Beating The Block
I’ve just read an extremely interesting article about writers block. As a freelance writer for the past 20 years and a blogger for the past 4 years, I’ve often experienced writers block (even though I know many writers who consider writer’s block a myth and a cop-out).
I’ve often found, funnily enough, that being under pressure helps. If the clock is ticking down to a deadline, I tend to write faster and the words come out easier because my back is to the wall. So it’s a case of “write or die”. On the other hand, if I have all the time in the world, I tend to daydream or find something else to do.
If I am having trouble writing dialogue, I try to watch a television programme or a movie which has a subject close to what I am trying to write. I concentrate very intensely on the programme dialogue and this helps me to shake up the stupor in my head. It works well if the programme has a very emotional, intense or fast-moving dialogue, so anything by Aaron Sorkin is good, such as The West Wing or Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (both series are now finished). After 2 or 3 episodes of the West Wing, my head was buzzing with words and phrases to use in my own work.
It works even better if the programme or movie is about an author. So one of my favourite movies is “Shakespeare in Love” with its classic line “for six pence a line, I could cause a riot in a nunnery!”
Or I read a book or a Wikipedia page about an author to inspire me. Earlier on, I was reading the Wikipedia page of Franz Kafka after I was having trouble knocking out 500 words and reading about Kafka helped to jog my brain along.
Another tip is to leave comments on blogs. Just writing a blog comment is getting you to start writing and the starting is always the hardest part right? Or do what I am doing right now - write about the writers block!
These may all sound silly but they do all work in their own way. They key is to start writing and so you need to find the trigger that gets you going.
But at the end of the day, I thrive best under pressure and I have produced my best work by literally waiting until the last minute. Since you’re in a hurry to get finished, you’re typing too fast to stop and procrastinate about whether your writing is good or not. You just write. That’s normally how the best writing is achieved - when you don’t stop to think about what you are writing. After all, Kafka wrote “The Judgment” in a single night - and he considered it his biggest achievement.
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October 28th, 2007 at 1:40 am
I tend to get ideas from my favorite feeds. Everytime I read 200-300 feeds I come up with a couple of post ideas. Actually, that’s exactly what I am doing now.