Ruthanne Reid
I used to just freak out and freeze and NOT WRITE for weeks at a time. Which was bad. My husband says it even made me... twitchy. Thus! I had to find a cure.
I can genuinely say there is no 100% cure. There are, however, things to do that can jumpstart the writer-brain into behaving. In order, they are:
1. Fill your creative well. Sometimes, you can't write anymore because you've been twisting your brain-handkerchief so hard to get the last drops out and didn't bother to douse it back in the water. Which means....
Read something fabulous. Watch something beautiful. Go to a concert. START A NEW HOBBY (no joke). Indulge fully in something OTHER THAN WRITING, something that gives you joy to do - and don't be surprised when you find you're able to think creatively again.
2. Just write the next word. Sometimes I freeze because I don't know what comes next. I know point A, D, and Y, but nothing in between, and I panic. Here's what I learned: this quote is right.
"Start early and work hard. A writer's apprenticeship usually involves writing a million words (which are then discarded) before he's almost ready to begin. That takes a while."
~David Eddings
Write. A word. It can be "the." It can be "He." It can be words you then completely throw away. JUST WRITE.
The key here is not to write keepable, publishable stuff. The key is to get words pouring out of yourself, even if they're only ten at a time and complete garbage. Write your own terrible fanfic. Just write the next word.
If you keep doing that, eventually the block disappears, and what comes out is gold.
I can genuinely say there is no 100% cure. There are, however, things to do that can jumpstart the writer-brain into behaving. In order, they are:
1. Fill your creative well. Sometimes, you can't write anymore because you've been twisting your brain-handkerchief so hard to get the last drops out and didn't bother to douse it back in the water. Which means....
Read something fabulous. Watch something beautiful. Go to a concert. START A NEW HOBBY (no joke). Indulge fully in something OTHER THAN WRITING, something that gives you joy to do - and don't be surprised when you find you're able to think creatively again.
2. Just write the next word. Sometimes I freeze because I don't know what comes next. I know point A, D, and Y, but nothing in between, and I panic. Here's what I learned: this quote is right.
"Start early and work hard. A writer's apprenticeship usually involves writing a million words (which are then discarded) before he's almost ready to begin. That takes a while."
~David Eddings
Write. A word. It can be "the." It can be "He." It can be words you then completely throw away. JUST WRITE.
The key here is not to write keepable, publishable stuff. The key is to get words pouring out of yourself, even if they're only ten at a time and complete garbage. Write your own terrible fanfic. Just write the next word.
If you keep doing that, eventually the block disappears, and what comes out is gold.
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