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Margaret Carr

Writer's Block

Some say it doesn't exist. They haven't been there.

Some think it is just a lack of ideas and try to help by suggesting approaches or sources for coming up with ideas. This probably does help some writers but ignores those who don't fit in that category.

Some say it is just lack of skill in developing plot or character or whatever and advise taking classes or otherwise studying the craft. Learning more about the craft and practicing the skills is good strategy but even highly skilled authors have hit blocks.

Some blame lack of confidence or low self-esteem and recommend esteem raising exercises such as visualizing yourself with your best-seller or receiving a high award.

Some think it is just being over-critical. They suggest just getting the words down and leaving the editing until later. Not much help if the words evaporate before you can "get them down."

Some think it is just fear, either fear of failure or fear of success, and if you just face it down you can overcome it.

Some have licked one form of it and are sure that their solution will work for everyone. It doesn't.

What is it, really?

First, it is real. It isn't laziness, or lack of self-esteem or any other single factor that can be magically cured simply by following someone else's advice. It is more than just being "stuck."

It is almost always a combination of stresses that interferes with your ability to write. It may hit at any point in the writing process, from the beginning of idea formation through development or at the point of revising.

It keeps you from writing no matter how much you want to write or how much you need to write.

It gets worse.

I have been there. More accurately, I am still there although the last three years have helped considerably.

What can you do?

Since I don't know you, don't know what you are struggling with, the only honest answer to this question is that I don't know. I only know what has helped me and what hasn't. But, since what helped me might be helpful, in part at least, I'm going to go ahead and give advice anyway. I'm also going to try to present it nicely organized and sequential. I didn't do these things in a well-organized or sequential manner. I floundered around and grabbed at possible lifelines, most of which broke as soon as I grasped them, and often went off in hindsight-verified wrong directions.

Determining that there was no physical cause was the first step that really helped. If there had been a physical cause, well, I have almost a lifetime's worth of figuring out work-arounds to some physical limitations, so I would have started concentrating on that.

The next helpful step, which took a long time and following many false (for me) trails was realizing that there was a difference between being stuck and being blocked.

Stuck usually only affects one story or article or whatever you are writing. You write yourself into a corner with no way out or get to a point where you are unsure of facts that you know you have to get right. Sometimes it is just that you would rather be writing something else but have committed to writing this, even though you don't want to. Once you figure out why you are stuck, the solution is usually a simple one. You backtrack to where you went astray or research the facts or just grit your teeth and get it done so you can have time for what you really want to do. At the very worst you can file the problem and go on to something else.

Blocked is worse, much worse. For me it was progressive. File and switch didn't work because I'd just hit the block again in the new piece. Stories bright and alive in my head would just lie down and die on paper. The more I fought it, the earlier it hit until I couldn't even get the first words down before the entire story vanished.

So I gave up. Writing wasn't fun any more. I really didn't need to write fiction anyway. Besides, there was too much other stress in my life to be adding to it. This was not a wise choice. Something in me does need to write, needs to share the stories I dream up.

Stopping trying to write down the stories didn't keep my mind from thinking them up. Even worse, they would interfere with my concentration on other writing I needed to do. Then I started blocking on the other writing. For work I needed to type minutes. It would take days to finish. A simple business letter could take a week to compose and get on paper. Finally the last straw and the one that started me worrying that there might be a physical cause, I started having trouble speaking. I would know what I needed and wanted to say, and go blank in the middle of a sentence.

Once the physical was eliminated and I knew that the block was real and not the same as being stuck, I looked for help.

There are many books and even courses that help develop creativity, increase motivation and inspire. I enjoyed them but they weren't what I needed. Fortunately I concluded that I needed to look in many directions and try different combinations.

I'm reasonably strong with the basic mechanics of writing, grammar and spelling but knew from rejection slips before the block that I needed more practice in plotting and continuity in particular. The peer basis classes at WVU got me away from the teacher-knows-best frame of mind and the assumption that there is a best way. I could try different, even opposing approaches and keep what worked for me.

Finding others who shared my dreams and some of my problems and others who I could help was another major benefit. The block is biggest and meanest when you face it alone.

I found that the block had cracks that I could work through. If I couldn't write what I wanted to write, well, I decided to write what I could write. Every word I get on paper or screen is a victory and makes the next word a little easier. I still have a long way to go before I will be submitting fiction again, but I will!

So, if you are blocked:
Don't give up!
Find out what areas the block affects.
Work around them or find ways through them.
Keep writing even if one word at a time. You'll make it!