Beating writer's block

When I find the words aren't coming as easily as other times, I tend to do a
bit of freewriting. I keep a pen and paper on my bedside table, so that as soon
as I awaken I freewrite for a few pages; just whatever comes into my mind,
anything at all.

I also find that before I sit down to work on a piece, it's good to do a few
minutes of freewriting - just let your mind wander, write anything.

When you start working on a story, know that it's never going to be
perfect - there'll be plenty of time for editing, re-writes etc But get something
down on the page; by doing so, you'll be doing more than a lot of people,
who continually talk about writing but never actually write.

I'm sure writing courses can help with discipline, getting feedback, meeting
with other writers, maybe help your confidence. But the most important
thing you can do, to learn, is just to write.

Repeat to yourself. "All first drafts are crap." You don't have to write anything good, you just have to write. Put any sort of crap down on the page, just as long as it's words. Keep writing until you hit your target. Don't worry about the steaming pile of crap you've dumped into your laptop. You can fix it all on the edits.

Oh, a handy trick for writer's block when dealing with a specific scene is to write it as an e-mail. No one has writer's block when e-mailing, we sit down and knock out a thousand words effortlessly, barely stopping to fix typos. So write your scene as an e-mail, either from the pov of one of your characters, or just you telling a friend about the scene you are going to write.

EileenG wrote: »

Repeat to yourself. "All first drafts are crap." You don't have to write anything good, you just have to write. Put any sort of crap down on the page, just as long as it's words. Keep writing until you hit your target. Don't worry about the steaming pile of crap you've dumped into your laptop. You can fix it all on the edits.

Oh, a handy trick for writer's block when dealing with a specific scene is to write it as an e-mail. No one has writer's block when e-mailing, we sit down and knock out a thousand words effortlessly, barely stopping to fix typos. So write your scene as an e-mail, either from the pov of one of your characters, or just you telling a friend about the scene you are going to write.

I have been struggling to start writing. I really want to and some of my future work could depend on it and this is some of the best advice that I have heard

I know this is a resurrected thread but I figured I'd add my 2c.

I find a lot of the time I have writer's block it's because I'm not happy with something in the book, or where I'm going with the book, or something else with my writing.

That's what happened to me with my last book. I was writing romance (unsuccessfully, but it's a tough aul slog) and I realised I was very much relying on the protagonist's insight and thoughts on everyday, mundane things to give my story its oompf. After about 120k words of this being a problem (and about 40k words of having recognised it, and 25k words into a WIP novel with this as a screaming issue) I decided to move to a different genre to specifically tackle and address/work on what I knew was an issue with my writing; I needed to up the drama levels. In doing so I think I've written my best work yet, and I'm immensely proud of it. And in writing that book I've spotted other areas where I'm falling down. You'll never be perfect, but you will learn more about your writing as you write.

I think a lot of the time writer's block is having a hangup with your own writing, and not knowing what to do about it. So you have to write more to figure out what that hang up is, or identify it by some introspection on your writing.

There are of course times you're just feeling like crap because you ate too many sausages, or had a few too many gin and tonics. If that's the case you just have to power through. Sometimes it's an issue with what you're writing or how you're writing, and you need to see what that is to deal with it. Sometimes it's indigestion.

(This is all based off something I've looked at with my own writing having listened to Brandon Sanderson's lectures on writing, and specifically his talk on writer's block. He taught a course with every lecture video'd. It's ostensibly about writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy but 90% of what he talks about, like writer's block applies to every form of writing. http://www.writeaboutdragons.com/brandon_w2012/)

Having said all that I think the best way to deal with this is not to set your sights too high. There's no point in aiming to be the next Joyce, or Melville, or any lauded writer. The reality is you're either going to write that genius novel straight off, in which case you're a genius and congrats on that. Or you're going to have to work hard at developing as a writer. I can guarantee if you try you can write a better book than some of what's been on the NYT Bestsellers List. There's some awful crap that does really well. Whether your book sells as well as them is a different matter, but you can write a better book than them. Maybe not as good as most bestsellers, but better than a lot.

To write that book takes effort though. I haven't been writing for a huge amount of time, but I have started and finished about seven works by now. I self-published them because I thought, "Why not?" (And had some decent reviews, because although they're not amazing they were what a couple of readers were looking for.) But I started and finished them.

I started with 10k shorts because I didn't feel I could do anything longer. Then I went to a 30k novella, then a 20k novella, and I've just finished and literally published last night something that's bordering between a novella and a short novel. The reality is I kept writing, I looked at what I was writing and where my shortcomings were and I'm going to be looking at addressing these areas as they come up. I will never be the best author in the world. I will never write the perfect novel. I am happy with what I write because I know I put as much as I could into it, and some people seem to have found enjoyment in my stories (and I have the e-mails from random people to prove it.)

Write and accept it for what it is, your best effort. Then look at how you can do better.