Overcoming Writer’s Block Once and For All

Sitting there, staring that the screen, unable to write a single word. You write a sentence, then delete it and write another. You sit back, snort in disgust, then delete everything on the page. Congratulations! You are suffering from writer’s block. one of the most dreaded maladies suffered by anyone attempting to write.

Writer’s block is what Vivien in the video below humorously calls the “write dragon”, which is the dreaded blank page. Vivian, the writer in the video, gives some helpful tips as to what to do about it.

According to Wikipedia, “Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work, or experiences a creative slowdown. The condition ranges in difficulty from coming up with original ideas to being unable to produce a work for years. Throughout history, writer’s block has been a documented problem.”

What does writer’s block feel like? Sometimes you feel blank even though  you have the urge to write. Even if you do start writing you may find that you don’t like what you’ve written and a lot changes. You might become frustrated, feel depressed and sad, and it can even cause  you to be exhausted or tired all the time.

Some of the Causes of Writer’s Block

What causes writer’s block? In my experience, an inability to write for a brief or extended period of time can be caused by environmental problems, sometimes even as simple as it’s too hot or cold. Additionally. your writing abilities can be stopped by a lack of sufficient sleep, bad nutrition, pain can cause your writing to stop dead, and incorrect posture, lack of exercise, lack of outlining or even a single critical remark by a friend.

Overcoming writer’s block isn’t as simple as “just writing” or “willing through” the difficulty. Robbie Clair, 7 Strategies to Outsmart Writer’s Block

The idiots of the world

The Problem: Occasionally I’ll write something which receives a malicious comment from someone. In the past this may have stopped my writing for a long time. For example, they write a comment like “this isn’t that great” or “you should change your article…” and bam, I would stop writing for weeks or months.

Solution: When someone in my life makes malicious, non-constructive or inappropriate remarks about my works, I simply stop discussing it with them. I don’t ask for their opinion, cease giving them copies of the book, and refuse to share any part of my writing life with them.

Some other failure in life

The problem: I’ve found that when I was failing somewhere else in life, I would stop writing. You know, hard times at work, lost love, that kind of thing. When life seemed to hit me particularly hard, I would find that I didn’t feel like writing at all.

Solution: See if you can resolve the crisis or problem that’s occurring, or at least lessen it’s severity or impact. If you can’t, see if you can get away, even for a short time. When my wife was chronically ill, before she passed away, I found it difficult to write. I found that spending an hour at the local arboretum helped immensely, and usually resolved the issue for a few hours or days.

Something I didn’t understand

The Problem: Not having a good understanding about you’re writing about can have a huge effect on your ability to write. I’ve been working on a science fiction story for a long time and found myself stalled. The novel involves several complex scientific concepts which I had difficulty understanding, much less writing about. It felt like I was trying to write through a cloud or a blizzard.

Writer’s block can be caused by not understanding the subject you are writing about.

Solution: Take a good look at what you are trying to write. Do you understand the concepts? Are there words you don’t understand? Clear them up and like magic, your writing should clear up.

Illness

The Problem: Something about throwing up just makes it difficult to write …

Solution: Well, if you are sick, you may find that you need to stop writing for a while. On the other hand, perhaps you can shift gears and do some research, interview people, or perform some other tasks related to your writing that needs to get done.

Too much introversion

The Problem: I’ve found that I have to extrovert occasionally in order to be able to introvert enough to write. Does that make sense? On those occasions where I could not get out of the house, my writing suffered.

Solution: Take a break, Get out to where there are people – a party, an event, or even just the local museum, zoo or park. Spend the afternoon or evening away from your writing. When I do this, I come back energized and ready to write again.

Not writing something of interest

It can be difficult to write something when you don’t care a hoot for it.

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

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What is the writer’s block cure? Some solutions that I’ve discovered over the years include:

• Write something every single day – I have taken a few writing classes, and one common denominator (and perhaps the only meaningful information from any of them) was so simple as to defy imagination. Simply write something every single day. I write one article, completely polished and ready for publication, every single day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Sometimes I write two or three articles in a day. It really doesn’t matter what I write, although I usually write about the internet or computers. But occasionally I write other things, including pages for my autobiography or even a love letter to the wife.
• Put aside time to write – I set aside “writing time”, two hours every night, in which I isolate myself in my office at home and write my heart out.
• Fill in any missing blanks – If I find that I am having trouble explaining something in writing or the words just don’t flow, I look around and see if there is something about it that I do not fully understand. Once I clear that up, I can write again.
• Change styles – If I have trouble starting a piece and I’m sure I understand what I’m writing about, I often change the style. I usually write in a very conversational tone, which seems to communicate well to people. However, I will occasionally change to humorous or serious or whatever. I’ve found these changes tend to blow away writer’s block like dynamite.
• Outline your work – Some of us can just sit down and write without any kind of planning. Others need a plan or outline for writing a book or article.
• Attend writing critique groups – These groups provide great critique which will improve your writing skills. It also gets you out of the house once in a while, something most writers need to do.

Conclusions

No matter what the cause, writer’s block is something that can be handled and overcome. It’s actually not complicated at all. In fact, the best way to deal with the syndrome is the simplest – just start writing and keep writing, no matter what happens. Write your heart out and before long you will be writing like crazy.

If you are having difficulties coming up with ideas, check out my set of 5 eBooks with 2,500 writing prompts, which includes 500 prompts each for:

• Historical fiction
• Fantasy
• Science Fiction
• Mystery
• Romance

Richard Lowe Jr

Richard is the Owner and Senior Writer for The Writing King, a bestselling author, and ghostwriter. He’s written and published 63 books, ghostwritten 40+ books, as well as hundreds of blog articles.