I came to a realization today. There is no such thing as a writer's block. More accurately, we can talk about the writer's road. Sometimes the road stretches out in front of you blurred in what seems an impenetrable mist, but if you stay on the road, something will come to you. This requires a lot of thinking, and a good dose of reading, but soon thoughts coalesce into something you can use. In the last month, I have started stories that I did not finish. I didn't know where to take them. But today, I finished a story I like. The difference? I persevered. I stayed on the road. Lots of pacing and thinking, trying to find the way to the satisfying end, but I stayed on the road. Sometimes it seems like magic, the way it comes to you. Have you ever experienced this?
All the time. I can't tell if it's just me or not, but the task of writing a story is immensely taxing. When I begin the writing process, I just don't know where to take the story's direction, and I'm often stuck for hours just staring at a blank document. I never describe it as writer's block because then I'll be saying that I have writer's block everyday. The road is a good way to describe it. There is a path in front of me and not only is it long, it diverges in so many different other paths. Where exactly am I to go? Which path should I take? And the length of the roads, the way they all fade in the distant mist, isn't exactly encouraging. It makes me question if I will make it. Actually, it's even kind of scary. Maybe that's why I take so long to make a start. I'm too afraid to. That's mostly what its like for me. The beginning is always, always the hardest most overwhelming part. The only reason I've written stories is because of what you said: perseverance. I naturally dread that first part and I don't want to go through it. But I still sit down and try my absolute best. When I do make a start, it's because I decided on a path. I start to follow that path and everything is suddenly so much better. I know where to go and I keep my eyes ahead. I don't always make it past that first phase though. I'd say the vast majority of my discarded short stories have a beginning but no middle and end. But when I do, its so rewarding! All that hardship bears fruit and I'm happy, especially when people enjoy what I wrote.
Writer's road is a good way of seeing the process. One could say it is the optimistic way. It implies that we will walk that road to the end, whereas some writers don't make it to any end at all on that road. To compare it to something else I've done: it's like walking up a mountain. You see a lot of people turn back where you slog along with sheer determination. It may be hard to see others turn back while you keep going. It may sap some of your morale, especially when they seem more fit than you. But in the end, once you've made it to the top of the first draft and first mountain ascent, you feel exilharated. What remains, writing-wise, is the refinement process, which is yet another road, one that could theoretically be endless. It is you who must stop somewhere and call it done.
Oh my, your experience is very similar to mine! I can think about a story for days before I actually write something. And yes, the process is very mentally taxing. But I love the search, of course especially if it pays off. I wonder if I quit too early with the stories I abandoned. This latest story I wrote, that I just finished yesterday, I did reach that point where I thought, "No, this is all wrong." And I left it alone for a day or two, then said to myself - "See it through, rescue it." This takes a certain amount of faith that something will come to you in time. And you need to be in the proper headspace. With this latest story, I had the motivation to go on. Maybe it was the story idea I believed in. But finishing that story gave me such a boost. I was really starting to doubt my abilities. In fact, I think I will give the Flash Frenzy contest over on WF.com a try - the prompt this month involves worldbuilding. Lol, I've never done any worldbuilding in any of my writing, and I am excited about this new challenge. I love learning new and different things.
That's a very astute observation. I think optimism is very important to the writer, in order to complete the task of writing a story, that it will all come together in a satisfying narrative arc, that something will come to you even if you don't yet know what that is, that new thoughts are on the horizon, that your brain power will get you there. I think every story has its own road. One particular writer may get to the destination with one story, and with another story not see it through. I guess my advice would be to "never delete!" Because you may return to an unfinished story in the future.
I still see it as a writers block... but less negatively as a "writers block" (if that makes sense). I recently told a new coworker that im the type of person who handles road blocks differently. i just find a new path around it. and if that path gets blocked, i find ANOTHER route. That's how i am with writing. If i come across a writers block, its because the path im taking isn't the right one. so i find another direction. I back track to see where i went wrong or which pieces arent flowing as well as I'd like, fix it, then follow that path for a while. Some times it takes time to plan a new route. Some people view "writers block" as an obstacle they have to conquer. I see it as an annoyance that i must go around ( Route recalculating..... ).
it's a speed bump in the road, that requires thought to find a way around or over. Sometimes you need to just floor it, and deal with the bouncing.
I think its all too easy to get caught up with your internal critic and think stuff like that. But I think most people here would agree that you've got a lot of potential. I do understand the self-doubt though. It's almost inevitable. It's still probably better than being an overconfident, cocky writer who thinks they're the real deal when they're not. I saw the worldbuilding Flash myself. I've got an idea but not quite sure how to approach it. See? That feeds back to the original topic! And I do think that I say this a lot. Doesn't help that I'm no good at flash stories though. I went through every flash I've written recently and only liked the "Roaring Tides" story I wrote a while back. It's wonderful to see every story you started through the end. But that just isn't possible. I've discarded lots of stories and I don't feel bad about it. Sometimes, you gotta abandon ship and try elsewhere. Life's too short to write stories that just won't resonate. But like you said elsewhere, I don't delete them. I keep them inside an "Unfinished" folder.
You are a born story-teller. Your commitment to every story you have ever written shines through. You can do flash. You can do anything. Good idea! My unfinished stories are just listed inside my "Stories" folder together with the finished stories - which is getting pretty full. I probably should organize it better. Sometimes, I do go through the list, to remind myself about stories that I never finished. And periodically I check them to see if there is anything I can do with them.
I would recommend being a bit more clever with your folder structures. I'm very organised. I keep mine in a "Writing Projects" folder that contains other sub-folders named after the story form (flash, short, novel, etc). Since I write so many shorts, I also organise them inside a folder named after they year they were written in. There's more organisation going on, like labelling drafts with numbers but that's besides the point. I'd recommend sorting out your stories like that. It might even help you visualise your collection of stories better. It's a bit like doing "divide and conquer". It does help me at least. If I'm looking for a specific story or novel manuscript, I know exactly where to go!
I think I will take you up on your offer and organize my stories better. I'm interested in hearing from anyone reading this - how do you organize your story folders?
Some times when I have been writing for several hours the ideas just stop flowing. I can almost liken it to running out of gas in a car. Time for a break and refuel.
I agree with the original post, that there's no such thing as writer's block. In my experience, there's only two things - you're actively writing, or you're not. Why you're not can be due to innumerable reasons/excuses. The result is the same, in any event. I like this idea of the "writer's road." There may be changes in speed limits, on and off ramps, detours, and even U-turns. But what's most important is that we keep going. For anyone who might not have heard this bit of advice from me a bunch of times already, well, if you ever feel stuck, just stop and start editing. It needs to be done anyway, and you'll gain insights on where you want to go next. Folder organization! I keep my WIPs exclusively on my desktop. Every time I turn on my computer, I am faced with these .docx files screaming, "REMEMBER ME?!" I have another folder with subfolders for query letters, each version for every submission (mostly for novels, but also for some longer shorts). I have a "For Sale" folder. I keep a folder for different format requirements for submissions in case I need to submit using that same format again in the future (name, no name, page count or no, word count or no, address, contact info, etc. etc.). And most recently, I added a "Sold" folder to pump me up whenever I see it
Perfectly said, thanks. And sometimes we think we've arrived, but we still have a ways to go. That story I finished? I'm changing the ending! Yay!
Oh, that happens to me too sometimes. I had considered "Singing Fever" finished back when I wrote it in March. But I re-wrote most of it in the summer and it turned out to be one hundred times better. Re-writing can be a daunting task too though. But with Singing Fever, I kept the first act (the premise) and re-wrote everything else. So because I already had a brilliant beginning written and ready, writing the story became much easier and much more enjoyable. That just further proves my problems with beginnings.
Yeah, that likeness to a road is a good one. Sometimes a dirt track, sometimes a well-paved motorway, twists and turns or undulating hills like that time driving through Iowa (I think it was Iowa), surprising stop-overs and majestic views just around that corner ahead. Or maybe just an ordinary looking rest stop. I just sometimes wish my roadway wasn't so well catered with coffee shops and other distractions. That and spinning doughnuts at the start, round and round until there's a groove dug into the road and I realise it'd be much cooler if I was in a car...
The easy way to tell if it was Iowa, is if you can adapt the traffic circle scene from European vacation. Instead of "Look kids Big Ben and parliament." It becomes "Look kids a corn Field."
my thoughts this morning turned to my revisions on my WIP where I found my way around another road block by changing a few details and well.... ever feel like once you find a way over/around/through a writers block that things are moving way too fast?
I've had the story move way too fast. Still trying to figure out ways to slow down, but usually end up with even more action. That may just be my own biased observation, though. The true test is the audience. As to writing fast, I wish I could do that again. But maybe it will come back to me somewhere along the road?
Oh yeah, there are times when you're open and receptive and inspiration or ideas come flooding in. It often is after you get yourself unblocked. It's like when I'm trying to write down a dream even as the memory is fading fast—you need to jot down bullet points or very rough notes, but make sure you at least briefly sketch in all of them before they're gone. Then later when it's no longer pouring in so fast you can develop them. But it's necessary to get down just a brief notation for each idea, otherwise, if you try to write one out in detail, you'll find all the rest have faded. Unconscious thought is difficult to hold onto for very long at all (that's what ideas* and inspiration are, as well as dreams). If you don't get it down rapidly it fades like morning mist under the sun's rays. Then later in the same day you can at least briefly develop each one. Because you have the bullet point list you can recall each idea, and at least some of the details are still there or you can reconstruct them. But you have to get to it pretty soon afterwards. When I'm struck with massive inspiration I get finger cramps from trying to write fast enough to get it all down, and I make a lot of typos, some of which I need to fix or later I won't even understand some of the important words. It's like you're gifted with it all at once, maybe because you were shut off from the source for a time, and now it's your mission to get it all written down and develop it. At times the task can be harsh, but if you keep up it's deeply rewarding. * I mean the ideas that just pop into your head "out of nowhere." Of course you can also consciously work up ideas, and the conscious mind is much more capable of remembering those, since it came up with them (though I think most ideas have at least a spark or core of unconscious inspiration).
