heteronyms. You may want to invent a name for the poet you’re being, as Pessoa did. Or, the poem could be by your mother or by a nameless part of yourself.



8. You can always write a poem in Beast, like Michael McClure’s Ghost Tantras. Then again, it could be concrete.



9. Revise an old poem of yours. Change every word. Voila!



10. Get a publication in a language you do not know. Translate into your new poem. No dictionaries!



11. Pick a form, any form. Turn a newspaper headline into the poem of that form.



12. Get off the computer, put down the notebook. Pick up the tape recorder, or just walk around & say the poem to yourself until you’ve composed (& memorized) the whole thing in your head.



13. Get some new pencils, a fountain pen, buy a pad of poster paper 2’ x 3’ or bigger. Write on 3” x 5” cards. Use a blackboard. Crayons and paper bags.



14. Go to sleep with a pen in your hand, paper under your pillow or notebook on bedside table. Write the poem in your dream. Do not wake up.

Tips:
“Step Two is wobblyspeak!” you shriek, and there you are stuck in chair and the poem won’t come and you don’t know if “tear” (see above) is to rip or to cry as you rip your hair out and cry. Patience, patience....
The grass is greener and the poems flow just across the fence. Look over the fence at it, how green and flowy. That is you, over there, toe in pool, mowing the lawn (the clippings! they are the poems!).
What You Need:
Words, that’s all, on page or screen, in your eyes or ears or mouth or mind.

:bloom:

I'm blocked. GRR. Nothing works.