Writer's
Block? Bah!
By Katy Terrega
I’d like to let you in on a secret, a little something that has helped me sell
more stories and articles than any of my other writing strategies put
together…
I don’t believe in writer’s block. Not at all, not even a little bit.
Oh, I think it’s perfectly normal for a writer to get stuck at any given time
while crafting a particular piece and to throw up his hands in frustration: What
on earth am I going to write about? My intro sucks! How am I supposed to segue
into the second scene? My first draft is done and it’s awful, I’ll never be
able to revise this! Oh, sure, the story is okay, but now I can’t think of a
title!
Doubts and frustrations and stumbling blocks like the above, however, are simply
a part of the writing life, with “part” being the operative word here. Just
because a writer can’t think of a pithy, little segue on cue or is a bit bored
with his characters or draws a blank when trying to think of the perfect ending,
doesn’t mean he has writer’s block, as though it were the very act of
“writing” that was causing his brain to come to a screeching halt.
Much more likely that he’s experiencing character-appreciation block, or
"glazed eyes at the thought of thinking up another orgasm scene"
block, or "please let me get past this intro and onto the good part"
block or "these rough draft sentences are to awful to be allowed but I
don't have enough distance from my manuscript and I can't figure out just why
yet" block.
For example, this morning I was putting together the rough draft of an 1800-word
fiction piece. I’ve been writing articles lately, rather than fiction, so I
was fired up at the prospect of flexing my rather flabby story-telling muscles,
and I cruised along quite nicely, using dialogue and witty repartee to set up
the first scene. When I got to the end of that section, however, I stopped dead,
totally at a loss as to how to get to the next scene, wherein my hero and
heroine suddenly realize their attraction for each other and consummate the
story, as it were. After trying several different scenarios and re-working a few
trite, boring sentences, I gave up, got a cup of coffee and, instead of giving
up altogether, I simply moved on.
Skipping the segue altogether I moved on to phase two, in which my two
characters experience a bit of a conflict before falling into bed together. Once
again I was cruising along, the verbal sparring of my characters practically
flying from my fingers, when I ran into trouble with the actual logistics of
getting them into the bedroom. This time I didn’t bother to try to work
through it, I simply skipped directly to the sex; after all, I could figure out
how they actually got there later. More cruising, yada, yada, and my characters
were sated and lying comfortably next to each other. Now, how to wrap up the
loose ends in a memorable, fairly believable way?
Once again, my brain seized up and I floundered, having absolutely no clue as to
how to gracefully maneuver my way out of the sex scene.
That turned out to not be much of a problem, however, since at just that moment
my kids bounded in the door, demanding sustenance and television, in that order,
after a rigorous day at school. Since I find it rather difficult to write porn
while they’re chowing down on chips and salsa and watching anime on the couch
next to my desk, I didn’t even try. Instead I handled the obligatory after
school stuff and started on this column, confidant that I have the basics of my
fiction piece down and will be able to start fresh tomorrow, segue-ing and
revising until the thing is polished.
If I get stuck again, a common enough phenomenon for me, I’ll move on to the
next thing-- another story maybe, a different article, or perhaps some
querying-- with every intention of finishing up the fiction piece soon, whether
that will be five minutes or five hours from my stopping point. Chances are good
I’ll have a finished story in a day or so, and, depending on how many brain
freezes I have along the way, I’ll also several other pieces in various states
of done-ness.
At no time did I think of any of my stopping points as “blocks,” instead I
took them for what they were; simple shifts in momentum. It’s something that
happens to all writers, whether it’s our boredom with a character that causes
us to lose interest in the dialogue or the distraction of a particularly
exciting scene that just begs to be written, or just the events of daily life;
for example, those kids who tromp in just as we’re about to get to the good
part.
Treating these shifts as “writer’s block,” which is supposedly an
inherently negative state that is difficult to overcome, puts a sinister spin on
what is a fairly normal occurrence.
Charging straight through a brick wall, head down and nostrils flaring, can be a
very frustrating, and often impossible, task for any writer. Meandering your way
to the side, however, before heading comfortably over the wall and then down the
other side as the muse gently leads you, can be very satisfying and ultimately
rewarding.
Now that’s a strategy I can work with…
Order Katy
Terrega's New EBooks! Erotica 101 & 102: 24 Essays on the Art of Writing
Erotica.
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Score and Hustler, plus she's the author of It's
A Dirty Job...Writing Porn for Fun and Profit. Includes Paying Markets!
