How Do You Avoid WRITER'S BLOCK? (Rick Bragg Should Learn This)

Self | May 28, 2003 | PJ-Comix

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Well maybe, but consider that he said that he could literally work from anywhere. I'm sure that he ran into walls occasionally - you do that in any line of work.

[John Robertson]

i met steve allen a few years ago in new york, when i was in for meetings on a mary higgins clark novel i was adapting for the small screen. a thrill, as he was always a hero. and a good thing to have happened to me, as he died a year later. didn't know about the tape recorder habit, but it's a good one. today's tiny digital recorders have no media to screw up, and are tiny and simple. i've found them invaluable; the one i currently use has four folders--i use one for household reminders, grocery lists, etc., and the other three for three different projects i'm collecting thoughts on. oh, technical advisory: they don't work very well once they're sent through the washing machine, so take them out of your favorite jeans before cleaning.

[PJ-Comix]

It's VERY IMPORTANT to write notes. Not fancy notes but notes just to jog your memory. What is best is to take a long walk with a clear mind. Usually the boredom of that will force me to think about the writing project at hand. When the ideas start flowing just let them. As soon as you get home, write down brief notes of the ideas. Later when you write the article a mere glance at the notes will bring back the full flow of the text that you had in your mind earlier. It is just like playing back a tape recorder. Also when you know you can do this you won't worry so much about how to get your thoughts on paper. You merely know you can rely on the note method where the mere glance at the notes will bring back the full memory of the text. Later tonight I will go into greater detail in this with a real live case of an article that I wrote that sort of became a Web Classic 5 years ago.

[John Robertson]

Later tonight I will go into greater detail in this with a real live case of an article that I wrote that sort of became a Web Classic 5 years ago.

and you'll be doing that here, right, on this thread?

[PJ-Comix]

Here is what happened: Late in 1997 I wanted to write a piece about the Vince Foster case. The problem was there was a MASS of information out there and I wanted to do it from a different angle. Then one day I wondered what would happen if Columbo were working on the Foster "suicide." Yet still nothing seemed to click in my mind. Then I wrote down lots of facts of the case and let it just percolate in my mind without really trying to make a story out of it. Well, one day I went to the supermarket nearby. I remember that the moment I left the supermarket the whole story hit me like a flash. From the time I walked from the supermarket to my doorway (about 5 minutes), I basically had the entire story in my mind. Then I merely consulted my notes as I wrote at a rapid pace. Within two hours the entire piece was finished: COLUMBO: CASE OF THE FOSTER "SUICIDE". I then posted it on the UseNet and within hours I was deluged with requests to allow it to be posted on various websites. That story opened a lot of doors for me. And yet until the very day I wrote that story, I was stymied for weeks. What helped was that I wrote those notes down and had the "Columbo" angle.

[bootyist-monk]

When I first started, being a conservative was something that you definitely didn't discuss. But over the past few years, things have started to change. Just had a meeting today with a producer for a major network, and we spent fifteen minutes talking about Bob Geldof praising Bush for the aid in Africa.

Generally, my work is dark and action-oriented, so most people just assume that someone who writes about guns and explosions and ghosts and sweaty women and serial killers isn't sympathetic to liberal positions.

Having started in production, my experience is that most of the below-the-line crew is fairly conservative, with most above-the-line either moderate or liberal.

I've never had a producer tell me to change a character's race, but I did have an interesting situation recently where at the last minute, I ended up doing VO for one of my projects because the actor we hired (an African American) didn't sound "black enough" and I do a very credible Ving Rhames impersonation. Go figure.

[giant sable]

I've been a professional writer now for more than 25 years. Twelve books, several hundred newspaper stories, scores of magazine stories, and been the editor of a million circ. magazine. I was even a columnist for a while for the Grey Lady. And I teach professional writing at the university level. In all that time, I can't ever remember having writer's block.
One reason is a matter of definition. If I can't write because I'm tired, that's not writer's block, but simply being tired. I can't write when I'm sick either, or I'm weary from coaching a Little League game, or jet-lagged.
No, to my mind, Writer's Block, as this sort of paralyzing psychological disease, is in fact merely misplaced ego. The posters who have said that the mistake is in trying to wrte a final draft on the first pass are exactly right. Writer's Block, I'm convinced, is merely the catatonic frustration that comes from not writing something as good as you think you can. So, the cure is to lower your expectations. Go ahead and write something lame or s---y and move on. It doesn't even have to be on topic. Just come back and edit it later. All that counts is the final draft -- everything before that just forgive yourself for.
On the other hand, if the final draft sucks, then you've got a problem . . .

[Fawnn]

Go ahead and write something lame or s---y and move on.

In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott calls them "shi++y first drafts." (Of course, I no longer remember the exact word count, but she also says she only writes 200 or so words a day. I imagine most of us need to work at a faster pace than that. Or maybe it's just liberals who can afford to work at that speed.)

[BlackVeil]

Great advice Cicero, thanks for posting. Especially good advice for academic writing.

On shorter pieces, I got a good tip from a veteran journalist, (it is similar to what B-monk and Billthedrill are saying) which is don't try to begin with the introduction. You will get stuck. Just plunge into the middle of the article and ramble on, until the text begins to take shape. Write the first paragraph last, when making the final draft.

[PJ-Comix]

that time, I can't ever remember having writer's block. One reason is a matter of definition. If I can't write because I'm tired, that's not writer's block, but simply being tired.

True but when writers try to write when tired it reinforces the writers block later. They should just recognize they need sleep and not worry. It is the worrying that builds up the writers block.

The posters who have said that the mistake is in trying to wrte a final draft on the first pass are exactly right.

I always write the first draft as the final draft. I don't do any re-editing except for minor stuff when I type up the stories from the longhand. I've learn to sort of get a "voice" in my head that dictates the stories to me. Over the years I've learned to trust that voice. I don't hear the voice for all the stories. In those cases the "hand" takes over. It is when my hand sort of works as a separate entity writing my stories. Of course, I have learned that both the "voice" and the "hand" are my subconcious mind. When one learns to use their subconcious mind for writing the results are astounding.

One of the funnier stories is when I wanted to write a comix story involving a parody of James Bond. The problem is that I just couldn't think of the story---writers block. After about a day, the "voice" in my head told me: "Walk to the beach and jump in the water. Then you will have the story."

As I said I've learned to trust that "voice" so I said, "OK, I'll drive to the beach and jump in the water."

Then the voice cut in again and said: "WALK! Not drive to the beach!"

Well, I live a couple of miles from the beach and I can't tell you how ridiculous I felt walking to the beach because the "voice" in my head told me I had to walk, not drive.

When I got to the beach I felt like I was conned by the voice because I STILL couldn't think of the story. I said to the voice (making sure there was nobody nearby who would think I was crazy): "Hey! What's the deal! I walked to the beach and I still can't think of the story!"

The voice replied: "Didn't you forget the part about JUMPING into the water?"

I went ahead and jumped into the water, totally immmersing myself. When I came to the surface, I was complete amazed. The ENTIRE story, word-for-word popped into my mind instantly. I swam around for a while and then went home and wrote up the story which I saw as clearly as playing back an audiotape.

I've had a lot of similar experiences such as this. But this was one of the funnier ones.

[PJ-Comix]

A friend of mine is writing a book and yesterday he showed me a book about how to write a novel. I took a look at it and slammed it shut after a couple of minutes. I told him there was way too much technical stuff in there and it would hinder me if I even tried to keep it in mind. I prefer to just let the "Force" guide me. If someone needs technical instruction on writing I always recommend that they do a lot of reading of novels. That way you subconciously learn the techniques.

I once wanted to learn how to write scripts so I consulted a book on that topic. Then when I tried to write a script, I couldn't because I had to keep all that info from the book on how to write scripts in mind. Therefore I gave up the project.

HOWEVER, a few years later I was at the library and saw the script for the play, "Dead End." I leafed through it and was amused by the differences from the movie version (mainly due to the Hays Code). Then I started reading a lot of other plays because I got a big kick out of how they differed from the movies that were later made: "Stalag 17," Picnic," etc. I read a lot of scripts that way and really enjoyed myself because the plays were much SPICIER than the movies due to the Code.

Well, not long afterwards I took a crack at writing a script again and was amazed at how easily it came it me. Why? Because in contrast to being all nervous about following the guidelines of the How To book, I naturally absorbed the rules and principles while reading the scripts for pleasure. Therefore I recommend that folks just do a lot of reading as a basis for writing. It never fails to amuse me how a lot of folks want to be writers yet they hardly ever read anything.

[John Robertson]

Dear PJ (and all other posters to this):

Must go work on-premises at my corporate client's today, so i won't get back to this till tonight. My request? Keep it going, people! This is a wonderful topic, and I'm fascinated by the contributions of all the Freepers. BTW: has anyone realized that there's been no writer's block on this thread? when we bat out our responses to a topic on FreeRepublic, we do it automatically, without thinking a whole lot about it, right? Maybe that's another approach. Think that you're just responding to a Freeper, and the words will just FLOW.

[PJ-Comix]

My request? Keep it going, people! This is a wonderful topic, and I'm fascinated by the contributions of all the Freepers.

Actually I am now thinking of consulting on how to avoid writer's block. I can see this is a huge problem and a quick web check shows that no one is doing this as a consultant. I really would like to speak to groups of business people and show them how to avoid writer's block.

BTW: has anyone realized that there's been no writer's block on this thread? when we bat out our responses to a topic on FreeRepublic, we do it automatically, without thinking a whole lot about it, right? Maybe that's another approach. Think that you're just responding to a Freeper, and the words will just FLOW.

Good point. And the reason why there is little if no writer's block here is that we don't think we are "writing for the ages." It takes the form of speaking in print which is what I often advise folks to think about if they have writer's block. Writing is nothing more than speaking in print. We never hear about "Speaking Block" so there really shouldn't be much of a problem with Writer's Block.

[John Robertson]

Dear PJ:

I have what may be an inspiration...okay, perhaps a low-level inspiration, but a positive thing just the same. Let's CODIFY your rules for AVOIDING WRITER'S BLOCK. PJ'S SEVEN SUREFIRE WRITER'S BLOCK AVOIDANCE TECHNIQUES (hey, that was just the first-draft title, I wasn't even thinking about it, I swear). They'll be right there in front of us, and we Freeper writers, pro- and near-pro, can have them at the ready, for referral. (I envision them printed out and tacked to Freeper office bulletin boards all over the land.) Memorializing these working rules in no way diminishes your opportunity to launch Writer's Block Workshops for businesspeople. In fact, it might give you a template to build marketing materials on. This is a good thing, yes? Let's start. You edit, you lead the way. Others who have been on this thread can throw versions of rules out, and you can decide on their wording, their order. Let me start, and I don't anticipate any argument on this one:

(TITLE OF YOUR DEVISING)

1. Never write tired.

BTW...linked and read your Colombo/Foster piece...a wonderful piece, deserving of classic status.

Last thought: How many rules would there be? As many as necessary, of course. But really, can't it be distilled to ten or fewer?

This was a great topic, with much positive impact on Freepers. Let's put it down...and you get the credit, of course.

[PJ-Comix]

I think there are a lot more than ten rules for avoiding writer's block. I posted some here but there are alot of others. Also some rules apply only to certain situations. Example was the poster who had writer's block trying to write a book. I then told him to do it just a chapter at a time. NEVER write a book. Only think of the chapter you are working on. Otherwise you will be overwhelmed.

My suggestion for the notes is to use those as key word/phrase reminders for longer thoughts. I merely have to look at such a key word/phrase and it unlocks whole sentences and paragraphs from my subconcious. BTW, no need at all for FANCY outlines like they teach in high school. Just words jotted down in any order will do.

Anyway, some sort of codification would be good but I would really like to do personal consulting since I've had a great track record teaching folks to avoid writer's block on a one-to-one basis. Up until now it has been mostly personal friends that I have helped. However, I would love to conduct one or two day seminars on this topic for employees of large companies, escpecially those that have to prepare business reports.

BTW, one trick that I use to energize myself and get my mind into gear for writing is to play "They Call Me Speedo" by The Cadillacs. For some strange reason that song gets my creative juices going.

p.s. I'm still AMAZED that no one out there is conducting seminars/workshops on avoiding Writer's Block since this is such a widespread problem.

[John Robertson]

let me give you some marketing suggestions. it's a little too marketing-101, but use the old reversal to create some intriguing marketing material.

Never write tired becomes...
The one thing you cannot be when you write.

Write One Chapter At A Time...
How You Will Complete Your Big Writing Project.

Make Keyword Outlines....
How To Organize Your Project So It Triggers Creative Solutions.

Those aren't all that elegant (it's late, etc.), but I think you get the idea.

What I'm saying is, committing your list of writing prompts to paper (as it were) won't undermine any of your efforts re selling your services to the corp. sector. indeed, such an undertaking will probably sharpen your presentation.

thoughts?

[PJ-Comix]

If I were to conduct a Writer's Block seminar, I would like to use examples from James ("From Here To Eternity") Jones. ALL his characters were based on REAL people, including himself (althought he vociferously denied it). Jones' writings are INCREDIBLE. And the fact that he used REAL characters in a fictional setting saved a lot of wear and tear on his brain. He didn't have to invent his characters. He merely used the ones he already knew. This technique is also VERY USEFUL for avoiding Writer's Block.

p.s. One ulterior motive in my Writer's Block seminars (if I ever do them) would be to revive interest in James Jones.

[_Jim]

How Do You Avoid WRITER'S BLOCK?

FIND a good conspiracy theory to debunk ...

WORKS for me anyway.

[PJ-Comix]

I want to emphaszize that James Jones method again. He based ALL his fictious characters on REAL people that he knew. They great thing about this is that he didn't have to strain his brain to invent characters. Plus his characters were more realistic than any he would invent. So if you are writing fiction and trying to invent characters, use real ones based on people you already know.

[tictoc]

Big bump, not just to this post but all posts in the thread!