Time to Write

Top ways to beat creative blocks

The site Fuel Your Creativity.com did a survey of how their readers beat creative blocks.

“The number one response that we received in answer to the question, was to get away from the project, mainly to get outside. With over half of the repliers agreeing that this method served them with the most consistent and best results. Turn your back on whatever it is you are working on, and break free into the cleansing power of nature and let it refresh you as it washes over you.”

 

The second choice was listening to music, and the third was just do something totally unrelated to the project.

 

Other finalists include coffee, art, talking with friends and family, and surfing the web.

(You'll also find ways to be more creative and productive by subscribing to my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to BstormUK@aol.com.)

What to do when you're stuck (my advice to a young writer)

Recently a young writer wrote to me, freaking out because he had just started the second draft of his novel and was, for the first time, experiencing being stuck--in fact, terrified of continuing, for reasons he didn't understand. In case it might be useful to someone else as well, I thought I'd post my advice to him here:

First, don't panic. Every writer encounters some blocks and some points at which things aren't flowing as well as you would like. The trick is to realize that these are temporary states that you can overcome.

There are a few things you can do. Which one works best for you is something you'll have to find out by experimenting.

First, it would be good if you could take a day or two away from the project without guilt. Just give yourself permission to have a day or two off, doing something you enjoy and that will keep your mind occupied. I don't know what you like to do, but examples could be a weekend of hiking, or indulging in a movie marathon, or watching a box set of some tv series, or visiting out of town friends, etc.

Sometimes that alone is enough. When you go back to the project, you're refreshed and able to resume.

Second, I suspect you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself because while a first draft usually means a rough draft, some writers think they have to get everything right in the second draft.

You don't.

Most writers do a third, fourth, and even fifth draft. So try to relax: the second draft only has to be a bit better than the first one. And the third draft only has to be a bit better than the second one. You keep going until at some point you realize that you've done it as well as you can and it's time to send the thing out into the world--but only when you feel ready.

I hope that makes sense, let me know how you get on.

(For more tips and techniques on how to be more creative, overcome blocks, and be more productive, you can subscribe to my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin by sending an email request to BstormUK@aol.com)

One source of inspiration

I'm always fascinated to hear what inspires artists and writers, especially when they may feel blocked. Here is what works for artist Andrea Kobayashi (who sells her artwork at www.akjapan.etsy.com):

“I have a collection of antique postcards from around 1900 to 1930. I don’t know how many there are, maybe 300 or more. I look at them all the time… I think about time, about near empty streets in central London, children in suits and gloves, horse-drawn transport, soot-stained cities, and ancient sites without ‘interpretation centres’ or gift shops.”

I collect advertising postcards from displays in various places, but I'll have to look for some antique ones as well. If visuals stimulate your imagination, give postcards a try. 

PS: the www.etsy.com site is a great place to buy artwork at extremely modest prices--it features prints, paintings, craft items, etc. all sold by their creators. I have just ordered a little lino print from one of the artists for the grand sum of $10, approx. £5, including postage.)

(for more tips and techniques on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send a request now to BstormUK@aol.com).

Another tool against writer's block (inspired by Janet Evanovich)

In an article by Wendy Fry in the San Diego Union-Tribune, prolific novelist Janet Evanovich reveals how she got into writing when she was in her 30’s:

 “In college I was a painter, and all my life I've drawn pictures and painted. It was while I was drawing with my daughter that I realized that every time I was drawing a picture or painting something, I was actually telling a story in my head about what I was drawing,” Evanovich said. “It was like a thunderclap went off in my head and I decided to try writing the story I was drawing.”

 That quote gave me another idea for how to deal with the occasional feeling of stuckness that most of us encounter at one time or another with our writing. Even if you’re not much of an artist, why not try telling your story with simple drawings first? Or if it’s a specific character who is eluding you, maybe draw him or her first. Could be a fun way to get your brain buzzing again, ready for you to return to the keyboard.

(one reason writers get blocked is that they have a harsh inner critic--if you do, too, you may be stopping yourself from achieving the success you deserve. For information on how to tame your inner critic, click here.)

For Writer's Block or Just to Stimulate Your Brain

Here's another idea for getting over writer's block or if you just need somethingt to stimulate your thinking:

Turn on the TV. Turn off the sound. Turn to a station playing a dramatic (or comedy) programme that you don't know. Try these three exercises:

1. Watch for three minutes, then turn it off and decide what the story could have been about. Try to come up with a beginning, middle and end into which the scene(s) you saw would fit.

2. Watch for one minute. Then try to relate whatever seemed to be happening on the screen to the story you are working on.

3. Make up dialogue for the characters as they speak. Try to keep it consistent with what they are doing. (This can also be a fun party game, with each guest taking on one of the roles.) See how long you can keep a coherent(ish) story going.

See, watching TV can be useful!

Writer's Block: Could this be a Simple Solution?

As reported in Utne magazine, environmental psychologist Andrea Faber Taylor has uncovered some fascinating information about how contact with nature can relieve anxiety and stress and help the healing process. She points out that 'directed attention' (used for things like making a presentation or writing) makes us tired, while 'involuntary attention' (such as meditating, or looking at nature with no particular end in mind) gives our directed attention a chance to recover.

She cites studies in which patients who could see trees from their hospital beds after having gall bladder surgery needed fewer painkillers and had shorter hospital stays than those who looked out at walls. She did her own study of children living in public housing, comparing those whose apartment overlooked trees and grass with those whose view was pavement. The 'seeing-nature' kids were better able to concentrate and control impulsive behaviour, as measured with standard psychological tests.

I wonder whether this could also, in some cases, be a cure for writer's block. Even if you work and live in the city, you can make time for looking at nature--it can be a park, just some trees, possibly even only a group of plants in your office.

Overcome Writers Block With an Overload

In the Shooting People screenwriters network bulletin, Andy Conway refers to an interview he read with the Florian Henkel von Donnsersmark, writer-director of “The Lives of Others.” A teacher of von Donnersmark had his students write 14 treatments in eight weeks. The students didn’t know it at the time, but the teacher didn’t even read them, he threw them away. The point was to build up their writing muscles.

This reminded me of something similar I did when I was starting out. Frustrated that I seemed to be blocked from writing more than a couple of pages a day even when I had time to do more, I decided that I would set myself the challenge of writing an entire screenplay in one long weekend (actually, four days). I was house-sitting for my brother at the time and had no distractions. To make it a bit easier, I decided to use a Rider Haggard novel as my model. The result? A full-length, pretty bad screenplay and one writing block conquered.

If there is an aspect of writing that you’d like to improve, consider using the ‘overload’ method. For example, if you feel your descriptions aren’t very good, spend a day writing nothing but descriptions of things in your house, making them as vivid as possible. If dialogue is your weakness, focus on that. The point is not the quality of this material but overcoming your resistance or fear. It works!

Overcoming Writer's Block - The Interview Method

There are two forms of writer's block. In one, you can't write anything at all. In the other, you are stuck at a particular point in a story and can't figure out what could come next.

This post has a tip for the second situation: interview your characters. Imagine the characters are real people who are experiencing whatever is going on at the point of the story where you are stuck. Imagine that you're a reporter asking them some questions, such as:

* What happened that brought you to this point?
* How do you feel about the current state of affairs
* What would you like to have happen next?
* What do you fear might happen next?

Jot down the answers that come to mind for all your main characters. There's a good chance that these will how you the way forward.