Block
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I’m experiencing writer’s block. There’s a story in my head that is just dying to be on paper. There is angst, emotion, imagery, floating around, bouncing around my skull like my head has become the most popular pinball machine in a cheap arcade. I want to feel the words, draining from my fingers, relieving me of all the painful memories, therapeutic.
Yet, every time fingers reach the keys, ready to pour my soul into a simple word processor, my brain goes blank. I still feel the story, but it’s retreated into a small, dark corner of my mind. I can only coax it for so long before frustration overtakes me, and I’m rummaging through my memories, for anything of substance. All the memories I want on paper are there, but they repel from each other, refusing to become a coherent story, refusing to give me the relief I so desire.
And story watches, laughing from its dark corner, showing only its glowing eyes and teeth. The story knows I’m watching; it’s watching too. The story is a real bastard.
gAnGsTa CaPs sUpPoRtErS
I've been experiencing the same thing. I think, eventually, it'll just come pouring out. It's just not time yet.
my writing professor gave awesome advice:
write around the story. ignore it. write images, words, nothing. give yourself writing prompts, anything from "write about your car keys" to "write about a fond memory." write a page of nonsense. write a metaphor. just write and don't think about the story (you're not allowed to whine about not being able to write! just write, even if it's total shit).
don't try to force out the story in order from beginning to end. write scenes, write ideas, write images.
one thing he said he does was write the whole story in three sentences. that's it, three sentences: beginning, middle, and end. then expand on it, make it a paragraph, then a page. this way it grows from the inside out, and there's less pressure to just get everything out in order perfectly the first time.
another piece of advice a very dear teacher gave to me in high school is, "just suck it up, if you're writing for a living, you can't afford to have writer's block." it made me laugh, but it's true. she always maintained there was no such thing as writer's block: you just have to write bullshit nonsense for pages until you get one sentence out that works.
i've had a lot of professors maintain that the only thing that cures writer's block is just writing. it's like a runner stretches before she runs a marathon- a writer has to "stretch" before doing any serious work.
also, i apologize if this gets posted twice, my mouse gets out of hand sometimes and does the clicking thing before i'm done. i swear it's not my fault!
Phantom to the rescue! Duplicate comment removed.
you rawx sir!