Writers’ block – we’ve all heard about it and many of us have experienced it. You sit staring at the screen and nothing comes to mind. Your hands are idle and you wonder if you’ll ever write again. You end up finding any excuse not to face the screen: cleaning out the garage, re-organizing the kitchen cupboards, etc. So why does this happen?
Six Reasons for Writers’ Block
Ask any of the writers you know and you’ll hear them cite some of these six reasons:
• “I got rejected again.”
• “I’ll never repeat the success of my last book.”
• “Stress in my personal or professional life gets in the way of my writing.”
• “I just don’t know how to begin.”
• “I don’t think I know what to write next.”
• “I am too much of a perfectionist.”
There are other reasons a writer may develop writers’ block, but these are the ones most commonly cited. So how you do break through?
The way to solve any problem is to be proactive, to turn negative influences and events into positive learning experiences. Dwelling on the dark side will only drive you deeper into writers’ block. Let’s take a look at some strategies for turning things around.
“I got rejected again.”
Your work gets rejected once, twice or several times. This is the time to take a step back and look at your work from a different angle. Did the editor give you any reasons why your work was not accepted? If so, learn from them. Get an unbiased opinion from another writer or editor. Listen to what they say. Find out why the story doesn’t engage editors or readers. Then rework it to increase your chances for success. Learning from bad experiences instead of dwelling on negativity can help you move forward.
“I’ll never repeat the success of my last book.”
There have been a number of authors whose first book was successful and who then suffered from anxiety about continued success. Convinced they were a “one-trick pony” and would not measure up to their readers’ expectations, they developed writers’ block. Some never recovered from it. This is a hard situation, but the best advice is to look upon each of your creations as a stand-alone project. Write what you want to write. Just the act of writing will help you work through your anxiety and beat writers’ block. You did it once; you can do it again. Keep on writing.
“Stress in my personal or professional life gets in the way of my writing.”
Writers can be fragile souls. Our emotions are close to the surface and, when faced with personal or professional stress, we find ourselves taking it out on the one thing we love doing – writing. The best way to beat this kind of situation is to journal about it. Open a file on your computer or use a notebook you can carry around and write about your emotions, the events or anxieties that keep you from completing that novel or composing that poem. Journaling is a proven tool for helping people in distress and one that should come naturally to writers. Empty out those negative feelings and concerns. And remember, all that journal material may come in handy when working on stories about similar situations.
“I just don’t know how to begin.”
Looking for the right first paragraph, the one that will hook editors and readers? Being hung up on your first paragraph can stifle your spontaneity and stop you from progressing. Just start writing. Write anything just to get going. In Dodie Smith’s book I Capture the Castle, Cassandra’s father had writers’ block for years. In an attempt to get him writing again, she tells him “Write anything − write ‘the cat sat on the mat’ if you like. Anything as long as you write!” And the miracle happens. He begins writing the silly phrase and soon finds himself writing the book that has been percolating inside him for years.
N.B. − I’ve used this method for years whenever I can’t get going and it really does work. One tip though – remember to go back and erase the nonsense at the beginning of page one before you submit the story!
“I don’t think I know what to write next.”
In school we are taught to begin at the beginning and write chronologically through to the end of our essay or story. But sometimes it just doesn’t work for us. If you have ideas for great scenes, write them up as they come to you and save them. Then work to knit them together into a book. Remember, this is your first draft of many and you can always go back and edit. The primary objective is to get the words written.
“I am too much of a perfectionist.”
You go over and over and over the same material and you never get your writing advanced. In Albert Camus La Peste, one character is a writer who spends years perfecting his first sentence. He never gets past that point because he strives to make that one sentence perfect before he moves to a second one. The book is never written. Take a lesson from this. Just write the story, keep writing until it is finished and then go back to edit it later.
If you are experiencing writers’ block, take a hard look at these six strategies and try to find one that works for you or try all six.
Or if you have a great idea but can’t get started, see my blog post from last week Brainstorming for Writers either alone or with a couple of writing buddies. This can help can help kickstart the process.
Writers’ block can be beaten – and the best way to do it is to write and keep on writing until you get it right. Right? Good luck!
How do you handle writer’s block?
Great tips. I think I strive for perfection and get frustrated so then don’t keep at it. Am also undisciplined.
Just keep writing, then edit out what doesn’t work. Thanks for commenting.