If I get a headache I can take paracetemol
If I have a sore back I can take ipBrufen.
If I can’t put words on paper … what is there I can take?
It affects us all at some point, but it’s not necessarily that old demon writer’s block.
What is writer’s block anyway? Is it some existential disease that doesn’t really exist, yet something we can blame where we can’t write?
So, it’s down to looking for reasons, and logically looking at what is the underlying cause of the problem. We should be asking ourselves questions, like
Are we constantly distracted from writing?
Plan or no plan, subconsciously it doesn’t feel right, that the next scene, plotline or character interaction does follow, is contrived, is just plain wrong?
Usually, for me, it only takes two questions and the answer pops up.
I’ve written myself into the proverbial corner, and there’s no logical way to go forward.
What does that mean?
Well, that is covered by a third possible outcome from answering the questions.
I have to go back and do some major re-writes of earlier work, put is the appropriate hooks and maybe even change the direction, even if just a little.
That, in itself, in the back of your mind, knowing what has to be done, and putting off the inevitable, is another reason why this project isn’t moving forward.
Two aspirin can’t solve this.
Nothing can.
Perhaps we should rename writer’s block to writer’s dilemma.
This one sure does! I’ve never had the variety you describe as “next scene doesn’t feel right,” as I’m an inveterate, detailed planner, but the “can’t put words on paper…” I’ve just lost two years to that variety! Sometimes, not having succeeded like King or Rowling, I simply can’t see the point; other times, everything I think of seems silly, rehashed, and cliched. And then there are the times that I can’t think at all . . .
*sigh* Take two Xbox, and try again tomorrow!
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An idea indeed. Thanks for sharing.
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