Writer’s Block — An Issue for Writers?
by Larry Martin, drlarry437@gmail.com
Excerpt from www.lakesidepress.com/MyWritingLife.pdf
The term “writer’s block” generally means inability to continue writing for some mental reason. It sometimes refers only to a work already begun, but other times to inability to write anything. I’ve had writer’s pauses, writer’s confusion, writer’s doubt, but never full-scale “block.” There was always something I could write.
I don’t teach writing, and never took a formal course on the craft, though I’ve plowed through lots of YouTube videos, lectures, and tomes on writing. But after writing twenty-five books I do have opinions. Writers can always write something, if they have the desire. The one thing always available is a personal journal. Writing a journal for many years not only kept me in a writing frame of mind, but the result has been invaluable in putting this book together. Memories fade, dates and names are forgotten, opinions change. Write all this stuff down, daily if possible.
Complete writer’s block should not be an issue for writers. Write about what you had for breakfast, what you did that day, your golf score, the movie you hated, the moron jabbering on cable news.
The internet is full of other suggestions for “writer’s block.” One of the more popular ones is “writer’s prompts,” random ideas that you could write about. Google “writers prompts” to see some of these — hundreds, thousands. You can have them emailed to your inbox weekly.
I never use writer’s prompts. I have all the prompts I need in my head.
Another suggestion, for those stymied when writing a novel, is to abandon the idea of writing the next scene, but skip around. If you’re in the middle of the work, and can’t figure out what should come next, write the ending. Write a review of the work as if it was finished. Write two reviews, one praising the book, the other hypercritical. Write a rejection letter from an agent, or a publisher. Write a new character, maybe the grandfather of the protagonist, who emigrated from Russia in the nineteenth century.
I once got into the habit of writing “fictitious reviews,” that is, reviews of books and movies that only existed in my mind. It was fun writing these fictions, and I posted them on the internet.
Here is the link.
http://www.lakesidepress.com/fictitious-reviews/intro.html.
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One more example of writing about anything that comes to mind. I have a pet peeve about restaurants, and sometimes argue with foodies about what I think are the most important aspects of dining out. They tend to get annoyed with my cogent argument that it’s not the food. So, I decided to write a short essay explaining my position. I titled the piece “My Rant on Restaurants…and Restaurant Reviews” and read it in my critique group. Some of the members agreed with me. It’s on Medium.com at https://medium.com/@drlarry437/my-restaurant-rant-its-not-just-the-food-760eefb50b4d
So yes, you can always write something.
