Dissolve Writer’s Block
I wrote this as an answer to a young writer who asked what to do when you have 1) writer’s block, 2) too many ideas, and 3) when you see someone else whose writing is far better than yours.
Writer’s block – If nothing is coming to you for what you’re trying to write, then don’t try to write it. You might have some other idea that *will* flow if you change the channel.
You might skip to another, future chapter, or change to another character’s viewpoint, or change to another work completely.
This is also a good time to put effort into other writerly duties such as editing, promoting, marketing, or just enjoying socializing with other writers.
Another good task is to lie down, close your eyes and let your mind clear. Part of a writer’s job is to daydream and visualize. These things need space in your mind and if it’s too cluttered in there with too many other thoughts, then it’s good to clear out the space and make room for ideas.
This might also mean tending to some things that are bugging you, and lying down and seeing what’s in your head could alert you to what it is that’s blocking you.
Too many ideas – No such thing as being too wealthy with ideas. Write them all down. If that means opening a notepad document and writing down one-line plot summaries because the ideas are for multiple different projects, then write them all down. That clears space in your head and ensures you won’t forget the brilliant ideas that you know you’ll remember, but really might not.
If you have ideas for other stories and feel the need to start on one or more, give yourself permission to do that too. Some people feel it’s important to discipline themselves and finish what they’ve started, and won’t start anything else until then.
There are no rules in your writing world other than those that you choose because they work for you.
Feel free to start multiple stories. Create sub-folders in your Works In Progress folder for each one. The next time you feel that you have writer’s block, go look in this folder. Your mind may have a flood of words just waiting for you to open the right document.
This gives you a Get Out of Writer’s Block Free card.
When you write multiple things at once, the progress is slower on each one, which delays the satisfaction that comes from finishing a story, but you’ll also find yourself finishing one work after another, giving you a cascading satisfaction.
Thinking: “I’ll never be this good.”
Realize that the author you’re awed by didn’t start off that good. He or she developed their craft and you will too, the same way they did – by writing, and by learning from your mistakes, listening to your critics, and writing, and re-writing, and lots of reading of better authors.
or “How the heck did this book get published and become hugely successful?”
You can learn from that too. There’s something in that book that appealed to readers. Read that whole book and discover what it was that people love about it. Remember that thing, and if possible, use it when you can in your much better books.
It isn’t always great writing that makes for success. Sometimes a poorly written book strikes a chord that resonates with a large percentage of the reading population.
When that happens, readers don’t care about the delivery. It’s the end result that mattered; the emotion, hope, excitement, inspiration, or whatever they’re getting from it that overshadowed the less than polished method with which that feeling was invoked in them.
Sometimes though, there’s no explaining it, and it will never make sense, and fortunately for us, it doesn’t matter. Use it as another inspiration. “If something this bad can make millions, then I know I’m going to succeed because I’m a much better writer, and I know I can write a much better book.”
View highly successful but badly written books as evidence that you too can and will succeed. How could you not?
