Ask the Author: Adam Wassil
Answered Questions (3)
Adam Wassil
Keep writing. Write every day, and if you absolutely can't, then read through your own work and do some tuning. It's important to spend time with your pieces, whether you're making them or making them better
Adam Wassil
This is another good question from Goodreads. Inspiration is an interesting thing to think about, but I also might first turn the question back on itself and ask why should we be writing only when we're inspired? We should be writing, period. If you're stuck on a project, just sit down and write on something else for a while. It doesn't need to get done today. And well, if it does, you need to worry less about inspiration and more about time management. But, back to the point, if you're a novelist, maybe challenge yourself with some poetry, or vice-versa, to get your brain moving in a direction it isn't used to moving in - you never know, maybe this new direction will bring a new perspective, and perspective is what makes a story worth telling.
And further, if we're authors, or if we want to grow up to be authors one day, then we need to understand that inspiration, like writer's block, is something that comes from inside us, and not from the outside. Now, don't get me wrong, there certainly are inspiring things that happen around us. Some of us might draw inspiration from real-world stuff (like a conversation or an image we see out a bus window on the morning commute) while others will draw theirs from other forms of art and/or media (other books or comics, video games, movies, etc.). But don't think of it like a substance we're soaking up from the world around us like sponges drink up water. Think of inspiration like buds within us, seeds that have already been planted and are waiting for the right amount of rain, sun, and maturity to bloom. Those outside things aren't giving us the inspiration itself - we already have that - they're giving either us or our inspiration what we need to recognize each other; they're the sun or the water that makes our inspiration pop, or they're what we need grow up enough to realize that a thistle's just a weed because we say it is, but that it's exactly what we need to make the bouquet.
We're all inspired people, I think, we're just not all called to write. But for those of us who are (or who think we are), understand that the inspiration is already there. It's the writing that isn't. And just like any other skill, writing gets easier and better with practice. So we should focus less on figuring out how to get inspired and more on how to perfect our craft through daily practice. The inspiration's there, we just need to be skilled enough to wield it when it comes time to bloom.
And further, if we're authors, or if we want to grow up to be authors one day, then we need to understand that inspiration, like writer's block, is something that comes from inside us, and not from the outside. Now, don't get me wrong, there certainly are inspiring things that happen around us. Some of us might draw inspiration from real-world stuff (like a conversation or an image we see out a bus window on the morning commute) while others will draw theirs from other forms of art and/or media (other books or comics, video games, movies, etc.). But don't think of it like a substance we're soaking up from the world around us like sponges drink up water. Think of inspiration like buds within us, seeds that have already been planted and are waiting for the right amount of rain, sun, and maturity to bloom. Those outside things aren't giving us the inspiration itself - we already have that - they're giving either us or our inspiration what we need to recognize each other; they're the sun or the water that makes our inspiration pop, or they're what we need grow up enough to realize that a thistle's just a weed because we say it is, but that it's exactly what we need to make the bouquet.
We're all inspired people, I think, we're just not all called to write. But for those of us who are (or who think we are), understand that the inspiration is already there. It's the writing that isn't. And just like any other skill, writing gets easier and better with practice. So we should focus less on figuring out how to get inspired and more on how to perfect our craft through daily practice. The inspiration's there, we just need to be skilled enough to wield it when it comes time to bloom.
Adam Wassil
This is a legitimate and common question from Goodreads, so I'll answer it. To keep this brief-ish, "writer's block" isn't some external thing, like an affliction that seeps in through an open window. It's all you. And it's important to stop characterizing it as something external because as long as it remains outside of us rather than a part of us, it gives us something to shift blame to and lean on when it comes to the justification process, whether we're making excuses to ourselves or someone else. And this is something we all do, it's natural. But consider this: "I have writer's block" is one thing, and "I don't have any ideas" is another altogether. One sounds insurmountable in its vagueness while the other raises simple questions - like "well, why not?" - that can actually help us make our way through to the next phase of our work rather than standing in our way as some looming, mental disease.
tl;dr: Go get interested in your work, or work on something you're interested in.
tl;dr: Go get interested in your work, or work on something you're interested in.
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