Total Number of Ratings: 10
Talk Amongst Ourselves: Overcoming Writer's Inertia
Friday, July 10, 2009 3:11 PM
I'm going to be offline for the next week or so on a family vacation to where they barely have cell phone service. To replace what I should be posting during next week's hiatus, I'm going to turn my unofficial spot over to you. Hopefully we'll stress-test the comment functionality of murmur in the process (not because anyone's asked me to, but because it seems like a likely outcome).
If it goes well and I can think of another question, I may just turn it into a regularly occurring "thing". For now, though, let's just start with what we have.
The Question: How do you overcome fear-driven writer's block?
Why I'm Asking: I don't like to use words like "gift" or "calling" because of the variety of connotations associated with them, but I believe I am a writer. If nothing else, I'm a story-maker. When I've explained to other writers how stories form themselves inside my head, they're often amazed. I thought that's how it worked for everyone, but apparently I'm at least a bit special. My problem is getting them down on paper. I'm fine when I declare at the outset that nobody will ever read them ever, but the moment I consider sharing them with friends and family (let alone the world at large), I freeze up.
Since arriving at Murmur, I've caught mentions of any number of creative side-projects from all of you and I've found myself quite jealous. Or envious. I can't ever keep those two straight. Jealousy/Envy has given way to curiosity. How do you do it? How do you take something so personal and toss it to the wolves like that? If this is an absurd question, why do you think so?
I clearly don't have an answer, but talk amongst yourselves, maybe try out that "write a response" feature if you're feeling particularly verbose, and I'll see you next week.
WonderAli,
Your post cracked me up (in a good way). Like I said, I'm an amateur writer (at best). My one big claim to fame is having written a play in high school which I entered into a state wide contest, and of the 300 entries I came in 6th place. (Wa-hoo!! Bring on the fame and glory!)
I went to college expecting to major in English or the Humanities or whatever, and emerged four years later with a degree in...Computer Science...from a liberal arts college. (How did that happen?)
Believe me, if I have the gall to say anything here, you most certainly do! :-)
You know, I was just catching up on my backlog of Bill Moyer's Journal broadcasts, and they had a nice episode on the poet and twice Pulitzer winner W.S. Merwin (see http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06262009/profile.html). Mr. Merwin made a comment on his writing process which seemed to have some relavance to this discussion.
He stated:
I can't imagine ever writing anything of any kind on a machine. I never tried to write either poetry or prose on a typewriter. I like to do it on useless paper, scrap paper, because it's of no importance. If I put a nice new sheet of white paper down in front of myself and took up a new, nicely sharpened anything, it would be instant inhibition, I think. "So now what?" I would think and I would sit there â?? so now what? â?? for quite a long time. But if it's something, if I need somewhere to write it down it will be on the back of an envelope, or something like that. Then it's okay. It's just to keep it there so I can find out where it goes from there.
He didn't use the word "writers block", but it sure had the same meaning.
Jimski hits on two points that really resonate with me.
First is the idea of the "hypothetical." I feel this way all the time. When you start with a blank canvas or blank sheet of paper, you have endless possibilities. With each word you write, you begin narrowing your possibilities. If done right, the conclusion becomes inevitable, like the perfect completion of a maze. But each step can also often feel like a wrong turn, a dead-end. What seemed so perfect in your head... sigh. Of course, the only answer is to stop telling yourself there are any dead-ends and just barrel through.
I also really like Jimski's point about ideas. I've long felt that ideas ARE a dime a dozen. I notice that very often with people in LA/Hollywood. Because everyone here is trying to sell something to the movie industry at some point, and because they hear so much about high concept pitches, they feel like every idea is a precious treasure, and they often become over-protective to the point of inactivity -- afraid to move forward or let go until that exact perfect moment. Which often never comes. But, as Jimski notes, once you write and keep writing, you realize that ideas are easy. The execution... well, that remains the tough part, but the idea itself... you're always gonna have another one. So don't hang on too tight.
I had a writing teacher who once said, "what do you mean you don't have anything to write about? You survived childhood, didn't you? You've got plenty to write about!"
I've always liked that.
My main writing fear is making stupid typos and the overall grammatical clarity of a piece. Josh's comment made me think of this because as soon as I hit the send/submit/publish/whatever button, I'll typically notice some particularly egregious grammatical error. (In my Murmur article regarding Kid Books for Adults, I have a horrible typo under the section on the series Half Magic in which I meant to write the word "as" but included an extra "s" at the end. Oh man, does that grate on me now.)
I usually feel pretty secure about my ideas and message, but most of my writing is done on a strictly amateur basis so perhaps there's less at stake for me. If I had a writing career to build, then I might be more concerned. I'm not looking to pay the bills this way.
If I were immensely rich, I would hire a personal copy-editor and be done with it. But since I'm not immensely rich, I've found it useful to have my text read back to me via a text-to-speech program. I can spot mechanical errors much more easily this way. Plus at times I'll discover when the spell checker has substituted the wrong word for me without my noticing. (There was a funny time when I misspelled the word "hypothesis" in a work email and the spell checker used "hypnotize" without me noticing what I had done. It really changed the meaning, and I got a most unfortunate laugh out of my colleagues.) My program of choice nowadays is ReadPlease (http://www.readplease.com/) for Windows.
And I've found listening to my text is helpful to the overall writing process (not just fixing the small errors). If I'm not entirely sure how to proceed with a piece, then hearing it out loud sometimes reveals the path I should be taking.
Kelly and I have talked about this before. In some ways, I am her exact opposite. She is blocked by the fear of the reader; although I've gotten a lot better about it, I am generally incapable of writing a thing thinking that no one is going to read it. I've tried using that trick on myself but find the prospect of shouting into the void too pointless to continue for more than a page.
That said, I have literally a dozen stories that I have never even started writing because as long as they're hypothetical, they're hypothetically good. As soon as I have time, I'll rectify this, because hypothetically good stories are factually unread stories.
When I took on the weekly schedule for writing a column at iFanboy.com (which is usually pretty personal) I was all but certain it would kill me and expose me for the fraud I am. Instead, it has stripped away a lot of my fears and bad habits, particularly the habit of treasuring and protecting my words. You have to resist with all your might the urge to be precious with your ideas, clutching every one protectively and polishing it to a fine sheen like it's the only one you're ever going to have. You can't sit at the keyboard thinking, "What if I put it out there and it's not good enough yet?" Just get used to diving in and tossing things off; writers write, and then they keep moving forward. A year into the iFanboy experiment, I have to treat each idea like I'll have ten more tomorrow, even though there are many days when the article is due in the morning and I'm still thinking, "Jesus Christ, there is absolutely no remaining unspoken thought on the subject of comic books left on this earth." The truth is, you don't get any better without doing it and making it available for scrutiny.
If nothing else, soldiering on helps you psychologically to get into the situation I'm in now, which is being able to say, "Ugh, I'm not going to be able to do this... oh, except I did it literally fifty-five times already in these exact same conditions, and I'll do it again, and it will go fine." In the end, every Monday morning I recite the same credo Lorne Michaels does on Saturday nights: "It doesn't go on the air because it's ready; it goes on the air because it's 11:30." There's always the next story.
I am halfway to the week's destination and using my last night of 3G to sneek a peek at what's been going on. I am stunned at the volume of response. way to validate my question, guys.
I felt going into this that "just do it" is the ultimate response ( just like "eat healthy and exercise regularly is the foundation of any successful diet plan), but everyone so far has put their own note in the chord, and that's fabulous. i'm definitely bottling this motivation for my trip, and I look forward to reading more and discussing with you all when I get back!
I don't get scared until just after the moment I've pushed something out into the world, in whatever form that might be. My writer's block, if it can be called that always comes from a place of feeling too lazy to do much work. In those cases, either I don't write, or I push through it, sometimes ending up with crap, and other times with something not half bad.
I'm very much of the Nike camp in this regard. Just do it. Cheesy, yes.
But the thing is, if you worry if it's going to be good, you're not going to do it, and if you don't do it, you won't get any better if it isn't good.
I'm very close to finding out if I suck or not, because I truly have no idea.
Personally I find writing in the morning just after getting up best for producing volumes of text. I can let it flow better, because the part of my brain used for critical analysis isn't fully going yet (perhaps still asleep -- huh), thus I'm able to produce a lot of material. Then later in the day my editorial side dominates and it's hard for me to keep from nitpicking every word; so that's when I choose to edit and hone what I wrote in the morning (and usually there is plenty to edit). Perhaps you and others have similar cycles, and thus you can either take advantage of your "creative" self (for lack of a better word for when you produce mass amounts of writing) or your "logical" self (the more critical side). I don't know if I've heard anyone else express this particular dichotomy, so it could just be me.
Personal comment: nowadays my biggest problem is finding the time to write. To date, I have one and only one published Murmur article, yet I have around 6 or so articles started, some sitting there since February. (Heck, I have a review started for the television series Kings, which has been cancelled and the last episodes are airing now. I guess it could still be useful for Hulu.com viewers.) My job right now is very demanding , my family occupies a lot of my time (which I wouldn't give up for the world), I volunteer at my daughter's school one day a week (math tutoring, reading tutor, kind of whatever is needed at the moment), I work on her class web site, and et cetera, et certera, et cetera. So nowadays I only get a chance to write very late at night after everything else is done (so much for my morning-creative, afternoon-editorial rhythm).
Hey Kelly, this is a great article! It really plays well to this community, and I'm fascinated by the discussion.
In all honesty, I've never been afraid of sharing a story. Now, I'm not saying that because I think I'm an amazing writer (far from it). But I desperately want to be a part of that cosmic society of writers. The lifestyle and the legacy. Even if I crash and burn sometimes, I can't not try. It doesn't even feel like trying. It's just a compulsory thing. It's what I do. I try to get better at it and utilize new tricks. Just so I can say I'm a writer. That means a lot to me for some reason.
As for block? It's just being tired. Like Dave said, you go and recharge and come back.
Creativity for humans--as opposed to deities--isn't about making something out of nothing. It's about making something out of what you have, either your research, the art you've consumed as inspiration consciously or unconsciously, or the stuff you've already put down on paper. It's all there. You just have to devise the best combinations. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it isn't. Writer's blocks are those times where you've lost perspective or you lack the energy to make the right choices as a writer. I'm a wuss, so at the first sign of that I stop and recharge. I'm a slow writer because of that. But it's just the way of the thing.
As Sonia mentions, collaboration is a big key for me. I get excited when I can bounce ideas off of people, or I can send them a draft and get the feedback. This only works when you surround yourself with smart people who ?get? you -- which is crucial for a writer.
Honestly, in my mind I break down ?writer?s block? into two categories.
First there?s the self-block. This comes when you edit yourself AS you?re writing. This is the fear-based block that can really only be overcome by confidence and by allowing yourself to write that ?shitty first draft.? Many writers talk about this, and they say that it?s all about allowing yourself to write what you know may be awful tripe, just as long as you get the words on the page. You free yourself from that internal editor, and then the bad writing leads into some good stuff and you simply excise the bad after you?re done. But this takes a sort of brazen confidence and a willingness to just write without worrying about what anyone will think. Invariably, it?s never as bad as you think.
While i don?t really block myself out of fear anymore, I do occasionally get stuck. I consider this to be more of a ?plot-block.? That is... I had this idea in my head and I wrote it out until it got away from me and stumbled blindly into a corner. if you stay in this zone too long, it?s easy to get disheartened and give up. for me, some solutions to this are:
1. Talk to someone else about it (as i mentioned above).
2. Wash the dishes. Do something that?s NOT writing, but that?s not very mentally stimulating. Mow the lawn. Paint a fence. Vacuum. I find that if I step away from the keyboard, but keep the story in my head, I tend to eventually unlock it.
3.Switch to another project. Similar to ?not writing? I?ve, on occasion, opened up a different story and then suddenly been hit with that missing piece from the first story.
4. Give yourself a deadline. The thing is... you have to do this WITH someone else. If I give MYSELF a deadline, I will later give myself permission to break said deadline. But when I tell others they can expect a draft by such and such a date...? Then I?ll get that rush of adrenaline and I?ll dive in and keep working, and honestly...? I?ll crack right through that block.
I try not to focus on the fear, but it happens. The way I get around it is just to keep writing and realize that not everyone is going to like it. Also being realistic with myself helps a lot, I'm going to have a lot of bad writing before the good stuff comes out.
Like Ryan, I just wrote a huge response but I lost it. Let's see if I can do it again....
I fall prey to the "perfect first sentence" far too easily. Type it, delete it, repeat, repeat, repeat...but what I am learning is that the first sentence is really not all that important--you'll probably change it anyway. I put far too much emphasis on it, as if the first sentence will define the quality of the work that follows. I just need to learn to spit it out and get on with it.
I write a weekly column for iFanboy.com and that work has taught me to just go with an idea and see where it takes me--I am going to have another article next week anyway, so just go for it, you know? Often, the first idea is just a gateway to a much larger, more compelling one, but I would not have found that idea if I hadn't written two paragraphs trying to make sense of my initial impulse.
As far as freezing when you think about other people reading, you gotta let that go, otherwise you'll be judging your work as you are writing it and there's no good that will come of that. Let the words flow, them out, and worry abut the eyes later. Having any kind of expectation of where you work might go is useless, it will just make you create a fake future with fake hopes and fake worries and it will poison the time--the moment--you have to write.
Writing is a lot like performing, I think. The more you do it, the less you think about "I am going to perform now!" and commit more to the actual essence of the performance. It's just another muscle--weak at first, stronger with practice--just make sure to stretch, you know? Try different kinds of writing--maybe a poem or a sonnet, just to loosen things up a bit.
My other trap I fall into is making that time to write too precious, loaded with too much expectation that GOOD WORK WILL BE DONE. I am writing a script and thought I was going to have to pitch the treatment a few weeks ago, so I took a day off with the intention writing the whole afternoon. Well, I had a ton of random, unplanned tasks to deal with and I ended up only having a few hours. Problem was, I was so worked up that this was my WRITING time, that I couldn't even start. It took me 30 minutes just to remember what I was trying to do!!
I think the less pressure you put on the time you write, the easier it will be for everything else to fall into place...
hope my hungover ramblings were of some help!
-mike
omg that first sentence! it is the death of me. not because i think that it has to be perfect, but because there is so much potential energy built up behind it. even if it gets changed later (and of course it will), it sets the tone for everything that comes later. it's almost impossible for me to start a few sentences in, so i get stuck on that one, magical first sentence that breaks through the inertia.
(sorry this is so scattered, I wrote a long, well-composed response and then hit the back button accidentally)
For one thing, I can only write when nobody else is around. I usually wait until my wife has gone to bed before I can really creatively flow in my notebook.
As Sonia said, don't try to think about anyone reading your work as you're writing.
If you can't think of anything to write right away, just put the pencil to the paper and write random words/phrases/funny names, do some journaling, whatever it takes to get the brain in gear.
I often get excited about something I write and then make a post on Twitter or Facebook of how happy I am that I wrote it, and if people are interested and respond, I'll share more with them. It's OK to hype yourself around friends; they'll get excited about your work and want to read it too. Nothing more rewarding than someone telling you how impressed they are with your writing!
I get blocked if I don't talk to anyone. Most of my ideas pop into my head following interactions with people, as if their words unlock a little damn, and allow a flow of words to follow. Times when I've been truly blocked, I've had to go on chat or phone a friend and just start talking, about anything. Even if nothing they say is helpful, just the act of bouncing ideas around can help me to start coming up with ideas myself.
And I share that thing with you; It's a hell of a lot easier to write if I never ever think about anyone having to read what I've written.
Totally. Talking it out definitely helps. Even if the person doesn't have much feedback. The act of explaining what's in your head to someone who doesn't have that same access to the story means working out the kinks in the plot. You don't want to sound like an idiot to your friend, so you realize the flaws in your idea and fix them on the spot to make it cohesive.
I don't really beleive in writers block. Or that is, i've not really suffered from it.
Difficulty in writing? yes. But i think that sitting and staring at the wall, or taking a shower, or going a week without writing a sentance is just as much a part of the writing process as typing furiousley at the keyboard. The brain needs to work things out.
I'm going to butcher the quote, but William Goldman was once asked how long it took him to write BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, and he said something like "i'm not sure. it took me six weeks to wrtie it, but i'd been thinking about it for six years."
The brain needs that processing time. The trick is to find other things to do so that you're not stressing about it. Watch a bad movie and look at what it does wrong, listen to some music that inspires you, for for long walks. Start a side project that's totally different. Whatever. Its really just the knack of finding a distraction so that you don't stress that you're not typing.
In terms of the type of block you mention, the FEAR side of it, the way around it is simply to ignore the fear. I found a good trick was serialising a novella on a blog under a fake name. Sounds strange, but it exposed my writing at its weakest because it was rushed, but it breaks down a lot of walls. Overcoming the fear element is really all about taking the jump. Once you've jumped, its too late to be scared.
Showing work to friends is only the start, literary agents, editors, colleagues, they all have opinions and experience. But you have to take the jump first.
Okay,now that i've said that, karma dictates that i'll get struck down with writers block today.
Respond
I almost don't feel qualified to comment here because, aside from a couple articles I have here on Murmur and a few blog entries, I'm not a writer. I'm an editor.
I spend 40 hours a week editing and proofreading other people's writing, it's my job. Luckily, this has exposed me to all kinds of writing, some really good and some terrible. The bad stuff is good because it makes me think, "There's no way my stuff is this bad. I may not me great, but I'm better than this." And the good stuff, the truly great writing, makes me want to write.
The more I read, the more it helps me write. It doesn't matter what you read, just read: books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, comics, anything and everything on the internet. Then you just let inertia take over and you keep writing.