A ConditionWriter's Block is classified as an actual condition first of all, with great authors such as F.Scott Fitzgerald and many others suffering from it, sometimes for years on end. Truman capote spent 20 years working on his follow up to "In Cold Blood", and he was lowered into the grave without having released nothing more than a couple of snippets of his next great novel. so don't feel too bad if you have it! There is also a lot of research on it, mostly from the 80's and the 70's, that focus mainly on the writer's proccess, but it was first described by edmund bergler in 1947, who coined the term "writer's block"; he said that it is a manifestation of "psychic masochism", that is "the unconcious wish to defeat one's concious aims, and to enjoy that self-constructed defeat". he also believed it to be the root of many other behaviors such as kleptomania, gambling, criminality and even blushing. it isn't to say that having it once in a while means you should go see a psychiatrist, but if you have it all the time or for years non stop and you can't get any writting done at all than maybe you should go seek some help. or don't. a quick search on it seemed to show that there isn't much work on it besides bergler's, and he was seen as kind of an embarrasment to his collegues during the end of his career (his Wikipedia page didn't even have his picture on it), if that means anything. but i could be wrong. this article isn't about psychiatry anyway, but who knows? maybe the next one will. |
Causes
Writer's block can stem from a variety of sources. sometimes it originates within the work itself, and the author finds himself without any inspiration and gets distracted easily by other things. bad luck, and facing adversities in life such as illness, financial pressure, deadlines, depression and illnessess can also result in writer's block. some writers become intimidated with their own previous successess, and the pressure to make somthing just as good or better leaves them at a loss for words.
it has been suggested that Writer's block is more than a mere mentality, that is easy to snap out of. rosanne bane from the university of minnesota writes that strain could possibly result in a "shift in control from the cerebral cortex to the limbic system", the limbic system being the one responsible for instictive reactions such as "flee" or "fight" AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DOING ANYTHING CREATIVE.
it has been suggested that Writer's block is more than a mere mentality, that is easy to snap out of. rosanne bane from the university of minnesota writes that strain could possibly result in a "shift in control from the cerebral cortex to the limbic system", the limbic system being the one responsible for instictive reactions such as "flee" or "fight" AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DOING ANYTHING CREATIVE.
Breaking Throughsince its is a condition that gets to everyone eventually - 11/10 writers have suffered or are going through writer's block, the 11TH hasn't realized it yet - there are several little things you can do thAT MIGHT HELP YOU BREAK THROUGH, depending on what is causing it. here are somethings i found that look useful and that i use myself when i'm stuck: I. don't hinder yourself striving for perfection at every sentence, otherwise you might contract a bad case of "overanalysis paralysis" and make no progress, or very little in a long period of time. terrible if there is a deadline and lets face it, there always is one. so write things down, and come back to it later and rewrite, rinse and repeat until it is perfect. that's why you should allow yourself enough time to write. II. drop your pencil, or close your laptop, or kick your chair away from your desktop and just go do something else. its probably what you really want to do, so why not? take a break, pretend the your work has filed a restraining order against you and just stay away from it for a while until things cool over. go for a walk, talk to people, play an instrument, watch tv and avoid thinking about whatever you're writing about. its surprsing how well this tends to work, at least for me. III. hug a puppy. really, if not a puppy a cat, or some other fluffy animal. research ("Research") conducted by Georgia state concluded that spending time with an animal can reduce anxiety by 60%, so if you're stressed it might be a good solution. IV. outline. maybe its not having an idea that is troubling you but handling the ones you already have. the outline doesn't have to be fancy, just writing down the A, b and c of your work, and the ai, aii, bi if there are any. after looking at it you might realize that you can't write "c" because "b" makes no sense. V. approach the task sideways. which means that if you are stuck at the introduction, then starting from somewhere in the middle might help get things going. vi. write non-stop for about 10 minutes (i never tried it myself, but it sounds interesting). if you suffer from writer's block than achieving this is precisely your goal. but don't write whatever you are supposed to write. write anything that comes to mind, related or unrelated to work. if nothing comes to mind, than write "blah, blah" and "asdfjkl" until something does. its okay if it is completely random and unrelated, it just might point to whatever is distracting you if it exists. This is just supposed to get you flowing. VII. don't wait for inspiration to come knocking, go look for it. reasearch a little deeper into whatever you are writting about if it is possible. watch a documentary about it if there is one, if it is about a place try to acctually go there or talk to someone that has. what you find might surprise you. |