13.8.09

Beating Writer's Block

3 methods of overcoming "writer's block" that work for me:

1. Take time off - sometimes you're just written out, or uninspired. You need to recharge, and that means reconnecting with the outside world. Re-focus on whatever hobby you're in to. Start a new hobby. Read a book totally unrelated to what you're writing, work out, watch a few movies, play Xbox, whatever.
The important attributes of the activities you choose, though, should be 1. something that only takes a few hours at a time, and 2., an activity that can be repeated as many times as necessary to get you going, whether that be a few hours respite, or a couple weeks of comic book geekdom. Just be sure not to go past 2/3 weeks. If you feel you've been away too long, maybe quit this method and try one of the others?
A great side-effect to this approach is you usually end up learning something new while you were away. You're now recharged and have more ammo in your writing arsenal to draw from.

2. Jump to another writing project - knowing you'll get back to the one that stumped you after a short amount of time. Sometimes just switching creative tracks for a while can be refreshing and give me a new perspective on my existing project.
Just be careful you set a time limit for working with the different project, or you run the risk of getting sidetracked. You must get back to the original project, or no matter how much work you accomplish, you'll never finish anything.
The obvious benefit to this approach is I'm filling in the details of future projects while working on my current one. When the time comes to write those other stories I won't be starting from scratch. I'll already have material to work from, and have already consciously and subconsciously been swimming in those waters.

3. Write shit - as stated in a previous post, simply acknowledge the fact that you're going to re-write the damn thing anywhere from five to a hundred more times, and just be willing to write poorly. No one but you is ever going to see it, and you're going to change it all anyway, so don't sweat it.
When you look over your crappy, ill-conceived scenes, you'll eventually have an idea on how to make something better. How can you not? One good idea leads to another and so on.
The nice thing about this approach is it keeps me writing and focused on the project at hand (instead of jumping ship for a while). And as a bonus, I'll usually find a gem of an idea in all that crap I had to fix that helps either with the section I'm currently working on, sheds light or fixes a problem in another section.

If anyone else has any tips, let me know. I'm always looking.

1 comment:

  1. im a musician but writers block is the same for me nevertheless. I often work out, play video games or mess about with different possible ideas until i find 1 that has potential. Although sometimes it seems that nothing will work. I think that the things that inspire are completely random and thats why its important to do new things regularly. Sticking to a routine is a sure fire way to induce writers block. Find things that make you think and feel different.

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