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Writer's Block!

gumboot

lorcutus.tolere
gumboot
Joined
Jun 18, 2006
Messages
25,327
Help!

Any ideas?

I write historical fantasy. I know precisely where I need to go with the story, and I'm excited to get there... I just... can't. None of my usual tricks are working.

:(
 
Go play a round of golf. Or have a couple of beers with friends. Or listen to some music. Or...

Just take a break. Clear your mind. Get refreshed.

Of course, if you're on a strict deadline, you're stuffed. ;)
 
gumboot said:
Help!

Any ideas?

I write historical fantasy. I know precisely where I need to go with the story, and I'm excited to get there... I just... can't. None of my usual tricks are working.

:(
Click to expand...

When I get stuck like that I need to accomplish something. Do the dishes. Trim the pet's nails. Pay the bills. Do something that gives you a little bounce that says "Ok, I'm going things now."
 
Just sit and write. Have you read Anthony Trollope's autobiography? In it he thanks, for his literary success, the man who brought him strong coffee every morning (I think at 5:30 am, or something like that). He would write a set number of words, in a set space of time, every morning.
 
Well, there is always the path chosen by William S Burroughs, jr.

It seemed to work for him - for a while.
 
gumboot said:
Help!

Any ideas?

I write historical fantasy. I know precisely where I need to go with the story, and I'm excited to get there... I just... can't. None of my usual tricks are working.

:(
Click to expand...
Some ideas:
1) Don't start at the beginning. Skip to a random description of an object or a scene somewhere down the road and then just go from there (you can always backtrack a little ways later to join it up with the previous scenes/chapters).

2) Just sit down and describe something completely unrelated to your story, but (if possible) from the same time period. Eg. Describe a battle from the French Revolution, panning for gold, laying a railroad, walking to Thebes. Once you've got a few concrete paragraphs, put it away and take a crack at your story.

3) Skip to backstory. Nothing monumental, just a character interacting with his/her mother, or a pet, or a school mate.
 
Have you tried writing a completely crazy bit to be replaced later? It can help shake out the censorial vibes.
 
gumboot said:
Help!

Any ideas?

I write historical fantasy. I know precisely where I need to go with the story, and I'm excited to get there... I just... can't. None of my usual tricks are working.

:(
Click to expand...

Write it anyhow. I hit this all the time, but I know that if I stop, the work won't get finished (on the deadlines that I set), so I write through it, knowing full well that I'll have to come back and do some heavy editing and revision. But the core story is told, and I've got it down. I can take my time later and get the details hammered, refined and polished.
 
A trick I picked up in a writer's group from a very prolific novelist (which will only work if you aren't on a tight deadline) is this: Impose chafing limits on yourself.

For a period of time decided in advance, say, a week or two, restrict the number of sentences you will write. On the first day, only one sentence is allowed. On the second day, two. On the third day, three. Etcetera. Doesn't matter if you're cutting out in the middle of important dialogue. Doesn't matter if one of the sentences is only one word. Doesn't matter how good your idea for the next sentence is. The restriction is absolute.

You'll probably start itching to write more than just the prescribed amount pretty quickly. And even if you don't, you'll be setting yourself a goal small enough that you should be able to meet it, helping you to get over the discouragement of writer's block.
 
gumboot said:
Help!

Any ideas?

I write historical fantasy. I know precisely where I need to go with the story, and I'm excited to get there... I just... can't. None of my usual tricks are working.

:(
Click to expand...

Your mind doesn't have tracks to run on yet.

You might have to ask yourself the right questions to figure out where you have to go to get from where you are to where you know it has to be, and then you'll have a framework and the words will come because you have something to describe.

Develop the plot first, then write it. And of course character determines plot.

So you can move from the known to the necessary, and between character and plot.

In other words, you think, I know where the story is now, and I know where it's going to end up at a certain point, so if both of those things are true, what must happen in the meantime?

Once you've figured out, generally, what you think happened to get there, ask what impact that would have on the characters and how they'd react.

If the characters are well devloped, sometimes they react in ways that don't get you from A to B, so you have to decide to change B (where you thought the story was going) or to go back and think of another way from A to B that doesn't elicit that reaction in the character.

Once you do figure out why the characters move from plot-point A to plot-point B, then you have a new set of questions to ask: What does all this new information do to the characters?

When you answer that, suddenly you have ideas for where the plot moves next. (Or maybe you have to change stuff you wrote before.)

In short: Move back and forth asking "What do I know?" and then "What does that imply for the plot... what should also be true?" and once you've answered that, then "What affect does this new plot information have on the characters?"

Then you ask, "Ok, so I know something new about the characters... what would these people do in the new plot situation I've put them in?"

It's a method that you can take as far as you want.
 
gumboot said:
Help!

Any ideas?

I write historical fantasy. I know precisely where I need to go with the story, and I'm excited to get there... I just... can't. None of my usual tricks are working.

:(
Click to expand...

Perhaps give us an insight into your normal writing process - then we can make suggestions from there
 
MG1962 said:
Perhaps give us an insight into your normal writing process - then we can make suggestions from there
Click to expand...


Hrm, good question. Well the piece in question is very well developed - I'm doing a rewrite at the moment. I tend to find rewrites go very slowly. Normally I use the "write the bits you like then fill in the gaps" method and that works well, but I find that impossible when I'm doing a major rewrite because a lot of the rewriting is about laying down details and making all of the sections cohesive, so jumping out of chronological order tends to muck that up.

In particular, a major reason for this rewrite is because the setting has changed and developed enormously, so I'm trying to immerse the reader (and protagonist) into this newly developed environment.

I'll give some of the suggested methods a try, some sound great. I've always been really bad at dealing with writer's block - normally I'll just stop writing and work on a map or something for a few months, but I really need to keep this rewrite going.

I've been doing some characterisation work lately and it has fired up my mind a bit, so hopefully I'll get back to pen and paper (or keyboard and fingers) soon!

Thanks everyone.
 
One other thing. Do you know Rbt A. Heinlein's rules of writing, as a professional? Very down to earth and business-like; the one which springs to mind is never revise except under editorial command. (Or something like that, I expect you get the point.)

I ought to look those up again.
 
SDC said:
One other thing. Do you know Rbt A. Heinlein's rules of writing, as a professional? Very down to earth and business-like; the one which springs to mind is never revise except under editorial command. (Or something like that, I expect you get the point.)
Click to expand...


I can't say I agree with that "rule". I remember a discussion once about what constituted a genius. Someone offered that a genius was not just a person who created an incredible piece of art, but someone that produced it on the first go. They cited Mozart, who would simply sit down and write out a masterpiece in one go.

For all other artists, great or small, good art is produced through constant revision and modification. Shakespeare is a prime example.

Now I think I'm a pretty good writer, but I'm no genius. And I know for a fact that my work improves with revision. The simple fact is no publisher on the planet would have even considered the first draft of my book (even putting aside the fact that I wrote it when I was 16!).

Most professional writers I've talked with emphasise that revising is where the story is really written. They say that the first draft is actually irrelevant; the key is to just get it down on paper. "Get it down, then get it good" or similar. Once you've finished it that's the time to go back and deal with all those pieces you knew were terrible at the time you wrote them.
 
My response to (short term) writers' block has always been to spend a while banging my head against the wall, then go to bed. Lie down, try to sleep. Nothing is better for coaxing those ideas out of your brain than trying to shut down your brain. The mind is perverse. Seven times out of ten, things crackle into life just at the point where you really should be sleeping, and you're hauling yourself back out of bed and lunging for the keyboard.

If it's a longer-term block, then I can't help, but would be extremely interested in other suggestions...
 
I suppose it's like when one is trying to debug some software. As my old lecturer used to say; "Fishing trips fix bugs".
 
gumboot said:
Most professional writers I've talked with emphasise that revising is where the story is really written. They say that the first draft is actually irrelevant; the key is to just get it down on paper. "Get it down, then get it good" or similar. Once you've finished it that's the time to go back and deal with all those pieces you knew were terrible at the time you wrote them.
Click to expand...

This actually seems to be the gist of Heinlein's rule. Stephen King made a similar observation, and I've found it to be true as well. Even if I have to "XXX" a spot and write myself a note to come back to later, I do it rather than interupt the flow of my writing. I prefer to have a first draft that I can start "real work" on rather than twenty well-edited pages of a story that will never be complete.

I am curious if any of this has helped you, gumboot?
 
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gumboot said:
In particular, a major reason for this rewrite is because the setting has changed and developed enormously, so I'm trying to immerse the reader (and protagonist) into this newly developed environment.
Click to expand...

If you're not changing the plot too much, but you're changing the setting, then you'll be fine as long as you reveal the setting via the actions that are happening.

Of course, if you try to insert description, the action will stop and folks will put it down.

Does the new setting change the action? If so, you've got some of your work done already as you rewrite those scenes.

But as long as you're not stopping to describe, as long as the setting reveals itself as the characters interact with it in ways that advance the plot, then you're fine.

That means introducing plot details sometimes which don't really get you much farther down the road, but if those moments are funny, or reveal character, or are beautifully said, you can get away with that.
 
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