This is the first in a series of posts with some basic-writing/comedy-writing principles. Today:
Writer’s Block
It’s definitely a thing. It happens. But the term and its implications aren’t helpful, so let’s reframe it.
Writer’s block is not some impassable thing in the road that’s preventing you from moving forward with your writing.
It’s a limit you’re imposing on yourself.
An Easy Fix
Too many writers (or wannabe writers) are waiting for a flash of genius or a burst of inspiration before they write, thinking creativity is an uncontrollable, random event.
Lightning bolts of inspiration can happen, and it’s a wonderful gift from the muse when they do, but you can’t count on such magic. That’s not how writing works most of the time.
The easy fix for writer’s block is to write without inspiration. Just start writing. It doesn’t matter what you write about. And then keep writing.
Do the Morning Pages exercise, which is when you free write for 20 or 30 minutes. Do it as fast as you can, without stopping, without going back to make corrections, and without judging what you write.
Just let it flow.
When you’re done with the exercise, write your book, your article, your scene—or your whathaveyou—using the same fast-writing method.
After you crank out a rough draft like this, you can go over it and make edits.
That’s how writing gets done.
A Symptom of a Deeper Problem
When you don’t feel like writing without inspiration (experiencing “writer’s block”), something subconscious might be happening.
You could be afraid what you’ll write won’t be any good, and therefore you can’t bring yourself to put anything on the page.
Worse, you could believe you’re not worthy of writing something good, and you’re twisting your reality to make it match your beliefs.
Write
Stop self-sabotaging. Write.
I had a creative writing class in high school. The teacher, Mr Miller, an ex priest who then popped a Valium between classes at the water fountain, and often forgot his glasses were resting on top of his head, would write a prompt each day on the blackboard—sometimes a sentence, other times just a word, and then instructed us to write for half of an hour.
That’s how I still write. It’s like word association without someone staring at you until they nod off. I also do morning pages. A lot of ideas have come from those practices.
And now, I ask AI to give me prompts. I should start prompting it to give me benzo induced prompts.
Hi Scott, I absolutely loved your reframe on writers block. I have a notes tab on my phone, and I also carry a little notebook around at all times. I jot notes down when I see funny things unfolding, hear a quote that inspires me, and write creative ideas that strike me. This consistently keeps me in writers mode. In addition, digging deep into what is truly holding us back is important. Each of it needs to call it for what it is. Time management, fear of (fill in the blank), etc. Great article.