Writer's Block Cure?

[KajiunVu]

Ok, I've beenwondering something and sorry if this is repeated. But I was wondering. After writing up to the 12th chapter and so forth I find it difficult to keep going. Even though I know what happens.The problem is Writers Block I think. Any ideas on how to cure it?

P.s. I tried waiting it out when I got it before. When I first began the story after only a couple paragraphs I couldn't write. Two years came by and I wrote up to 12 chapters. Now I'm stuck again!
Thanks to all for any advice.

[littlemissattitude]

Interesting question. According to Tim Powers, at LosCon last weekend, if you use his method of writing there is no excuse for having writer's block. As he explained it, he plots out his whole novel on index cards. He lays them all out in the living room floor (I really wanted to ask his wife what she thinks about that) so that he can move them back and forth and get events in just the order he wants them. Then he transfers the whole thing onto huge calendars on the wall that show the exact sequence of events. Then, he says, when he starts to write he has no excuse to have writer's block because he already knows everything that's going to happen and the order in which they are going to happen. He said that while his process is a little unwieldy, it works for him.

Actually, I'm thinking of trying it.

[Lucifer]

I've heard that middles are the hardest part of a book to write.

The best advice I've ever received to help me get through writer's block is to write. Even if the prose is crap, you will still be making progress. This will give you a little spark of motivation. You can always fix crap prose on a rewrite.

Another thing that might help is letting go of the plot a little bit. Your brain could be messing with you because it wants to take the story in a different direction and you're stuck on what you think "should" happen. A lot of writers say that the most transcendant moments of writing are when they surrender to the id and let their ego dissolve, so that the writing can go where the subconscious wants to go.

A final suggestion would be to write something really restrictive, like fan fiction (must adhere to another writer's rules) or something technical. Then coming back to the freedom of your work may feel more like liberation than drudgery.

Hope some of this helps.

Lucifer.

P. S. One of my personal favorites is snatching up one of those cheesy books that purportes to offer prompts for creative writing (such as "The Pocket Muse" and "The Observation Deck") and tossing it across the room. That's just me though.

[dwndrgn]

I've been told that it can also be effective if you stop thinking about what you are writing and do something completely different like write some poetry, or a comical short story or something just different from what you are doing and the story that you are stuck on will creep into your thoughts...or take your characters and place them in a familiar context - put them in Star Wars or something you are very familiar with and see how that jogs you.

I've also heard something like what Tim Powers does, wherever it is that you are stuck, create an outline of what should happen through the rest of the book and write the pieces that come easy. Then it is just a matter of tying them together.

Whatever you do, I hope things work out well!

[Mark Robson]

When I'm having problems with a certain section. I tend to switch my writing targets from word targets to time targets. That way I can never fail to feel that I'm progressing. I will allocate 2-4 hours a day on writing, then lock myself in a room with nothing but the manuscript and sit with a pencil and paper/laptop. Even if I write nothing in the time I'm there, I feel as if I've progressed afterwards, because with that dedicated thinking time, things tend to fall into place quickly. The most I've ever been stuck for is about 5 days. By then, the script tends to start flowing again.

It takes discipline, but it works for me.

[Circus Cranium]

(According to Tim Powers, at LosCon last weekend, if you use his method of writing there is no excuse for having writer's block. As he explained it, he plots out his whole novel on index cards.)


You know something LIttlemiss? I did that with my first novel. And now that you mention it, nothing's had quite as smooth a flow since. I may need to do that again with the one I'm working on now. I too tend to get stalled in the middle sometimes.

[I, Brian]

It's worth trying to push yourself - but there's also the problem of requiring inspiration, and sometimes you just have to walk away from the problem and do something else until the solution presents itself.

[littlemissattitude]

Originally Posted by Lucifer

The best advice I've ever received to help me get through writer's block is to write. Even if the prose is crap, you will still be making progress. This will give you a little spark of motivation. You can always fix crap prose on a rewrite.

Just writing is another way of dealing with block, as Lucifer said. The other author interview I went to at LosCon was with David Gerrold, and he advised just that. He said that even if you just sit there and write something like, "I don't have any idea where this is going. I don't know what happens next...." and like that, you are still writing and eventually you break through and figure out what comes next. I've heard other writers also advocate that method.

I have to say that this method works for me sometimes, but other times it doesn't help much at all...but that's just me.

[Teresa Edgerton]

The major problem with the various cures for writer's block, I find, is that the people who invent them have usually never encountered the condition themselves. If you can fix it that easily, it's not much of a block. A genuine block defies all these solutions. Also, there is a tendency to credit whatever you happened to be doing at the time the block goes away with being the cure. Me, I've thought I found the solution many times, but the next time around it didn't work.

I think the real truth is that writer's block is the symptom, not the disease. And just like any other symptom, it could have many different causes. It could be the result of depression, or stress, or physical exhaustion, or vitamin deficiency; it could be fear of success or fear of failure. Unlike a sore throat or a headache, you can't just treat the symptom, you have to treat the underlying cause -- which means that you have to figure out what that cause is. The best way to avoid it is to take care of yourself physically and mentally, but sometimes, of course, that isn't possible. One CAN write brilliant prose while abusing onerself with too little sleep and too much caffeine for days or weeks at a time, but eventually the mind or the body (or both) rebels, and says, "No more." As I grow older, I find that they dig in their heels and refuse to cooperate a whole lot sooner.

But sometimes it just means that the story isn't ready to be born yet. It's your subconcious mind telling you that the whole thing needs to gestate a while longer.

Unfortunately, it can sometimes be rather difficult to tell the difference between your subconcious mind and your thyroid gland. I myself have often mistaken the one for the other.

[Leto]

Personnaly, I use deadline and ramble scribbling. Open a next text doc, and write anything which comes through your mind, absolutly anything. It restarts your creative process when you feel your writing is too dull to continue. After that go back to your work on hand and it'll flows smoothly.

[Stargazer1976]

I usually have a few different stories that I'm working on. I guess in a sense I do the note card thing someone mentioned above. I write the basic idea for stories I want to write at some point. This way I won't forget them if I don't get to them for a while.

Anyway, if I'm stuck on the actual writing of one story I hop to writing another one. Then like Mark said above I feel like I've progressed at something and don't worry about the first story having been put on hold. When i get back to the first one it seems fresh instead of something I am to familiar with to be excited about.

[aurelio]

I usually find that when I'm blocked, there is something in the writing I don't really want to face, so I'm avoiding it. Sometimes it's because I'd rather be writing the following chapter rather than the one I'm on. What helped me a couple times was skipping ahead to the part I wanted to write, then the part inbetween eventually fell into place later.

I used the index card approach before too, on screenplays, and I really liked it! I didn't use it for EVE, but I think I'm going to reorganize on my current effort and do it for that.

Thanks for the reminder, Littlemissattitude!

[jenna]

KajiunVu, i've had the same problem with all of my unfinished novels (and there's a lot of them!) but when i got the idea for the one i'm working on now i knew it was a goer, so i decided it was going to be different!
firstly i didn't let myself just jump into the writing. i had a very vague idea of the story and a couple of the characters, but it wasn't for another 3 months that i even wrote a word of it down.

i spent that time researching like you wouldn't believe (thank god for the internet!). seriously, i have disks and disks and disks and disks of research, and piles of books and DVD's, everything i could get my hands on. i don't know what your book is about, (mine involves armour and war and the like so there's a lot of info to be had) but there's always research to be done! apart from the obvious benefits, i think it also helps to immerse you in the subject you're writing about.

while i was really heavily into the research parts of the story just came to me, but i tried to develop them in my head a lot before writing anything down. it wasn't until i had the beginning, middle and end worked out that i started writing (or typing, actually) all my ideas down. i spent another 3 months taking the little snippets of ideas i had and working them into the basic story line. but i still didn't start writing the actual content for probably another 2 months. that's how long it took me to get together a very detailed chapter synopsis and a very clear character description for each main char.

so, it was 8 months from when i first got my idea (god knows where i pulled this new-found patience from!) to when i actually started writing. but now it's coming along so fast i can't believe it! and because i have such a detailed chapter synopsis, i can write bits from any part of the story, i don't have to go in order. but i never force myself, i don't sit down and go "i have to write something", i only write when something comes into my head. sometimes i'm writing a few pages every day, then i won't write a word for 2 weeks.

in conclusion, my advice would be to stop the actual writing and work out your story plan in more detail, the more the better. and don't beat yourself up about the block, in fact just forget about it. put all your writing away and watch movies and tv or whatever you like to do and don't think about your book for a week or so. it's like when you're trying to remember a word or a name and it's on the tip of your tongue but you can't get it, until you stop thinking about it, and then it just pops into your head.

wow, sorry about the super long novello-like post! hope this helps a bit though!