How Do You Avoid WRITER'S BLOCK? (Rick Bragg Should Learn This)

Self | May 28, 2003 | PJ-Comix

[Billthedrill]

Good thread. I do have a couple of thoughts on the topic.

First, writer's block happens most often to me when I try to write the final, polished draft at the first try. I'll write a sentence, look at it, say "that's no good," and delete the whole thing. This is a major trap for anyone who sets a high standard for their writing and will accept nothing less - attempting this on the first draft is merely forgetting how you really get to that polished final draft. It feels like striving for high standards but it's really just impatience.

When I'm at an impasse and have to bust out of it I write, but I write something else just to get the words flowing. An FR post, a letter to Mom, anything but the topic on which I'm stuck. Then I return to that topic and deliberately write garbage - run-on sentences, repetitions, poor metaphors, stuff I'd never want anyone else to look at - and pretty soon I get tired of that and the good stuff starts to flow again. Weird technique but it seems to work for me.

The thing to remember is that nobody but a real freak writes a final draft on the first try. You write several times what you need and then do the real work of creative writing, the erasing and reorganizing. And you keep the old drafts, because hypercriticism happens in editing as well as original writing, and for me fatigue brings on bad editing even faster than bad writing.

[Billthedrill]

Whoa - that was uncanny - I swear I didn't read a word of your post before making mine. Interesting...

[twigs]

I just finished taking a course on how to teach writing. I have been a writer for many years, so I had been practicing much of what I was learning. I stumbled onto what we were speaking of--revision--quite by accident, so I find it interesting that it is THE method advocated by English teachers today. It has filtered down to how they are training secondary teachers. It's one of the few things I've read in ed classes that makes sense--and works.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Therefore I undertook a careful study of this ailment (which ALL writer's suffer from)

I'd have to disagree with this one. I doubt very seriously that either Louis L'amour or Edgar Rice Burroughs suffered from writer's block. While for Kenneth Robeson suffered from the opposite. As far as Barbara Cartland is concerned, I wish she would suffer from writer's block so the rest of wouldn't have to suffer from the claptrap she puts out monthly.

[twigs]

John:

Here's the name of the article I mentioned: Sommers, Nancy. "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Writers." College Composition and Communication 31 (1980), 46-49.

I tried to find a link to it, but was unsuccessful. It might be on the internet somewhere since it is over 20 years old. Still good, though.

[twigs]

Barbara Cartland is not writing anymore, or suffering from writer's block, for that matter. She died in 2000.

[hispanarepublicana]

I try to write only in the afternoon or late morning. There's no way I can write first thing in the morning. This may sound like sucking up, but nothing stimulates my writing brain cells more than coming to FR and responding to posts. The "shortcut" FR approach, in a pinch, are those "Caption this" threads.

[John Robertson]

i, too, find i am flooded with ideas in church. i have even taken a bathroom break, in the middle of mass, to go to the bathroom and record the thoughts on the digital tape recorder i ALWAYS carry. i find the same flood of info during concerts--chamber or classical, i mean, not bruce or aerosmith. re my mass breaks: i know god must forgive, for he can see the relief it brings me. i'm talking psychic and spiritual relief, of course. thanks for the tips.

and thanks again for launching this great topic.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

That I didn't know. I read an article some weeks ago that implied she was still doing her one book a month schtick.

[Fawnn]

Barbara Cartland is not writing anymore, or suffering from writer's block, for that matter. She died in 2000.

Death often does tend to hamper productivity. ;)

[John Robertson]

do you find what i find: that everyone you come across in the business just assumes you're a screeching liberal, holding all the same political positions and views as they--just because you're in the business?

true story: i once wrote a docudrama--true story, right?--where a minor criminal character was black, as he was in real life. executive producer demanded i change this character to white, because "black people are treated so badly already."

it didn't hurt the drama, but it hurt the truth.

[Fawnn]

Neither one of you has created a "whois" page for here on FR. I'd hoped to go check out your Web sites. Care to let me know how to find you online?

I'm curious about the scripts you're writing for Viacom, etc.

As for writer's block: Because of carpal tunnel, it doesn't take long before my handwriting gets so bad that even *I* can't read it. I use the computer to write my drafts; anytime I come to something that would disrupt the flow to "do it now," I insert all sorts "***xxx" notes within the draft: ***xxxnew, ***xxxnow, ***xxxadapt, ***xxxWORD?, ***xxxresearch[topic/find fact], etc. I can then "find" all the ***xxx's and deal with them before I tackle the final edits.

Works for me. Adds to the initial word count, too, so the codes help me feel more productive. ;)

[twigs]

I actually didn't start this topic, but I agree. It is a very good one, particularly for creative people that tend to appear on FR!

[TomSmedley]

I'm a professional writer who writes stuff no one wants to read. IOW -- a technical writer! Yet, I have aspirations simmering.

This posting of yours is very helpful. I invoke divine blessings upon you (if you are a believer) or good karma otherwise! Thanks!

[PJ-Comix]

Thanx. I used to suffer HORRIBLY from Writer's Block so it was like a LIBERATION when I finally learned how to avoid it. Yes, I still get Writer's Block but it NEVER lasts for more than a day and almost always it is because I'm tired so the solution is simple---sleep.

[PJ-Comix]

i, too, find i am flooded with ideas in church. i have even taken a bathroom break, in the middle of mass, to go to the bathroom and record the thoughts on the digital tape recorder i ALWAYS carry.

The late, great Steve Allen also carried a small tape recorder with him. I used to be pen pals with him. Anyway, when I first met him I told him a funny story about what it was like to meet celebs in L.A.. He liked the story and told part of it into his recorder PLUS my name and address. He said he would write me but I thought he was just being polite. Imagine my surprise a couple of weeks later when I got a nice note from him in the mail. Then we wrote back and forth for a few months.

Funny thing is we NEVER talked or wrote about politics but we did have some great ideas exchanged. And Steve Martin was definitely ONE of the SMARTEST people I've ever met. Incredibly well-read.

[PJ-Comix]

There's no way I can write first thing in the morning.

I used to think that but I found out I can write okay in the early AM but ONLY if I have a couple cups of coffee first.

This may sound like sucking up, but nothing stimulates my writing brain cells more than coming to FR and responding to posts.

Me too. :-)

[RightWhale]

write when they are TIRED. Big mistake. Best thing to do when you are tired is to SLEEP.

Identify your circadian rhythm and follow it. Find your most lucid hours and sleep the rest of the time. If that gives you 22 hours of shut-eye a day, so be it. It works for your cat, it will work for you: you might even catch a baby rabbit.

[PJ-Comix]

I'd have to disagree with this one. I doubt very seriously that either Louis L'amour or Edgar Rice Burroughs suffered from writer's block.

I met Louis L'Amour at a book convention once. Believe me, he suffered at times from writer's block. You're not human if you don't. Your mind just needs to shut down at times. The trick is to keep those shut down times from extending into days, weeks, or (in my case previously) months.

[PJ-Comix]

First, writer's block happens most often to me when I try to write the final, polished draft at the first try.

Solution: Write with a pen and then type it up. Nowadays, the word programs will catch your spelling and grammatical errors when you type them up so you don't have to worry about that so much. I never writer more than ONE draft since I give it my best shot the first time around. I don't worry so much about spelling or grammar since that is taken care of on the word program when I type it up. I concentrate TOTALLY on the story. It's almost like my hand is a separate animate object writing up the story.