The Writer's Block Thread

[Homer Potvin]

Sometimes, I get hung up on character motivations.

Overrated in my opinion. Or maybe overcomplicated. They don't have to be complex or grandiose. Not saying that's the case with you, but I see too many writers faceplant on that. Like zombie stories with characters who need to overcome their trauma, prove their worth to their parents, or something, where not getting killed by zombies is plenty of motivation to keep the plot moving. Depends on what you're writing of course, but what Frodo's motivation in LoTR? Destroy the ring and not die. Bing bang boom.

 

[Jay King]

When I am blocked, it is usually because there are things that I must do, should do right now or in the very near future. Sometimes it's something as mundane as getting the the oil changed in the car, getting the lawn mowed, and washing the vinyl siding--- all demanding to be done soon. I can't write unless I have a clear calendar.

 

[alzie]

I suffered from writer's block and its nasty partner in crime, Imposter Syndrome. Early on in my novel (my first, so I didn't know what the hell I was doing) my mind was a blank slate. Everything I put on paper sucked. I didn't know where to go. I couldn't push the story forward. I didn't know where it was going.

Then I had an idea. I had been struggling writing in third person, so I rewrote the scene in first person through my protagonist's eyes. And I realized what the problem was. I was trying to tell the story from a distance. My writing style changed and to this day, that little experiment helped push me through the story. I'm still writing third...but standing over the shoulders of my characters.

 

[Homer Potvin]

I suffered from writer's block and its nasty partner in crime, Imposter Syndrome. Early on in my novel (my first, so I didn't know what the hell I was doing) my mind was a blank slate. Everything I put on paper sucked. I didn't know where to go. I couldn't push the story forward. I didn't know where it was going.

Then I had an idea. I had been struggling writing in third person, so I rewrote the scene in first person through my protagonist's eyes. And I realized what the problem was. I was trying to tell the story from a distance. My writing style changed and to this day, that little experiment helped push me through the story. I'm still writing third...but standing over the shoulders of my characters.

I've said it here before, but POV is hands down the most important technical aspect of writing, in my opinion. Not the 1st vs 3rd thing, but the understanding of how information is vetted from writer to character to reader. Airtight intimacy is great if you know its strengths and weaknesses. So is distance with its own caveats. The key I think is recognizing the spectrum and which parts of the story are most effective at which distance. Sometimes the reader needs to feel like a voyeur and sometimes they need their head held under water.

 

[Brandon S. Pilcher]

I'm feeling blocked on my current WIP. Partly it's because I'm about to enter the story's second act, so I'm experiencing that "murky middle" issue a lot of writers do. The other part is that I can be a perfectionist when it comes to writing first drafts. I want the draft to be as good as possible early on to minimize the revisions I need to do. Unfortunately, this has the effect of making me feel insecure over how good what I've written so far is. Any advice on dealing with these problems?

 

[CatrionaGrace]

The other part is that I can be a perfectionist when it comes to writing first drafts.

Wow. Give yourself a stern talking-to and get over that soul-crushing, self-defeating attitude.

Revision is at the heart of good writing. Embrace it instead of regarding it as a hassle on the way to wherever it is you're headed with a story. No, no. No whining about how dreary it is or how hard or how it impedes the path to publication and greatness. Revision is a fascinating process wherein many wonderful things can happen to one's work.

 

[Link the Writer]

I overthink a lot, which is detrimental to my writing. Just yesterday my brain went off on a tangent about one of my characters' eyes. Like... what?

 

[Richach]

When I started out I had I had a high word count and I was thrilled by everything as it was all new to me. I was blissfully unaware that the reason for my high productivity was lower quality back then. The remedy at the time would have been to improve quality and address technical issues but I was not aware of that then and I was also producing nothing. This was double trouble. Once I recognised I needed to fix issues I worked through them but still the word count was only a trckle. That was because I was too deep into fixing technicallaties and so strict was I about doing this that I shut down two key things; sponteneity and intuition.

The way that I improve my productivity and quality these days is simple. I plan places, place names, characters and names and all the kinds of things that make me stop and think (because I don't know what the character’s name is or whatever) alongside a very, very rough draft of the story. Then I write hopefully without having to stop and think too many times. I don't over plan as I don't want the whole piece to sound contrived and over engineered. If I run into a detail that makes me stop (as I cannot plan nor want to plan everything) I use the QT hack that I saw some guy on YouTube suggest so I can word search “QT” and go back and add later.

Essentially, I remove some of the obstacles ahead of time instead of being defeated by them and interrupting my flow. This works for me.

Really critical imo that the essence of creativity which is sponteneity and intuition are not surpressed. Infact all efforts should be made to let them blossom. Although the writer that does not plan and only uses intuition is likley heading for writers block!

Thats my opinion anyway

 

[Richach]

I'm feeling blocked on my current WIP. Partly it's because I'm about to enter the story's second act, so I'm experiencing that "murky middle" issue a lot of writers do. The other part is that I can be a perfectionist when it comes to writing first drafts. I want the draft to be as good as possible early on to minimize the revisions I need to do. Unfortunately, this has the effect of making me feel insecure over how good what I've written so far is. Any advice on dealing with these problems?

Hi,

Thanks for sharing where you are at. I note the post is a month or so old but hope this might help.

Imagine we have a dial in front of us. Turn it to the left and it’s all about technicalities, detail and structure (let’s say it’s the thinking side of the brain). Turn it to the right and it’s all about productivity, word count and flow (let’s say that this is the creative side of the brain). In the middle of the dial we compromise a bit of both. We produce a good amount of work to a good standard. If we turn too hard in one direction we lose productivity, the other way we lose quality. So we have to turn the dial both ways. It does not have to stay in one position. The horse has to come before the cart. The writing must flow before it can be edited.

If we only seek technical perfection, I would guess productivity would be low to none existent? Every writer has to compromise on quality otherwise they would produce nothing.

 

[Luxuria]

I am stuck on part 2 of a book. Because I want it to be good and not sag or drag. PM me if you have any advice.