Writer's Block

Original Content | 4/21/2024 | By Laz A. Mataz

[Lazamataz]

How do you get past Writer's Block?

[Raven6]

Laz, please add me to the ping list as well... Thank you.

[Lazamataz]

Done and done.

[GOPJ]

Years ago I knew a woman who had published many books - in a time before the internet when 'being published' was harder. Aside from having a great agent she also used a funny technique for keeping track of characters in her novels.

On a couple of occasions I assisted with the process - it was fun and an effective time saver. If you ever decide to write the great American novel - give this a try.

She would gather stacks of magazines from used book stores, friends, thrift stores etc. Then three or four of us would sit at the kitchen table with magazines in front of us and she would describe characters in the up coming novel. Our job was to find pictures of those people based on how she described their personalities.

The advantage?

She said there's nothing worse than spending 20 or 30 minutes looking through stuff you've written to confirm that yes, you did say in the second chapter that " her eyes were green" and you had to say the same on page 120 - - or that "his" father's hair was turning gray... etc. etc. Pictures of your characters made the routine stuff easier.

[Chicory]

>> I will never see retirement now. Just got the news this week that the COVID lung scarring has given rise to lung cancer. Since I don’t intend to bankrupt my family on my way out the door, I’m just going to plug on for however many days remaining that God has given me. <<

I am so sorry to hear this bad news, and I will keep you in my prayers.

[SunkenCiv]

Now that April 15th has gone by, try calling H&R Writer’s Block.

[frank ballenger]

Thank you very much.

[Navy Patriot]

It was a dark and stormy night... and the peak of the doghouse roof was right up my...

[ckilmer]

use chatgpt

[oldeguy]

Thanks for adding me to the list, although I doubt that I bring much to the table now that I’ve retired from writing. The only advice that I could give others that aspire to put pen to paper is to remember that being a successful writer is akin to being a well-behaved dog. Both will pay heed to two commands, “SIT” and “STAY”!

[poconopundit]

Pictures of your characters: "her eyes were green", "father's hair was turning gray".

* * * *

You can't deny the commercial success of a woman who published many books.  And I like the research she did in rooting out inconsistencies in her works.

Now I am not a reader of popular fiction.  But the greatest fiction short story I've ever experienced is from an audio collection of Mark Twain's work published maybe 40 years ago by Harper Collins .

The audio CD is widely available from numerous sources with the voices of several professional actors, one being Water Brennan.

The short story I refer to is The £1,000,000 Bank Note whose text is available in its entirety on the Project Gutenberg collection.

I must have heard the audio of this story 50 times -- it's that good.

Now one of the remarkable things about the story is Twain breaks the rules about creating a physical picture of the characters:

For instance, the main character -- who is also the story narrator -- is described in the initial two sentences of the story.

When I was twenty-seven years old, I was a mining-broker’s clerk in San Francisco, and an expert in all the details of stock traffic.  I was alone in the world, and had nothing to depend upon but my wits and a clean reputation; but these were setting my feet in the road to eventual fortune, and I was content with the prospect.

That's it.  Later on in the story, we eventually learn his name and other details about his past.  But Twain is super efficient in getting the story started with worrying about details he can supply later.

Later on in the story we meet a female the hero meets at a party in London.  How does Twain describe her?  "an English girl of twenty-two, named Portia Langham, whom I fell in love with in two minutes".

What's this?  He falls in love with the girl but gives zero details about her physical appearance!

Ah, but a few paragraphs later we DO learn the color of her hair...

"And I told her — I did indeed — told her I loved her; and she — well, she blushed till her hair turned red, but she liked it; she said she did."

LOL!  Twain doesn't tell us the color of Portia's hair, only that it turned red from her blushing!

So this is a master at work.  By not giving us the physical details, Twain has allowed the reader's imagination to supply them so his story fits that of every man and woman who fall in love.

[GOPJ]

So this is a master at work. By not giving us the physical details, Twain has allowed the reader's imagination to supply them so his story fits that of every man and woman who fall in love.

Perfect surprise ending, Pundit - didn't see it coming but felt it was obvious by the time I read the last word. Very nice.

[poconopundit]

Thanks, GOPJ. Glad to hear literary criticism hit the mark. Free Republic's contributors make these back-and-forths on so many subjects possible.

BTW, Hollywood made its own version of the Twain story: turned into a movie with Gregory Peck which you can find on Youtube.

[GOPJ]

It wasn’t criticism it was praise. My mother used to say you know an idea is brilliant when you say, ‘That’s so obvious, why didn’t I ever see it before’... What you wrote was beautifully crafted.

[GOPJ]

It wasn’t criticism it was praise. My mother used to say you know an idea is brilliant when you say, ‘That’s so obvious, why didn’t I ever see it before’... What you wrote was beautifully crafted.

pundit - like a joke with a great punch line that you didn’t see coming until it’s said and then you see all the hints that make it obvious...

[poconopundit]

Hey GOPJ. I used the term literary criticism in the scholarly sense.

Guys like H. L. Mencken did that for a living.

Now maybe, in our age of DEI, literary criticism is viewed as unholy and criminal prejudice against authors who are just trying to make a living... or some such nonsense.

Suffice it to say: I treated your gracious comments for what they are -- honest praise -- and I'm happy my words worked for you.

And given that we have a 12 hour time lag between my visits to FR in Japan and yours in America, it may take a long time to get responses back and forth.

But let's keep our candid dialogs going...

[poconopundit]

And one more thing to add to the The Free Republic' Writer's Guild: a terrific 1921 essay by the "Terror of Baltimore", H. L. Mencken:

The Motive of the Critic

[GOPJ]

But when he is thought of, not as pedagogue, but as artist, then he begins to take on reality, and, what is more, dignity...

I have irrational issues with critics, but thanks for the links. And thanks for being understand. .

[Windcatcher]

I’m working on my second fantasy novel. For me, what works is taking a few days off, but not just that. I listen to certain movie soundtracks [1] to get my thoughts on sort of the right track. Drink a glass of wine, and perhaps just read what I’ve already written. Other times I listen to the music and stare into space. Inevitably thoughts come to the fore, which I slowly refine over a few days. Eventually the “itch” comes back and I start committing thoughts into words.

[1] King Arthur, The 13th Warrior, Krull, Conan the Barbarian, etc. It’s a fantasy novel, after all.