You’re writing, really cruising along. Words are flowing. Characters are doing all the right things, and the plot is twisting perfectly.
Day wanes and it gets late; you’ve been writing for hours, and it’s finally time to go to bed. You heave a sigh of satisfaction, turn off the computer and crawl under the covers.
Ahhhhh.
After several hours of pleasant dreams, you open your eyes and it’s morning. You fire up the computer and amble off to grab a cup of coffee.
You sit down, re-read the last chapter, take a sip of coffee, and…
Oh, no! Your fingers are on the right keys, but you’re not typing. Last night you were cruising down Inspiration Highway with no traffic or red lights as far as the eye could see, and this morning you see something up ahead that sends chills down your spine. You’ve seen it before; you know what it is.
It’s the Mount Everest of Writer’s Blocks!
Gasp!
All writers smack into the dreaded block from time to time. We sit at the computer and stare at a blank screen. An idea pops up and we type a few words, then realize what we’ve written is crap. Ctrl A – Delete.
Get up and get a fresh cup of coffee, thinking maybe more caffeine will help.
An hour later the screen is still white.
Surf the net. Watch an episode of Mythbusters, hoping for inspiration. Check to see if the mail was delivered yet.
Sigh!
Play a game of Spider Solitaire and answer emails. Listen to music and watch a video or two.
It’s still sitting there. Time for alternative thinking.
In his blog, Richard Castle (the mystery writer played by Nathan Fillion on TV’s Castle) calls it “writer’s embarrassment”, and maybe he’s got a point. We want to write The Perfect Book. No mistakes, no typos, no quibbles from readers/reviewers. When we feel we’re not at our best, we’re embarrassed. We’re writing crap and we know it, but for some reason we can’t seem to get back on track.
Is there a remedy?
Castle offers an excellent suggestion: write crap until you get over the dry spell. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but it works.
One rainy day I found myself staring at a blank screen and thinking, “Gah! I haven’t got one good idea!" I decided to try Castle’s Remedy (which should be bottled and sold at the local internet café). I wrote the most godawful drivel, knowing it would die a sad and unhappy death when I hit Ctrl A – Delete.
I spent an hour or two at the keyboard before I noticed something about two paragraphs back. It looked like the first crocus of spring poking the tip of a leaf tentatively out of the muck. Eureka! I thought, “Maybe if I nurture it; maybe if I watch it for a little while..."
Suddenly ideas began to grow and blossom. Hmmm, what if I have Character A... Pretty soon the fingers were flying over the keys and characters had direction. Yay!
So, the next time you find a block in your path, don’t think of it as a massive Writer’s Block. Look at it as a challenge. Put on your climbing gear and explore.
Never know what you might find.
