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This has been percolating in my head for a couple of days, following a couple of conversations that I’ve had with various people. Let me state up front that this is not aimed at ANYONE in particular. In fact, it’s partly a matter of disgust with myself, because I did this. And I can’t believe, now, that I did.
Well, I can, and that’s the trouble.
I’m going to talk about writer’s block.
Okay, correction: I’m going to rant about writer’s block. Remember, this is all my opinion on the subject, and not aimed at anyone in particular. Except myself.
I hate the term “writer’s block.” I hate it with a passion, because it’s a lie. It’s a big, fat, ugly, nasty lie, because it puts the blame for the writer not writing on this outside thing, this “block,” when the blame lies squarely with the writer.
It’s not a block, people. It’s fear.
It’s fear of not ever writing again, or worse, writing garbage. It’s perfectionism, the feeling that “Well, if all I’m going to write is crap, then I’m better off writing nothing at all!” It’s fear of being labeled inferior. It’s fear of failing.
It’s a fear that can be all-pervasive, and we don’t even recognize it as fear. It’s something that sneaks up and whispers to us from our subconscious, and strangles the will to write right out of us. It hides in the darkness, this fear, and it strikes when it knows that we can’t fight back.
And there’s only one way to derail it. WRITE.
I spent the four years after I graduated from college stuck in the morass of this fear. I didn’t write a damn thing. Nothing. I moaned about “writer’s block,” and people patted me on the head, and cooed, “Poor baby” at me, and bought me drinks. It was very glamorous – far more glamorous than saying, “I’m afraid to write crap.”
No one wants to deal with someone who’s afraid. “Blocked” isn’t afraid – it’s imposed by the fickleness of our muse, there’s nothing we can do!
Bullshit.
Here is my cure for writer’s block:
Put your ass in your chair, put your fingers on your keys, and write.
It doesn’t matter if all you write is “This sentence sucks.” Write it over and over and over, and eventually, something will unstick in your head. The gears will start to move.
I sent an entire chapter of my book Not Your Father’s Horseman to my editor with the line “This chapter sucks” as every other line in the chapter. Every other line. She wasn’t amused, but it got me through the chapter.
And how did I end my 4-year drought? I sent in a proposal for a chapter for The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy. And it got accepted.
Which meant I had to write it.
I panicked. (Go me!) I actually had to write it now? But I had writer’s block!!! What was I going to do???
Yeah, well, needless to say, fear of not getting it in on time (I used to be a reporter. Deadlines are pretty important to me.) chased fear of writing it away. I sat down. I put my fingers on my keyboard. And I wrote.
It was slow going at first. My chapter was only 4k (I think), and it took me nearly 3 weeks to write it. I deleted a lot. But I did it.
My high-school physics teacher once told us that science wasn’t about proving white swans existed. You could see those anywhere. Science, he said, was all about looking for the black swan that had been rumored to exist, but no one had ever seen. I’ve carried that image with me ever since.
Writing, for me, is chasing that black swan. I know it’s out there somewhere, and one day, I’ll find it. Or it will find me.
But not if I’m too afraid to start looking.
So don’t be afraid. You will write crap. We all do. You will throw stuff out. We all do. But if you don’t start writing, start looking, how will you ever find your black swan?
Well, I can, and that’s the trouble.
I’m going to talk about writer’s block.
Okay, correction: I’m going to rant about writer’s block. Remember, this is all my opinion on the subject, and not aimed at anyone in particular. Except myself.
I hate the term “writer’s block.” I hate it with a passion, because it’s a lie. It’s a big, fat, ugly, nasty lie, because it puts the blame for the writer not writing on this outside thing, this “block,” when the blame lies squarely with the writer.
It’s not a block, people. It’s fear.
It’s fear of not ever writing again, or worse, writing garbage. It’s perfectionism, the feeling that “Well, if all I’m going to write is crap, then I’m better off writing nothing at all!” It’s fear of being labeled inferior. It’s fear of failing.
It’s a fear that can be all-pervasive, and we don’t even recognize it as fear. It’s something that sneaks up and whispers to us from our subconscious, and strangles the will to write right out of us. It hides in the darkness, this fear, and it strikes when it knows that we can’t fight back.
And there’s only one way to derail it. WRITE.
I spent the four years after I graduated from college stuck in the morass of this fear. I didn’t write a damn thing. Nothing. I moaned about “writer’s block,” and people patted me on the head, and cooed, “Poor baby” at me, and bought me drinks. It was very glamorous – far more glamorous than saying, “I’m afraid to write crap.”
No one wants to deal with someone who’s afraid. “Blocked” isn’t afraid – it’s imposed by the fickleness of our muse, there’s nothing we can do!
Bullshit.
Here is my cure for writer’s block:
Put your ass in your chair, put your fingers on your keys, and write.
It doesn’t matter if all you write is “This sentence sucks.” Write it over and over and over, and eventually, something will unstick in your head. The gears will start to move.
I sent an entire chapter of my book Not Your Father’s Horseman to my editor with the line “This chapter sucks” as every other line in the chapter. Every other line. She wasn’t amused, but it got me through the chapter.
And how did I end my 4-year drought? I sent in a proposal for a chapter for The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy. And it got accepted.
Which meant I had to write it.
I panicked. (Go me!) I actually had to write it now? But I had writer’s block!!! What was I going to do???
Yeah, well, needless to say, fear of not getting it in on time (I used to be a reporter. Deadlines are pretty important to me.) chased fear of writing it away. I sat down. I put my fingers on my keyboard. And I wrote.
It was slow going at first. My chapter was only 4k (I think), and it took me nearly 3 weeks to write it. I deleted a lot. But I did it.
My high-school physics teacher once told us that science wasn’t about proving white swans existed. You could see those anywhere. Science, he said, was all about looking for the black swan that had been rumored to exist, but no one had ever seen. I’ve carried that image with me ever since.
Writing, for me, is chasing that black swan. I know it’s out there somewhere, and one day, I’ll find it. Or it will find me.
But not if I’m too afraid to start looking.
So don’t be afraid. You will write crap. We all do. You will throw stuff out. We all do. But if you don’t start writing, start looking, how will you ever find your black swan?
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From:
no subject
This happened to me when I burned myself out after attempting to write my infamous trilogy. I was worried that I'd never finish anything else.
So what did I do?
I wrote Love Like Blood, which I will most likely be sending out to an editor or two within the next few months.
So yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with the "STFU: Just WRITE." mantra worked wonders.
On a side note: nice 'black swan' reference. Did you know that's a vampire term for friends of vampires? :p
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Writer's block is a really easy excuse for not writing a damn thing and still claiming to be a writer :)
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That was very well said!
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Interesting! And thanks. :)
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"You'd think it's obvious/but it's not"
Preach it!
Writing Blue Vervain, the giant, gallumphing, overpopulated didn't-even-figure-out-what-the-story-was-until-the-last-20000-words that will never see the light of day pretty much saw the realization of the biggest, scariest writing monster evAr. It's crap. It should have been 14 months down the old crapper, but it turned out not to be. I learned more from actually taking the 100K journey to end than I ever did in 18 odd years of school. After that, well, everything else is not so scary.
I'm not sure I'm the originator of this, but I picked up a motto: Something Gets To Paper Every Damned Day, which eventually became my muse: Sgt. Pedd. Yes, he's exactly what he sounds like, and right now, he's behind me barking at me to stop effing around on LJ and get some work done.
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I don't believe in Writer's Block either. It's an excuse.
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I'd add that in addition to writer's fear, there's also writer's laziness. That's what most of my problem is right now. :P
Well, that and writer's lack of brain cells, which is what I encountered long about week 3 of nano. But that's another story entirely. :P
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I don't think it's a cop-out as other have mentioned, but that might be because mine is so tied up with my general depression issues, that I can't see it.
And, yes, I do realize some people use it as an excuse but just saying it doesn't really exist or is just laziness isn't exactly true either. What might be true for one isn't necessarily true for all.
Hmm...I'm rambling. Maybe I'll work on a post of my own on this topic today. *is such a copycat*
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Re: "You'd think it's obvious/but it's not"
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But I don't call it block. Just be honest - I'm being lazy. :p
Glad you enjoyed it!
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I respectfully disagree. I really think that "writer's block" doesn't exist. If it's depression, or laziness, or fear, then those are the reasons. "BLOCK" is a cop-out, in my opinion.
That, and $2.50, will get me a cup of half-way decent coffee. YMMV.
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But, really it's all in how you relate to the term. We have different definitions of it. :)
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