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What's your best remedy for Writer's Block?
Discuss!
Victoria Leigh Bennett:
In answer to your question as to what's my best remedy for writer's block, it's this: I sort of "divide myself in half" long enough to make up a few writing prompts, as if for a stranger or group of other writers.
The prompts are often or at least sometimes written in the form of a theme, though not always. For example, I was taught that a theme is not just one or two words as people often name them, but instead are a word group containing at least one verbal, a gerund or participle.
Thus, "finding true happiness" is a theme, whereas "happiness" or "true happiness" are both only topics. But sometimes, it's quicker and more inspirational just to make up topics, such as the last two foregoing.
Once I have about ten of these items, I look over the lists with the other part of my "divided self," the writing part, and try to find what I'd like to write about. Often, two of the themes or topics or a theme and a topic seem to combine for me, and that's what I use, saving the rest for another time.
Atticus Payne:
I dislike the term "writer's block". It's too vague and mystical for me, and vague, mystical problems are difficult problems to solve. Instead, I prefer to specify, when it comes to this issue. Just as there is no one source of writer's block for me, it stands to reason that there is no one solution.
Sometimes it's a problem with me, the writer: not enough creative fuel has gone into my creative well recently, and so, there's nothing to draw on for story-making. Sometimes it's a problem with the story itself: a plot hole, or a character that doesn't feel real, or a turn in the story that suddenly doesn't seem right, for one reason or another.
That requires some editing, or, if the editing isn't working, then some simmering.
V.E. Schwab has an apt metaphor they use for this: the six-burger stove.
If the story has run into a problem that my conscious mind is having trouble with, I'll walk away, leaving the story on low heat, while I go do something else.
Sometimes it's writing another piece, and sometimes it's living my life outside of writing. Trust the subconscious to take over and make things right.
Sometimes, however, it's a problem of fear. The idea is perfect and beautiful in your mind, so if it doesn't come out perfect and beautiful on the page, it can feel wrong.
To that end, sometimes I just have to get a paper and pen out, and break the story before I even write it. "This is how it starts", or "So, there's this thing:".
A clear sign to my brain that this is me haphazardly telling myself the story so it's existing outside of my brain; telling myself that it's not supposed to be perfect yet.
Tejaswinee Roychowdhury:
The thing is, if I’m stymied mid-plot, just struggling to put coherent words on the page, it’s because I’ve been abruptly disconnected from the emotions that were propelling the narration, the composition.
I’ll shut off my laptop or slam close my notebook and move away for minutes or hours or days or even months; let it all simmer and cook in the back of my head because you know, the narrator is like that infant that won’t talk if it’s being watched. (I should know; I used to be that infant.) But this alone isn’t helpful, I’ll need a stimulant to get me back on track, and that, for me, has always been music.
In fact, my best remedy for anything has always been music. When you see me with my earphones on, know I’ve already escaped, leaving behind a shell-like physical presence in the real world.
While I often use music to enter a meditative state or lift myself off deep dark trenches that are consuming and suffocating me, music also works as a stimulant for imagination. Come to think of it, I use imagination to slide or explode my way out of depressive bouts.
Additionally, music not only regulates my emotions, but it also has the ability to put me in specific emotional states I need to be in for a creative project. Just the other day, I was listening to ‘Experience’ by Ludovico Einaudi, Daniel Hope, and I Virtuosi Italiani on a loop, in order to churn out two poems in a single day because I was on a deadline.
I suppose this is pretty obvious now—I am an intuitive writer.
Thus, when it comes to dealing with the big old writer’s block, whether in fiction or poetry, I inevitably find myself browsing through my extremely varied playlists, while simultaneously (if required) taking a step back. I think it is important to remember that the creative process is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and it is futile and counterproductive to overwork ourselves.
There are bad days, bad weeks, bad months; hell, there are bad years.
Some of the best creative work will emerge from those times but it must come organically.
Babatunde Waliyullah Adesokan:
Though I may title this missive "Ten Ways to Best Remedy Writer's Block," I still disagree with the description that writer's block is a temporal inability to find words to put on paper.
Unfortunately, it becomes more embarrassing when a writer cannot meet predefined targets or gets stuck on a piece of work. Such that the strain and the pressure of this inability can be overwhelming and even depressing in its most potent phase.
These ten ways to best remedy writer's block are as important as discussing mental health for a writer and also a means of demystifying the heavy burden that comes with "Writer's Block."
Oftentimes, the basic approach to remedying this is to revisit the description: inability to find the right words or appropriate words to put on paper. So, if as a writer you could find the right words for every occasion, you would have successfully dealt with writers' block. The repository of words is where you find the right words:
1.Read books or poems that inspire you.
2. Make a note of any words that stand out in those works.
3. Read works in the field if you have a specific topic in mind.
4. Rest. Relaxation may be just what you need to get out of the situation.
5. Do you have inspiring activities that have been potent in the past? Find your touch. Visit. Imbue yourself in it.
6. Review your previous works. It may be time to further perfect them.
7. Check your most successful work. Do a rejoinder. Or reverse writing.
8. Write about how you feel during the blocks. No matter how
uninspiring. You are demystifying it.
9. If you have a deadline to meet, break it down into Specific, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound tiny goals. So that the elephantine task could become minuscule.
10. Do not call it "writer's block". Instead, call it "finding the right words". By that, the problem is already spelling its solutions.
Writer's Block is not aphasia. Writer's block is not a disease. It is simply a need to either rest or do it differently.
And a writer is never stuck. All they need to do is to keep writing or reading till they find the right words. Till they learn better enough to take pressure off themselves and till they believe that there is no Writer's Block.
Indranil Ghosh:
Writer's block is a scary feeling to encounter, be it in my academic or poetry endeavours. From time to time, I have tried all sorts of remedies to battle this beast but have failed horribly.
What I have realised is, for me, writer's block gets triggered whenever I am overthinking.
Not even a streak of multiple cups of caffeine can bring down the block when I am in overthinking mode.
So, nowadays, what I mostly do is just STOP for the moment. I jump into completely unrelated errands, like laundry/vacuuming/organizing. To be honest, this has worked wonders for me.
It's during these unrelated activities that new ideas/solutions pop up in my otherwise messed-up brain. Not that everyone should embrace the above methodology!
I have accepted it as my modus operandi which I am planning to stick to for a while until it becomes defunct too!
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