Writer's Block

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” — Mark Twain

Breaking writer's block is a question of maintaining a habit, in my opinion. The habit is to write. Every single day you write. Something, anything, everything.  If all you are writing for 30 minutes to an hour is a mess of silliness it is still writing. Eventually you will find the thing that makes writing what you want to write possible, or you won't. This blog is full of my opinion, please understand it is my opinion only and what works for me. Try it or not, at your own risk.

Sometimes what we want to write isn't what we are supposed to write, no matter how hard we try to make it so. The characters won't cooperate, the plot drags, and nothing will go quite right. Then in a moment the secondary characters flare and discover this amazing thing that changes your story completely, dramatically; making it a different story. Not a better story necessarily, but definitely a new one.  You may never get back to the old one, then again you might. Don't get rid of the notes.  You may have 20 or 30 stories waiting to be told within the confines of a story that didn't work.

Writing seems like wrestling with demons to some, to others it is the equivalent of a language enema, dumping their soul onto a page to heal themselves.  To me it often seems like another life lived.  I am writing what I know to be true for the characters, as though they are alive in another dimension somewhere and I am just writing their biographies.  If you have ever had trouble with a character you understand; if you haven't you never will. Characters have boundaries, places they won't go, no matter how well you write the scene it will read wrong. Allow the scene to write itself, but don't let a poorly drawn character hijack a story either.

I am a strong believer in research as I mentioned last week.  I also create an outline for the stories before I write them.  Often later parts of the outline grow to the point that I am basically writing up the book. It is my process and when I get involved it will come pouring out of me. Sometimes it will dry up. Dead stop.  Not a bad character, not a poorly chosen theme; but a block, no clue where else to go with it, I normally have a plan for the beginning, middle and end of the story long before I start. Writer's block, for me, is when I lose the path from one to the other.

That is when I start creating keyboard diarrhea. I just start writing anything and everything that comes to mind.  I use my time that I have set aside for writing doing so; always, to maintain the habit.  During a block I will spend a day, or two, not working on the story, unless the dam breaks of course. After a few days like that I will then spend time going over all of what I have written.  If there is not inspiration for the current book, but there is for another I will change tracks; and yes this means I have a lot of half written stories, but sometimes in life stories don't have nice neat endings and I have a lot of stories that I did finish this way as well. If there is nothing I will spend more time with stream of consciousness writing. I will repeat this pattern until I am back into my writing.

Finally, know that there are times when writing isn't necessarily typing or writing; it is reading, talking, watching.  When I say to spend each day writing, I mean to spend time ON your writing every day, write something-even a grocery list with flare is writing!-every day; but don't forget to live as well.  Living life is an essential part of writing a story.  Never forget to forge ahead with your own story or you are much more likely to lose inspiration, for your spirit will run dry.

Or you could just torture your cat...

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