Roderick T. Macdonald
I don't think I have ever been truly blocked, but I have run into difficulties with scenes and sections of a book, or had general motivational lapses, shall we say.
When I'm wrestling with something and having a hard time resolving a problem in writing I have maybe 4 main responses. First - sleep on it. I just admit I'm not going to solve that problem right now, and rely on a good night's rest to let me come back at it with a fresh perspective. I tend to wake up with ideas, so this approach serves me well. Sometimes being a dog gnawing at a bone just causes frustration and zero progress for me.
The second response is also simple: I go for a walk. I am an inveterate daydreamer, so walking and allowing the world to wash over me will often spark a new thought, or help me spot a new perspective on whatever it is that is bugging me. As with the sleep remedy, the aim is to switch my mind off the problem, and allow it to work unfettered - get the conscious process out of the way so to speak. I don't know how it works, but it does!
Third - read a book/watch a movie. Go and inhabit another narrative, not the one I'm struggling with. Again, this is a way of resetting my mind, and feeding it stimulus, which allows me to re-approach my problem refreshed. Sometimes in reading or watching, I will find myself thinking about that dramatic structure, those characters, their dialogue and motivations, and wonder how I might handle something similar, and those thoughts morph into a potential solution to my problem. Or I just get totally sucked in and simply enjoy what I am experiencing for its own sake, and am refreshed by it - which again, can allow my brain some respite from the problem that has been frustrating me, and so I will often have a little Eureka! moment and find a way through the problem.
The fourth way is to persevere. If I'm struggling with a section, and I don't think it is working - I tell myself I have to get through it in order to get to the next section I am more excited about. Just get something down, even if I think it is cardboard, and move through it, promising to redraft and rewrite as required, but just get through it and move on. If the other three strategies have failed, then this one has to be broken out and stuck with, as anything else is just likely to be a procrastinatory tactic, designed to keep me away from finally dealing with my issue! When I have done this - I often find that all the extra work on the section that once caused me such stress has resulted in a very good outcome, and writing that on review I am very happy with.
I hope this answer helps!
When I'm wrestling with something and having a hard time resolving a problem in writing I have maybe 4 main responses. First - sleep on it. I just admit I'm not going to solve that problem right now, and rely on a good night's rest to let me come back at it with a fresh perspective. I tend to wake up with ideas, so this approach serves me well. Sometimes being a dog gnawing at a bone just causes frustration and zero progress for me.
The second response is also simple: I go for a walk. I am an inveterate daydreamer, so walking and allowing the world to wash over me will often spark a new thought, or help me spot a new perspective on whatever it is that is bugging me. As with the sleep remedy, the aim is to switch my mind off the problem, and allow it to work unfettered - get the conscious process out of the way so to speak. I don't know how it works, but it does!
Third - read a book/watch a movie. Go and inhabit another narrative, not the one I'm struggling with. Again, this is a way of resetting my mind, and feeding it stimulus, which allows me to re-approach my problem refreshed. Sometimes in reading or watching, I will find myself thinking about that dramatic structure, those characters, their dialogue and motivations, and wonder how I might handle something similar, and those thoughts morph into a potential solution to my problem. Or I just get totally sucked in and simply enjoy what I am experiencing for its own sake, and am refreshed by it - which again, can allow my brain some respite from the problem that has been frustrating me, and so I will often have a little Eureka! moment and find a way through the problem.
The fourth way is to persevere. If I'm struggling with a section, and I don't think it is working - I tell myself I have to get through it in order to get to the next section I am more excited about. Just get something down, even if I think it is cardboard, and move through it, promising to redraft and rewrite as required, but just get through it and move on. If the other three strategies have failed, then this one has to be broken out and stuck with, as anything else is just likely to be a procrastinatory tactic, designed to keep me away from finally dealing with my issue! When I have done this - I often find that all the extra work on the section that once caused me such stress has resulted in a very good outcome, and writing that on review I am very happy with.
I hope this answer helps!
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