|
||||||||||
|
Subscribe to the Absolute Write Newsletter and get the Agents! Agents! Agents! report free! Click here.
|
Win a 1-year subscription to Writer's Digest by subscribing to Absolute Markets-- all paying markets for your writing. Click here. |
|
| |||||||||||||
|
|
Beating the Block: 10 Sure-Fire
Ways to Cure Writer's Block You've got writer's block?
So did I, for more than five years.
I had plenty of grand ideas about what I wanted to write - the literary
masterpieces which would stun the critics, the lofty poetry.
With idols and role models like Joyce, Woolf, Yeats and Faulker, it isn't
surprising that my meager efforts seemed hopelessly trite and mundane.
We live in a world of instant gratification, but quality takes time, hard
work and many drafts. No one simply
brings forth genius in automatic and effortless writing. The cure for my block was a simple one,
and perhaps obvious too, but it took me a lot of lost writing time to work it
out. Germination?
The gaining of maturity and perspective?
Nonsense - just lost time. The
one and only way to beat writer's block is to write.
It doesn't much matter what it is. Writing
a full length novel is perhaps the hardest, most structurally and emotionally
challenging type of writing you can do, so if you are having trouble starting,
try something quicker and easier to get your work moving, and don't worry if it
isn't an epic full of depth and pith. That
will come, but only with lots of rework. In
the meantime, here are a few ideas to get you through the block: 1.
Read the newspaper and pick a real life story that captures your
imagination. Turn it into a fictional
one. 2.
Keep a dream journal. The
very process of translating those vague bits of imagery that make up a dream is
the stuff of fiction writing. Pick
any dream theme that interests you and turn it into a full blown story. 3.
Pick a period of your life - any period. The year when you stopped believing in fairies, Santa Claus
or the Easter Bunny, your first love (and breakup), the loss of a pet,
childbirth - anything powerful, and write it out.
Have fun and change the ending to suit your story better - improve the
characters, make that boyfriend suffer as you leave him instead of the other way
around. This is not only cathartic,
it can make for very good writing as you recall those deep sensory impressions -
the ring of truth will increase your impact. 4.
Pick an era or historical subject that interests you and research it like
mad. Then write up a biography,
historical paper or fictionalized story based on the original.
Some of the best examples of fictionalized stories based on real
characters include Atwood's Alias Grace or Carey's True
History of the Kelly Gang. There
are plenty of untapped famous characters whose lives make for excellent
material. 5.
Do a pastiche of your favorite author. Try stream of consciousness, a sonnet, a short drama -
anything you fancy. Use it as a
springboard for whatever theme you want to explore.
Try varying the form - do a sonnet and then turn it into flash fiction. 6.
Change tack. If you're
blocked on your normal style of fiction, try writing in a different genre.
Give horror, romance, science fiction, flash fiction, a children's story
(if you have children, try targeting their age group - you will have a good
understanding of what will and won't work) or fantasy a try.
While this type of writing may not be your cup of tea, it can be quite
liberating to write to a formula and you may produce something quite unusual by
working across your normal genre. 7.
Try nonfiction. Write a book
review, a piece on your last holiday, advice for saving money, for raising a
child, for throwing a birthday party, gardening, make up a recipe - anything!
There are plenty of markets for this kind of work and it can be
rejuvenating to produce a finished piece. 8.
Join a writing group. This
is not for everyone, but if you are a socially inclined person, the pressure of
having to produce something combined with the stimulation of being able to
obtain criticism and support immediately could be just the sort of thing you
need. There is probably a local
group in your area which would involve meeting up in a specific location with
other like minded writers, and many of these are supported by a wider network.
The camaraderie, assignments, local submission information and support is
worth the trouble to get to one of these groups.
You could also join or set up an online group.
The Sandbaggers is one of the more well known of these groups and they
provide information and guidelines for starting one here: http://www.sandbaggers.8m.com/community.htm You could also
try: http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Creative_Writing/Workshops/Online/ http://www.shortstorygroup.com/ http://www.manistee.com/~lkraus/workshop/index.html 9.
Take an on-line course. This
doesn't have to cost a lot of money. There
are some excellent free ones around that will stimulate you.
Try: http://www.lifewrite.com/free_writing_class.htm http://www.ivillage.com/books/expert/writecoach/howto/archive/ (a wide range
of free mini writing courses) http://www.cacoethes-scribendi.com/flashfiction.html http://www.romancefiction.about.com/cs/novelin10weeks/ http://fiction.4-writers.com/creative-writing-classes.shtml (I've done
this one and it is quite good and even includes submissions of work and
feedback. It is aimed at beginning
writers, but the exercises will certainly help you if you are blocked). This is just
a sampling. There are lots more.
Just do a search on "writing courses" at your favorite search
engine and follow whatever links inspire you (but don't spend too long doing it
- it can be another form of procrastination - the main thing is to begin
writing). Buy a book filled with inspiration.
There are many on the market. One
of my favorites is Judy Reeves' A Writer's
Book of Days, which gives you a mini-assignment for every day of the year
and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the
Bones. Any writing book will
provide inspiration, though. Another
favorite, which is a 'must have' for any writer is your local Writer's
Marketplace. This has different
names in different countries, but it is an invaluable list of markets, and very
thorough. Just reading the book
will inspire you to produce material for submission. Just read through its pages and stick a Post-it note on any
of the markets you are interested in. Then
write for them! One acceptance will
generally pay for the cost of the book, so it is a very worthwhile investment.
In the US you can try 2003 Writers
Market published by Writer's Digest Books.
Visit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1582971250/absolutewrite
for more information. For
other countries, just do a search at your favorite search engine on
"Writer's Market*" + the country you live in and you should get a
decent list of publications. The
most current edition is also usually available at your local library if you want
to just browse and say, choose a market a month to target. The secret is that writing begets
writing. Your first efforts may
well be trite, but the more you write the better you will get and the easier the
words will flow. Don't ever use
"lack of time" or "lack of inspiration" as an excuse.
Inspiration comes out of the writing process - not before it, and time is
an illusion. No one ever has time.
Make time. You don't need
much as long as you are consistent and regular.
Commit to writing something, anything, every day.
If you wrote a page a day, you'd have a fat novel by the end of a year, a
full length short story every month, or 2 articles a week.
Few authors produce more than this.
Even a half hour a day is worth committing to.
Don't make the mistake I did. Write
through the insecurity, the uncertainty and self-doubt and your block will most
certainly disappear. Don't expect
immediate perfection, either. Ulysses
took James Joyce 10 years to write. If you visit the archives containing his
handwritten drafts, you'll see that the first jottings were nothing like the
finished product. The main thing is
to keep writing. Your own
masterpiece is just around the corner. Magdalena Ball is Editor of The Compulsive Reader at http://www.compulsivereader.com/html, and is the author of two books, The Literary Lunch: Recipes for a Hungry Mind, and The Art of Assessment: How to Review Anything. Her fiction, poetry, reviews, interviews, and essays have appeared in a wide range of on-line and print publications. |
Sponsored links 
Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer! How to find a book publisher |
Text on this site Copyright © 1998-2007
Absolute Write, all rights reserved.
|
