Message Board Topic 9/24

[Comsie]

They say that a true experience of Hell on Earth is damnation through writer's block! It doesn't matter how creative an author is, it's going to hit them eventually. It's a natural, albeit frustrating, part of the creative process. Hate it or love it.

 

But, these rough patches can sometimes last for long periods of time. Hours, days, weeks...YEARS for some! And the longer you're away from a story, the harder it is to get that particular rhythm back the way it was. So...should writer's force themselves to write THROUGH the writer's block? Should they push forward and keep going, even though their muse seems to be on vacation? Would that strain the story? Would you be able to notice the difference...seeing a story that was written by someone with nothing to say?

 

Or should an author wait it out, no matter how long it takes? Any art is going to be more potent when the creator's heart is truly in it. But if you leave it for too long, you risk the chance of never getting that flow back ever again. Does waiting out the drought kill the inspiration?

 

Whatever your thoughts are, let us know!

[Graeme]

This is going to be one of those things that will be very individual.

 

For me, writing through it never works. It results in crap. What I do is to write something else, instead. My first preference is to write a scene that is coming up in the story, which I can then drop in when the time comes. If this isn't possible (such as when I hit a block just before the end of the story), I'll write a short story, or start another story, or maybe a scene from another story.

 

The idea is to keep writing, even if it isn't on the current story.

 

When I've written a scene that will appear later in the story, I sometimes find that if I work backwards from that scene, the writers block disappears. This is the case when it is the link between the current situation and where I want to get to that causes the block. By moving past the blocked area and then approaching it from the other side, the block is gone. This has worked several times for me, but it is a solution that is also specific to the situation I found myself in. If the writers block is because just nothing is coming out, then writing something else is the way to go.

 

At least for me

[C James]

Much the same for me as for Graeme. I prefer to have more than one writing project active so I can switch back and forth, which comes in especially handy when I get blocked on one. Also, like Graeme, I find working on future scenes is another good route.

 

Sometimes, especially after a busy day, I just don't feel like writing. Those are the times when i have to push. My usual way around that it to switch to a scene that's easy to write.