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Writer’s Block—you have the right to remain silent 6/2/2007 6:05:07 AM
On the other hand, you could give up that right, and write. Writer’s block affects most writers at one time or another. The feeling that every creative thought you have ever had, is gone. The longer the monster stays, the more difficult it becomes to break its hold.
My thoughts on this are not those of a wizened old author. I’m not young and I have picked up a little wisdom along the way, but I haven’t been an author for very long. My guesses are simply that—guesses.
There are many articles online offering advice for handling WB. The most popular is to relax. I agree with that as a way to deal with all life’s challenges.
You know you’re creative. You’ve been making up stories your entire life. So what happened? Why did the creative juices dry up?
What’s going in your life? Success? Failure? Loss or change? Everything affects creativity. You don’t control many of them, but you do control your responses. Maybe you need to ‘just add water’.
What inspires you? Watching people? Looking at great scenery? I’m sure you have a notebook (of one kind or another) with you everywhere you go. Write it down. Not just what you see, but how you feel about what you see. To a creative mind, there’s a short story or a poem in a cup of coffee when the light hits it right.
Sometimes, when I’m stuck, I let one of my characters go off on his or her particular passion. Much of the rhetoric never sees the final manuscript but their rants usually push me forward. If they don’t, I clean house. My friends know if they come to visit and find no proof of human or cat life, I’m blocked. It’s my good fortune that right now, my house is a mess.
