As I have mentioned here occasionally, I mentor teenagers at my high school alma mater* who write, edit, and publish Tapestry, the SF/F magazine I worked on when I was there (lo these nearly 20 years ago). They just sent me the latest issue, which has gorgeous cover art–art folks, keep the name Esther Wu in the back of your mind, because she’s going places–and the usual excellent crop of stories, poems, and articles.
One of the articles explains that they couldn’t ask Neil Gaiman and Suzanne Collins how they deal with writer’s block, so they asked their English teachers instead. No disrespect to those teachers, of course, but my immediate thought was, “Well, I can’t ask Neil Gaiman** or Suzanne Collins either, but I know lots and lots of professional SF, fantasy, and horror writers I could ask!”
So if you would, please tell me in comments how you get past writer’s block, and then encourage your friends who are writers to chime in. I’ll forward your replies to the Tapestry team. And if you happen to have a direct line to Neil or Suzanne and they happen to have a bit of free time to help out some teenagers who are completely devoted to SF/F and the written word, I certainly wouldn’t mind hearing from them too.
* I always feel weird saying “at my alma mater” but “at my mater” and “at alma mater” feels even weirder.
** I have a bet with myself about how long I can go without meeting Neil Gaiman. I saw him at Balticon in 2006–along with Peter S. Beagle and Gene Wolfe; I can only assume the concom robbed a bank or something–and we’ve occasionally tweeted at each other, but we’ve yet to be introduced in person. There are dozens of people who know us both and could introduce us, so the longer this continues, the funnier it will get. I’m counting from my April 2007 start date at PW and aiming for at least ten years.
I deal with writer’s block first by switching to another project, which often jars loose whatever’s stopping me up, and then, if that doesn’t work, by taking a long walk (if the weather allows) or turning on some truly mindless television. Sometimes taking the pressure of thinking off myself lets my brain get back to work sifting through the things that it still needs to put into order.
Some methods:
1) it could be you’re getting bored of your current project. It doesn’t sparkle anymore. So switch to a more exciting project! Downsides: be careful about always starting something new, and never finishing anything. Finishing stuff is important and necessary. I usually float between 3-4 projects to prevent burnout.
2) Sometimes I have a deadline and floating between 3-4 projects is not an option. In that case, I use two tools: the hash mark and the TK. If a scene is like pulling teeth, I just put in a hash mark and write the next scene, skipping over the stuff I don’t want to write. Later in edits I can come back and fill in. Sometimes I find the hash mark jump just works and I leave it as is. My hindbrain was trying to tell me something: skip over the boring bits! I also use the word TK in lieu of something I can’t figure out. So I’ll write something and come to a bit I can’t figure out, so I’ll write “Then he [TK: fought his way out somehow].” Using both of these allows me to just keep that forward momentum.
3) Take a walk and really think about the project. Sometimes I’m stuck because, well, I’m stuck. I haven’t thought out things that need thought out about the story. Maybe I need to sit and outline. Maybe I need to figure out some aspects of the world I’m portraying. Or the character. So if I don’t want to do 1 or 2, I’ll just stop writing and spend time thinking about the manuscript while walking, or lying on the floor with a notebook. It’s important that this be dedicated thinking time: browsing the web or watching TV doesn’t let me think about stuff, so it has to be time where the brain can mull.
4) Take a nap. Science says your brain works on problems in your sleep. If I hit a brick wall sometimes I just go take an hour long nap and wake up with the solution.
5) Tough it out and accept it’ll suck for now. Sometimes I just give myself permission if all of these fail, to write something that I believe is awful, just to get on with it. Better to have written something that can maybe be fixed later, than to come to the table with nothing.
These are my 5 tools, and using each one depends on practice and experience. Sometimes I use more than one!
Funny this should come up as I just wrote about how I deal with it earlier this week. For me, if I am struggling with something I’m working on, I try to do something that gets me back in the mood to write again. Science fiction conventions are great for this but I can’t make very many each year, and they don’t always fall conveniently timed to my writerly needs. Shop-talk with another writer, however, always seems to help. I can chat with another writer, someone who understands what writers go through, and feel better–even ready to tackle the story again. I can meet a writer for lunch and it does the trick. Sometimes you just need to feed your writer’s block: http://www.jamierubin.net/2011/06/21/feed-your-writers-block/
Writer’s block is usually my brain’s way of saying there’s something about the story I need to think about more, so I usually walk away and do something that will let my brain wander a bit. Note that actually letting the brain wander is important — I don’t use the time to play video games or some such. Chores, or the walk that Seanan mentions or a long bath or shower often give one’s brain a little space to free-associate and model different scenarios.
The first thing I try is taking a long walk by myself. Most of the time, that’s enough to get things clear.
If that doesn’t work, I write something bad. Most of the times I get stuck, it’s because I’ve started editing before I’ve finished writing. Giving myself permission to write something lousy helps a lot.
It really helps me to have music to write to: failing that a new book to read, or even a walk, will help. Refresh the brain! And there’s a lot to be said for making a plan and following through on it!
If it’s that kind of writer’s block were I can’t get into a scene/make myself write, then I do something mindlessly physical, like fold the laundry or go for a walk or do sit ups ( yes – this small doughnut-shaped person can actually do sit ups – 100 in a row to be exact. There is no justice in this world, to be this shape and capable of that.) Singing loudly in the shower is also excellent for getting past that kind of block. Then ask yourself what it is you’re trying to tell the reader in this scene – what is the point of it? – and then do just that, nothing else, just that with the scene. That usually works wonders for me.
If its ‘I’ve just finished my novel and have no more ideas’ type writer’s block -I’ve not yet been there, but I suggest reading some history, watch a sh*t load of documentaries, snag a lot of biographies from the library – and go get yourself a life for a while too. DO anything except read in your own genre.
As other’s have noted, usually writers block is my brain telling me that something is wrong with the story. Besides going for a walk and physical activity, which works great, I also go back to the last point in which I was excited about the story. Usually my wrong turn happened right after that point.
I also sometimes set a timer for myself. There are days when the only thing between me and writing is being lazy. If I can’t work for 15 minutes then I’m just being silly. What usually happens is that the fifteen minute timer goes off and I’m in a groove so I just keep writing.
It used to be ice cream was a solution, but then found out I am diabetic, and the sugar free stuff is just not the same. If it’s a short bout of block, I go play a video game. Going somewhere else and using different brain muscles often helps. If it’s longer than that, I switch mediums. I do something else creative. Paint a picture. Sew a gown (I’m in the SCA). Work on some cross-stitch. By the time I’m done with that, I’m usually begging myself for permission to go write more.
Gene Wolfe says that writer’s block is caused by exhaustion of the language centers of the brain. To get over it, he suggests doing things that are non-language related. Purely physical activities. No talking.
I follow Neil Gaiman on twitter; I would suggest having a student follow him and ask for the advice. Have them mention they are a hS student working on a lit mag. He’s got a lot of followers but he just may answer!
I agree with doing a physical activity to let the mind clear out. Some days are tough and as much as you plug along, nothing sounds right. A day or two later you’ll have a fresh perspective to see whether the last writing was good or if it should be scrapped.
Perhaps a good strategy is to prevent writer’s block. I’ve followed Hemingway’s advice: At the close of writing for the day, do not get up until you know where you’re going to start the next day, until you know what comes next.
Writer’s block can be depressing, and if you’re feeling down in yourself it’s really hard. This is what I do: leave it, minimise it on screen, put the printouts on one side. Write something else, anything, a letter to the bank or to your granny. Catch up on email. Have something really nice to eat. Thinking you’ll treat yourself after you’ve done the writing doesn’t seem to work. What it boils down to is that you need something to relax your system, even if it’s watching an hour of daytime tv.
If you can do it, talking to a friend could loosen up the stuck wheels in your creative mind.
If you’re stuck somewhere in the middle, you could try writing the end, or odd sentences, anything at all. Good luck.
Funnily enough, someone asked Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) that question earlier today on Twitter. His response?
“if I don’t write we don’t eat.”
Write anyway, to see if you’re just not warmed up yet. Amazing how a hundred words wrenched out somehow can lead to more and more flooding after.
I think I’ve done a little bit of just about everything mentioned here when I hit the block. And like so many have said already, writer’s block seems to come to me when something is going wrong with the story. Then it’s my job to figure out what’s going wrong and fix it. I don’t get writer’s block by just not knowing what’s going to happen next: usually I do know what’s going to happen… a few scenes down the road. I just have to figure out why I’m struggling with this one particular scene and how I can get past it and on to the more interesting scene. Sometimes you can skip a scene if it doesn’t seem as important… but you see, a good tip of writing is to make sure that every scene is important somehow. That helps to automatically keep out the boring or irrelevant scenes. It’s not easy, but it’s doable.
Me: now I’m one writer who seems to hate not finishing one scene in order to skip ahead to the next scene, and this gets very frustrating. It means that I have to write the troubling scene to some sort of satisfaction before I can get to the part I want to get to. Such things have definitely caused me problems in the past. I’ve had some scenes stuck in my head for years and I haven’t written them down yet, not even in notes. For some reason, when a scene comes to me that vividly, I find that writing notes about the scene makes me forget it, so instead I go over and over and over it in my head until it’s stuck there.
But back to writer’s block. It used to be that I would take a lot of walks, but then I discovered that while the physical activity was really good for my health, I just couldn’t keep my mind on figuring out the problem in the scene. So I turned to a few other things.
Laundry is a good way to break the block (like someone mentioned before). The only problem is you really do need to be careful while daydreaming about your story and doing laundry at the same time, lest you put the red clothes in with the white. OUCH! *wince* Doing the dishes is less colorful… just don’t break anything if you get an epiphany. ;)
Another thing I do is take a shower. I know, I know; it’s been mentioned multiple times, but what I do is I really consider the questions I need to ask myself about the story while I’m getting ready for the shower. I never allow myself to answer them until I’m in the water. Then I start trying to work things out once I’m actually in. Its probably one of the best ways I have to master the block, and it’s not bad when you want to write poetry or song lyrics either. ;)
I also journal, but not usually about my everyday life. I can’t keep a diary or a daily journal to save my skin; been there, tried that, and it’s never worked for me. What I will do, however, is sit down and write my problems down in a notebook longhand, stream-of-consciousness. Sort of like a conversation with myself. I find that the mix of seeing the words in my own handwriting, combined with my mind actively mulling over the problems, along with getting all the problems out there and in the open is not only soothing, but quite helpful. I have a lot of journal entries like that. I do the same thing when I get a new idea… it’s sort of like outlining (if you really want to call it that… <_<) only it can be all topsy turvy and it can get really mixed up. I'm probably the only one who can decipher my own journal entries and understand what's really going on. lol!
For those church-goers out there, I always keep a notebook with me on Sunday. I've said before that you know you're a writer when your church notes end up full of notes about your story. It's sometimes fun to try to relate a sermon to events in your story. Or perhaps the preacher says a word that strikes a chord with you and you just have to jot it down. Yes indeed, Church notes have gotten me out of several writer's blocks and I'm glad for it.
Or you can just go do something else that's creative. I also like to sew and read and paint, or perhaps make jewelry. Do something fun with your hands. I find that if the activity is visual, then that helps even more. Lately I've been on a painting/sketching strike, but I think it's finally starting to abate. I end up sketching a lot when I can't write, usually when I'm listening to my favorite type of music. It's soothing and inspiring at the same time.
Or you can just talk to a writing buddy. I am on several writing forums over the internet and they can be useful for getting advice… especially when it concerns editing. However, the best brainstorming sessions I've ever had have been with my beta-reader and also with one of my good friends. Both writers have their own styles and their own strengths and weaknesses, but sometimes when I tell them my problems, they come up with something out of the blue that completely makes sense and fits all the uneven pieces back together. And I like to chat with them on facebook or messenger the best. Face to face chats are amazing, and you may come away totally inspired, but what will you do with that inspiration? If you don't start writing immediately, you're likely to forget what exactly it was that inspired you in the first place. However, with fb chat or messenger, you can copy/past the entire conversation into a word document and save it for later. Doing so has saved me and my story on several occasions.
I know this was long winded, but I hope it helps!!! :D
Sleep, walk, go for a hike or do something with your hands. Best of all is if you have someone to talk your problem through with who might ask you questions about it. Your unconscious brain does amazing things with problems if you let it stew over them for awhile. Someone else said to work on other projects, and that’s a good idea too, even if “other projects” means “different chapters of the same project.” Sometimes moving ahead helps you clear up a muddy behind. ;-)