Writer’s Block: Let’s Deal with It 2

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.” – Henry Ford

Why Aren’t You Writing?

Many writers wait for a good idea to come to them, instead of going out and getting it themselves. My father used to ask me, “Why aren’t you writing?” When I couldn’t come up with a good answer, he’d ask, “Isn’t that what you want to do?” When I replied, he’d say, “Then go do it!”

I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was making a very obvious point: inspiration is not made of glue, it doesn’t stick around. It’s made more of down, blowing about on the winds of whim. It has no conscience or moral fibre to follow, it has to be given direction. Why wait for it to land on you? It more than likely will just pass you by, oblivious to your urgings. Just like a tiny feather floating on air currents can be blown in certain paths, inspiration—the ever elusive strain of imaginative impulse—can be harnessed and brought to bear. Sound ridiculous? Maybe it does, but that’s the beauty of it—it’s possible.

Glue It Down

The kind of inspiration that sticks around is drawn to effort. Effort is a good habit; the rewards are obvious. And, it is the most surefire way to make inspiration find a home in your office. Successful people are the ones who, though the odds are stockpiled against them, make the attempt and stay the course. On a daily basis, they plug away at their craft, continuing to learn and grow and nurture their talents and dreams. They glue their inspirations down. They don’t wait for it, they do it.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau

Have you noticed that the most and best writing happens after we’re already in a flow? While we’re writing, some great idea, or surprising turn of events clicks in for us. When our fingers are already in motion, and our thoughts are already flowing from mind to line, we catch a ripple of feverish writing ideas. The reason this happens, I contend, is because we’ve allowed the higher thought processes to work for us, by opening the pathways of our imagination and letting our written words be the conduit. Once we’ve put our writing hat on and turned on the faucet of our verbs and nouns, the writing habit gets easier. We must, though, put that habit into effect. We must first develop the practice of gluing our butts to the seat in front of our desks. Eventually, writer’s flow will come automatically every time we sit to compose.

“The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their proper work.” – William James

The Source of Inspiration

Legend has it that the Muses were nine daughters born of Zeus and Mnemosyne and were chosen to preside over the liberal arts. Their names (and inspirations) were as follows: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (lyrics and love poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (sacred poetry), Terpsichore (choral dance and song), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy).

Okay, so where did these daughters of Zeus find their inspiration? Well, legend also has it that Pegasus, who sprung up from the dead body of Medusa, arrived on Mount Helicon, the home of the Muses. At the behest of Poseidon, with one blow of his mythic hoof, he caused a spring to appear: the Hippocrene; a fountain of inspiration. Having heard of this spring, the daughters of Zeus came to it to protect it, and to drink from it whenever they felt they needed inspiration of their own. (It was their singing that filled the mountain with pleasure.)

So, why don’t we do that with our own devices of inspiration: keep them close at hand, and hidden in our own private part of the world where we need it from time to time. Hang it on the walls. Line the shelves with it. Keep caricatures of it sitting in the corners like servants ready to come at their master’s call. What I mean is: anything that brings you inspiration (pictures, inspiring quotes, animal carvings, favourite novels, trinkets, posters, etc.) should be around you when you sit down to write.

Example

Ray Bradbury was being interviewed by a journalist in his own office once, and as the journalist entered, hundreds of articles could be seen lining every space, nook, and niche. Globe maps, fake skulls, feathers, dinosaur models, cigar boxes from Cuba, animal carvings, beautiful paintings, classic novels, postcards from every corner of the world, and anything you would believe that might inspire a thought was there in his office, almost to the point of becoming clutter. As the interview went on, he was questioned about the number of items in the room. His reply could be summed up in: “For inspiration! If I find I can’t think of anything to write, even for a moment, I lift my head, look around, and it comes to me.”

Inspiration, you see, does not have to elude you. It can be brought down to your level and tied to objects that are within reach. My own walls and desk are layered with such things. Tacked to the wall above my computer is a sheet of inspirational quotes and bits of my favourite writings. Next to my water-color clock is a calendar from the Scottish Highlands. To my left are my resource books and all my classical music CDs and a squirrel molding. Behind me are poetry collections, philosophy and psychology books, other nature references, and some original art-prints from the Peter Jackson 2005 version of King Kong. There are also two dragons, one in steel, one in pewter. Far off to my right is a huge collection of classic literature and fantasy and horror novels in both hardcover and paperback. Also on those shelves are collections of bird ceramics, an incense burner and jars of foreign coinage. I almost always have some classical or instrumental soundtrack playing. Now, this is just a smattering of what I actually have and, though I may only have a small percentage compared with Ray, I wouldn’t mind having a larger room to call my den.

Some Ideas To Help Fight A Lazy Brain

Of course, writer’s block is a little more complicated to solve. So, in superposition to the previous ideas, and Writer’s Block: Let’s Deal With It Part 1, here are some trampoline jump-starts to getting over the hurdles in blank-screen-itis.

• Before you begin, brainstorm. If you want to write about hippos, for instance, think up a few words and phrases that relate to them. Look up pertinent information and link every point to another. Or, if you want to write a poem about an ant, write down a few ideas or rhymes that suddenly come to mind when you think of ants. Of course, when you’re brainstorming you don’t have to use all the material you come up with, especially if what you come up with has been done before. (We all know that hippos are fat, and that ants are small.)
• Try the “What If” question. This is another great brainstorming exercise. It helps in creating projects. To give you an idea on how this works, here is an example for poetry: What if frogs could fall in love? What if a frog kissed a girl that he fell in love with? What if that girl turned into a frog. What if that frog had mono? What if after catching mono, the girl frog developed a lisp? What if after the girl frog developed the lisp, the boy frog stopped liking her? Now let’s try the same practise with a novel: What if aliens have already invaded Earth? What if they live among us now, unbeknownst to us? What if those aliens came in the guise of an animal? What if they were cats? What if all cats were aliens? What if the Egyptian legends about cat-headed Gods were the story of this alien race invading Earth? What if, in the next few years, these cat-embodied aliens planned to take over the Earth? So, you can see the potential with this “What if” exercise. The point of this exercise is to continually build into what you have already come up with.
• Review or reorganize your notes. If you’re writing a novel and you sit down the next day and don’t know where to start, go back and read the last few paragraphs or chapter. If you’ve lost where you were in your article, go back to your researched notes and find the point or theme you had when you started, then read the entire manuscript again. A good idea is to have a notebook where you can store all your ideas.
• Write a basic plot outline. If you have trouble keeping the story on the rails, (whether you have a poem or a novel) then consider plotting out the major events and the ending. Knowing where you’re going with your writing will solve a lot of blockage problems, because you will know what you need to write next. Envisioning some of the scenes you want to include helps here.
• Try an exercise first. There are many excercises you can try, most of them included in Part 1 of this article. One that I did not include there was reworking. In this exercise, you open any book to any page, pick a paragraph and write it into your notebook or onto your screen. Then, without using your resources, rewrite it in your own words. Try not to organize the sentences or thoughts the same way, but rearrange them, and use different synonyms. Another exercise is the writing excerpt prompt. In this one, take any book, open to any page and pick a sentence, particularly one that involves an action. Write the sentence in blockquotes at the front of your page and from that write the next few paragraphs that come to mind. See where your version will lead you.
• Try to eliminate all distractions. You won’t be able to focus on your material if the phone rings fourteen times a day, the housework calls you, and people are constantly walking through the room looking over your shoulder or yelling. If the daylight hours are too hectic, schedule a couple hours before anyone gets up. If the mornings are particularly busy because you have kids, reschedule your day. Make time for writing when the children are at school or asleep, or if that’s hard to do, have Daddy watch the kids in the evening, and tell everyone that it’s time for Mommy to go to work, or vice versa. If your desk is in a room with heavy traffic, move it to another, quieter room.

“The biggest aid to regular Trollopian production is working in a serene atmosphere. It’s difficult for even the most naturally productive writer to work in an environment where alarms and excursions are the rule rather than the exception.” – Stephen King

You Can Bring Inspiration To You

Once you get yourself into the habit of writing regularly you will need these exercises and prompts less often. The productive writer is the determined writer. You can keep these ideas for a later time when you have nothing new, or need to jump-start your creativity. Everyone needs tea leaves to brew tea. Don’t let yourself think that you can’t find your tea leaves. You can. You are the brewer of your own pot, the maker of your own flavor of destiny. Take control of your inspirational ways, and you will boil an excellent brew.

“Your attitude is everything. Believe in yourself and trust your material. To be a successful writer, write every single day, whether you feel like it or not. Never, never give up, and the world will reward you beyond your wildest dreams.” – Alex Haley, Creator and Writer of Roots.

More From Adam Henry Sears

12 Quotes To Inspire All Writers

Blogs & IMs: Bad Habits