At a Loss for Words
By Vicki McElfresh
©2001, Vicki McElfresh
Issue # 2: 03/01/01
Visualization
For Writers
Creating
and Using Language in Fiction
By Damon M. Lord
A,
B, C: Beith, Luis, Nin
By Bryn Neuenschwander
Genetics
in Storytelling
By Allison Starkweather
Creating
Character Extras to Enhance Your Story
By Shane P. Carr
At
a Loss for Words
By Vicki McElfresh
The
Alternative Rules
By Lazette Gifford
Fantasy:
A
Man in Beast's Clothing
By Sarah Jane Elliott
Horror:
What
Is Horror?
By Teresa Hopper
Poetry:
How-to
Haiku
By Jennifer St. Clair Bush
Romance:
Research
Flaws in Romance Novels
By Anne M. Marble
Science Fiction:
Tuning
the Universe
By Bob Billing
Stage & Screen:
The
Dual Landscape of Plot and Story
By Robin Catesby
Suspense & Mystery:
Scene
of the Crime
By Shane P. Carr
Young Adult & Children:
A
Question of Style
By Justin Stanchfield
Young Writer's Scene:
Befriending
the Internal Editor
By Beth Adele Long
Book Reviews
The
Writing Life by Annie Dillard
Reviewed by Beth Adele Long
Web Site Reviews
The
Forward Motion Web Site
By Lazette Gifford
Helpful
Pointers for Community Members
By Jim Mills
From the Writers' Board
News from Forward Motion
Writer's
block. The words send shivers down the spines of many authors, and
send others away shaking their heads.
Writer's block is not a living, breathing thing we can summon.
It is not a demon hiding in the shadows.
It is a state of mind that can be conquered.
I
have faced major writing blocks -- my latest was just a few months ago
-- and I have somehow managed to overcome them.
How? I found the source of the block.
I had just finished my third novel, and I nearly shelved that
manuscript because writing had become a chore.
The thought of sitting at my computer for hours made me
physically ill. I had been
so excited about the novel when I started it, and then halfway through,
I lost all interest. I
tried working on other projects, but I had the same lackluster feeling
with them. I couldn't
understand why. There was
nothing wrong with my book: I
loved the characters, and though the plot had some holes, they were
holes that could be easily fixed in the rewrite.
My daily word count dropped from over 1000 words a day to less
than 300.
I
found my answer in a writing exercise on the Forward Motion boards.
The exercise was to have a conversation with a character, and so
I moaned about my inability to write to Donag, the main character of my
book. He said, "You're
trying to force it again. Just
relax, it's there, stop worrying about the words on the page."
My
response was, "I can't stop thinking about all the other things
that are going on right now. They're
always in the back of my mind. And
it's Sunday, I have to go back to work tomorrow."
I had my answer. At
the time of this particular block, my job had become unbearable, and
that tension colored everything else in my life.
I had been looking for another job for months, and when I finally
received a wonderful offer, the tension, and my writing block,
disappeared. I no
longer felt ill when I sat down to work.
But
sometimes, blocks are simply a problem with the story.
After working on a project for a length of time, it begins to
lose its sparkle. The words
seem flat. The plot seems
trite. The characters seem
dull and cliché. In short,
the project is going nowhere except a deep, dark place in my desk.
I find this kind of block very easy to banish.
I print out my story, put it in a folder, and set it aside.
Then I open up a blank screen and begin something new, or I'll
open a piece that's been waiting for revision and work on that.
I might even work on a piece of fan-fiction.
I try to choose a story completely different from the one that
was giving me trouble. Within
a couple of days I'll have fresh ideas.
The sparkle will return, a little dimmer perhaps, but still
there, and I'm off and running on my problem piece again.
The
only cure for writer's block is simply to write. Locate the source of the problem, confront the issue, and
write some more. Write five
words a day if that's all that will come out.
Write the same five words if necessary.
Writer's block won't go away by sitting in front of the TV, or
taking a long walk, or getting a good night's sleep.
Writing is the only cure, or as Donag said in another exercise,
"The words aren't gone; you've covered them up. Let go of something. Quit
your job if you hate it so much. There
are other jobs, but there's only one of you.
Only you can write our stories."
