If you're trying to write but it's just not coming...

[human_male]

You're thinking "Shit, I've writen better stuff than this before. What's happening?" It's just not coming, but you want to get the work done. Do you force it and just do your best. Or do you wait and hope it get's better. Or do you have some sort of trick? Or if it's just not happening do you just go "Fuck it, I can't be brilliant all the time"?

 

[English Lady]

I used to just leave it, but now I don't have that luxury. I sit and I write, even if it's just a sentance even if it takes me all night to write a paragraph because eventually I'll hit a vein of inspiration and it'll get all easy again.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

In Ayn Rand's books, THE ART OF NONFICTION/FICTION, she sez we get blocked because we create the mental equivalent of a processing loop with no solution, because we're trying to reconcile a paradox.

Recall the movie BRAVEHEART. In it William Wallace has sex with Queen Isabella, wife of EDWARD II, and it's alluded that Wallace fathered EDWARD III. But in real life Isabella was a small child back home in France when Wallace was executed. She never came to England until long after he died. Her real lover was Roger Mortimer, whom her son killed.

Mel Gibson solved his problem by....lying about the history.

 

[starrkers]

And this has exactly what to do with writer's block?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

STARRKERS

I'll explain it slowly for you.

Computer programmers often write code that produces no solution or end result. The code is executed endlessly, searching for a solution that doesnt exist. So not much happens. All the code does is cycle forever.

Writers do the same thing. They instruct their minds to solve problems that have no solution...and then they wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wonder why theyre blocked.

But in your case another analogy may be more fitting: its like trying to do a calculus math problem and you dont know basic arithmetic.

 

[Guest]

STARRKERS

I'll explain it slowly for you.

Computer programmers often write code that produces no solution or end result. The code is executed endlessly, searching for a solution that doesnt exist. So not much happens. All the code does is cycle forever.

Writers do the same thing. They instruct their minds to solve problems that have no solution...and then they wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wonder why theyre blocked.

But in your case another analogy may be more fitting: its like trying to do a calculus math problem and you dont know basic arithmetic.

Jesus, but you're a half-wit.

 

[MagicaPractica]

I give myself permission to write the worst crap in the world and just get started. Sometimes it gets things flowing and good stuff comes out. Sometimes I've just gotten what I needed to done. I also try to give myself some input, like a good book, movie or music to help fill up the well I draw from.

The way I look at it is that an actor doesn't have the luxury of not "feeling" like acting that day. They find a way to work themselves into the character and perform. So, I try to do the same, get inside the character and write from the inside out. I'm a method writer.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

SARAH the Munchkin

True. I'm a half-wit. But that still qualifies me as a giant in a land of mental midgets.

 

[Guest]

And this has exactly what to do with writer's block?

Actually, I think I understand.

If you're having trouble writing, you do like Randall Wallace, and write a novel based upon historical fact, with a few interesting sidetracks to make a solid and marketable story, get Mel Gibson to star and direct, and then - ta da! No more writer's block.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Sarah's favorite remedy for writer's block is to have her characters suddenly recall how they learned to fly, that summer at camp, when they were 12. Sometimes she substitutes 'brain surgery' or 'quaantum physics' or 'karate' or 'artic survival' in place of flying.

 

[Liar]

I write two kinds of things: Stuff I have to write and stuff i want to write.

The stuff i have to write is articles for magazines. They have deadlines, and if I don't finish them, I get no money for pizza and beer. But it doesn't have to be top notch, just good enough so that nobody complains. I've become quite good at crapping out boring but correct text, and can do so in my sleep even when I really don't feel like writing.

The stuff I want to write - poems, song lyrics, smut stories and other artistic shit, I will only write if it's fun to write. And if it is, the result is usually good. if it stops being fun to finish a story, well screw that story. It won't be fun for the reader either.

Might be why I only have a handful of stories here after all these years.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Jesus, but you're a half-wit.

Yes, and people keep quoting him, so I have to read it....

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

CARSON

PULEEEEEEZE

You and Sarah are my biggest fans.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Actually, I think I understand.

If you're having trouble writing, you do like Randall Wallace, and write a novel based upon historical fact, with a few interesting sidetracks to make a solid and marketable story, get Mel Gibson to star and direct, and then - ta da! No more writer's block.

When ever I'm blocked I start off by typing something like;
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"
or;
"It was a dark and stormy night."

5 thousand words in, i realise that I'm committing plagarism and switch to my own work. By that time, the Muse is running wild!

 

[human_male]

In Ayn Rand's books, THE ART OF NONFICTION/FICTION, she sez we get blocked because we create the mental equivalent of a processing loop with no solution, because we're trying to reconcile a paradox.

Recall the movie BRAVEHEART. In it William Wallace has sex with Queen Isabella, wife of EDWARD II, and it's alluded that Wallace fathered EDWARD III. But in real life Isabella was a small child back home in France when Wallace was executed. She never came to England until long after he died. Her real lover was Roger Mortimer, whom her son killed.

Mel Gibson solved his problem by....lying about the history.

Goddam I hate Med Gibson!

 

[Guest]

Yes, and people keep quoting him, so I have to read it....

Carson, I do apologize.



(It won't happen again!)

 

[sr71plt]

Like Liar posted, I only block on writing specific works to a deadline. And in those cases, I just bite the bullet and write to the deadline, providing the best I can under the circumstances. I never have just gone totally blank and missed a deadline (or a paycheck). When I write for pleasure (like erotica for submission to Lit.), I'm not writing it until it's telling me it needs to be written. If I'm blocked on something in this realm, its still just revolving around in my head in development mode--and I always have something else ready to be written while that one is cooking.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

There's writing and then--thank God--there's rewriting.

At one time we didn't have that luxury like we do today. We were tougher back then. We'd swallow stuff that would gag a maggot.

 

[sr71plt]

There's writing and then--thank God--there's rewriting.

At one time we didn't have that luxury like we do today. We were tougher back then. We'd swallow stuff that would gag a maggot.

Even more relevant, I think, there's keying and there's keying readjusting--which is a godsend when compared to the former need to type and then to completely retype (not to mention even before that the need to write and then to completely rewrite).

 

[rgraham666]

Tried all these things. None has worked.

I'm no longer blocked. I've simply lost all interest in writing.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

There's writing and then--thank God--there's rewriting.

At one time we didn't have that luxury.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Tried all these things. None has worked.

I'm no longer blocked. I've simply lost all interest in writing.

Yeah. I don't mind the occasional block that tells me I'm writing crap. What I dread are those existential tsunamis that come along and tell you it's all crap; that's it's always been crap and always will be crap, that at it's very core it's crapacious by nature.

That's not so much writer's block as it is writer's shock, running up against the essential triviality of your art, and it seems to happen just when you're coming into the full bloom of your powers too.

 

[elsol]

Let me attempt a different analogy from JBJ's point as it a rather interesting situation that an new writer can get themselves into. (I have a number of times.)

Think of writing the story as road trip from New York to Los Angeles. Now, depending on the type of writer you are, you might have done a lot of research, gotten coolers of food in the car, and have detailed turn by turn written instructions with color-coded maps. Or you might have gotten in the car thinking 'I'll just keep taking roads that say West... I'm fucking young so what's wrong with a little adventure!'

Please note: You've made a decision that the trip does not end until you get to LA and you have to get to LA!

Everything is going fine: the Ipod is still cranking 'Burnin' Love' by Elvis, the motels are clean which is very good since somehow you picked up this smokin' hottie at Big Ed's Barbecue!, and the wind still feels good in your hair.

Suddenly, you're in Kansas. (No offense to people from Kansas, but driving through Kansas can make a person from the East Coast feel like they're trying to paddle across the pacific ocean.) Even worse! *gasp* You're in Bodunk, Kansas and the road into town does not lead out the other side of town!

Here the planning writer realizes something; there was no Bodunk in his instructions.

The 'Lone Rider' writer gets pissed off because he's in Bodunk, Kansas and doesn't want to be in Bodunk, Kansas... there's no hot chicks in Bodunk!

But the roads out of Bodunk do not go west--They go east, south, and north, but not west.

But the writers are locked onto a point: LA is west therefore they must go west!

This is what JBJ is alluding to: There is no west out of Bodunk so as long as you remain insistent that you must keep going west, you've got a problem.

Your choices are

1. Go north and see if you can find yourself going west again.
2. Go south and see if you can find yourself going west again.
3. Go east and try to find where you got off the road going west.
4. Say 'Fuck it! I've got a four-wheeler! I'm going fucking west anyway!'
5. Think "Hmm... there's no hotties here now, but a couple of those high school girls will be RIPE in a few years. I bet they think my accent is sexy! Bodunk's not that bad and I think I saw a help wanted sign at the hardware story.'

 

[elsol]

Yeah. I don't mind the occasional block that tells me I'm writing crap. What I dread are those existential tsunamis that come along and tell you it's all crap; that's it's always been crap and always will be crap, that at it's very core it's crapacious by nature.

That's not so much writer's block as it is writer's shock, running up against the essential triviality of your art, and it seems to happen just when you're coming into the full bloom of your powers too.

I have the same issue with sci-fi writers that kill off the entire human race at the end of their books.

Okay... if you're trying to make a point about global warming, I get it.

But if you're just pissed off that you were stuffed in lockers while in high school, please put a blurb about that in your author's note so I don't waste my time.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DOC

I suspect most of us embark, with no real sense of a gestalt for what we're writing; and we get lost. I read a book recently where the protagonist never gets lost in the woods, even when he's far into unfamiliar territory. He explains his sure-footedness with his knowledge of plants, animals, and weather conditions.

And natural reference points exist.