What is Writer’s Block?

by Chrys Fey, @ChrysFey

Thank you, Elizabeth, for letting me share an excerpt from my new book Keep Writing with Fey: Sparks to Defeat Writer’s Block, Burnout, and Depression!

What is Writer’s Block?

Some writers say they don’t buy into the idea of writer’s block, because you just have to sit down (butt in seat) and hammer out a story, not wait for a muse to inspire you or for the right mood to strike. But writer’s block is not about waiting to be inspired or in the mood to write. It’s about not being able to think of what to write or how to proceed with a story. It’s a condition that has been documented throughout history. F. Scott Fitzgerald had it. Charles M. Schulz had it. Adele had it.

You could be one of those diligent writers who straps themselves to a chair for hours, pounding out words, and then, one day, not able to write a sentence. What you do write, you think sucks and is your worst work to date. You could be someone who used to write a book a month and suddenly not be able to write anything for years. You could be someone who has a list of story ideas, but none of those ideas are turning in to anything good despite your best efforts.

Some people would go as far as to say that writer’s block is a cop out, a reason for writers to moan and groan. Well, they are entitled to their opinion, of course. I won’t convince them otherwise. Just as I hope they will let me have my opinion that writer’s block is real and won’t make light of my struggles, as well as with writer’s burnout. And worse yet, depression. Because, yes, there are people who don’t even believe in depression, and they think it’s as easy to fix as flipping a switch. It’s not. (But that’s a conversation for later.)

What is Normal?

First, I do want to point out a difference between actual writer’s block and normal difficulties during the writing process. Every writer will have days where the words won’t come. Every writer will feel uninspired at one time or another. Maybe even a few times a week. Every writer will be unmotivated to write. Every writer will succumb to the pressure of deadlines. However, these things don’t necessarily mean you’re suffering from writer’s block. When I go through these every-day writing troubles, it’s because I am purposefully procrastinating or I have other things going on like doctor’s appointments or a long to-do list. Even when I have a simple head cold, I can’t write worth a darn. Writer’s block, on the other hand, is a condition in which a writer loses the ability to come up with original ideas or even produce new work. No matter what you do, the words aren’t there and they won’t come. Something is blocking you. What that something is will be different for everyone. No two writers are the same.

Causes of Writer’s Block: 

1. Creative problems within the work
2. Lack of inspiration
3. The project is too big for the writer
4. Physical illness
5. Depression
6. Stress (of any kind)
7. Pressure to write or create a best-seller
8. Feeling of failure

My Story:

My first experience with writer’s block happened when I was seventeen. I had been writing since I was twelve, which is not an exaggeration.

I wrote so much that I completed three books in a series. That’s many notebooks and a ton of pens. It was a few months after I dropped out of high school that I stopped writing. Just. Like. That. *snaps fingers* I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t write for months. I sincerely wanted to, because I loved my characters, and writing was my everything. I didn’t feel like myself when I wasn’t writing. During this time, I didn’t force myself to write, because there was nothing to force. No words. No ideas. I feared school had been my inspiration and that I was screwed forever as a writer because I left high school.

Then, out of the blue, I had an epiphany. I don’t even know how it came about. Maybe my mind was simply open at the right time for the answer to fall in. Suddenly, like a lightbulb going off in my mind, I knew what was wrong. My block had been due to creative problems within the work, specifically with my characters’ ages and how I, myself, had aged a lot from Book 1 to Book 4. The storyline for Book 4 wasn’t in sync with the previous three books. It was too teenage-angsty for fantasy, not right for my series, and all wrong for my characters.

With that realization, the fix came with it. I knew right away I had to rewrite the series from Book 1, not for tweens, definitely not for teens, but for adults. I had to greatly age my characters, scrap half of them, and give them cool jobs and change the plot. It was years’ worth of work, but those years were the best years of my writing career thus far.

There is no sure-fire way to break out of writer’s block, but here are 11 tactics that have helped me over the years:

1. Read the last chapter or two that you wrote. Sometimes going over your work will get you back into the groove and motivate you to continue from where you left off.
2. Pick a random moment in your story to write. Just because you plot out your story doesn’t mean you need to write it in order. Pick a scene you’re excited to write and write it! And keep on going until you need to stop. See if you can continue from there the next day.
3. At the end of every writing session, plan out what you need to write next. This will help you to get back into your story faster and provide you with a clear map of where you need to go.
4. Write a song or poem for a specific scene in your book to help you tap into the emotion you need to write it. In the end, you may be able to use whole verses from the song or poem in your book. That’s a bonus.
5. If you are good with a pencil, draw a picture to help your creative juices flow. This technique is great to help release an image trapped within your mind. Once you get it down on paper in one form, you can do it again in another.
6. Listen to music. Find songs that hold the same emotion and feature the same theme as the event(s) in your book. Then plug in your headphones and let the music call to your muse.
7. Watch a movie with scenes similar to what you need to write.
8. Read a book (or five) in the same genre as yours.
9. Discuss your book with a trusted person to bounce ideas off them. You may be surprised how helpful a second party can be.
10. Motivate yourself. Say, “I don’t have writer’s block. Nothing can stop me from writing! I can do it!”
11. Step away from your book for a while:

– Take a nap

– Go for a walk or run

– Work in the garden

– Take a long bath

– Wash the dishes

Then go back to your book when you’re done and try again.

BONUS TIP: Don’t give yourself too much to work on. Writing a novel is a big job, but if you keep looking at it as writing four hundred pages (or so), you will shut down. Whenever you sit down to write, don’t focus on writing your novel. Worry about the next paragraph, not the next chapter. Don’t even aim to fill the whole white page. Go sentence by sentence.

Chrys Fey is the author of Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication. She is also the author of the Disaster Crimes series. Visit her blog, Write with Fey, for more tips on how to reverse writer’s burnout.

Photo credit: Ed Yourdon on VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-SA