Detouring Around Writer’s Block
There are times when writers, and artists, hit a ditch. That ditch is called writer’s block (or artist’s block). What is it? It is when you are robbed of all creativity and imagination, your muse is kidnapped and imprisoned within a large clear box, or perhaps a rock or cave, where it sits simmering with all the wonderful ideas that should be in your head.
I, myself, have been suffering from a long term writer’s block that was some-what self-instilled. It was around the time when I entered high school when the curse began. Throughout middle school I had been writing, endlessly, but when it was time to transition to high school I decided to take a break from writing to concentrate on school. My first mistake.
My second mistake was when I stopped keeping a journal. Not only had I stopped writing my stories, but I had stopped writing all together. So throughout high school all I really wrote were papers. It was in my senior year in high school when I wanted to start writing again after being dimly inspired by fanfiction I had been reading. Unfortunately, I was never good at finishing what I start so I left a lot of incompleted fanfiction.
Once more I abanadoned writing again when I entered college, but now I knew for a fact that I had a problem. I had driven myself in to a small space surrounded by blocks and more blocks. I tried to get out of my writer’s block by starting up a website, blog, more fanfiction and original fiction, but all of them ended in untter failure though I can’t admit that I had been trying very hard.
Now, at the ripe age of 20-something, my muse is slowly beginning to make her way back to me. I am just ever so slowly, painfully so, starting to write again. If I had known that stopping for just a little time would lead to a domino effect of falling deeper and deeper into the ditch then I wouldn’t have taken a break.
So here are a few ways to go around writer’s block:
- Keep writing. Even if it is only keeping a journal/blog or writing a sentence a day, just keep writing. You never want to get out of the habit.
- Experiment. At a loss to what to write? Then experiment around, write something that you never would whether it be a poem, song, essay, short story or even a comic.
- Theme List. Create or find a list of themes and starting taking those themes to a character or world of your own. Bring around your own interpretation of what the theme is. This could also easily go along with finding communities that prepare prompts/contests for writing for a specific fandom or original fiction.
- Read. If you get stuck with what to write or how to write then go grab a book. They’re a great source of inspiration and just relaxing. Perhaps you’ll start writing fanfiction at first, but that could always develop into your own world if you want.
- WRITE! It can’t be said enough. Just write. Never stop.
I personally love reading and writing for Fanfiction and Web Fiction Guide and LiveJournal.
The Crumbling Dam
Every little girl falls in love through a fairy tale. And when I was little, I fell in love… with writing. It took awhile before I could admit it since English wasn’t my first language.
I mean it was really hard. There are just so many rules and exceptions. Drove me nuts.
It seems I’ve gotten the hang of it since I was five or so. I no longer cry at the thought of spelling and grammar. (I just whimper with teary eyes.)
Anyways. It was easy when I was younger… to write that is. I had so many ideas crammed into my little head without being able to put them on paper fast enough. Granted that those ideas weren’t the most originals, but I was just so eager and driven. I felt as if I had a vault of immeasurable gold in my mind and that I was the only one with the precious key.
Unfortunately I forgot to take Ms. Muse into consideration. So generous to the younger me, yet so cruel as I got older. She left a small air vent, which I assumed was to prevent me from drowning in my own ideas, but that same air vent began to crumble from the pressure of my ideas being locked away and not being used. Eventually the walls broke and out spilled my ideas to oblivion.
Yes, I am a bit emo about the situation. It probably isn’t much different from a five-year-old being finding a hole in their piggy bank.
The flood of creativity leaving me is depressing, but I’m trying earnestly to turn it into a challenge. I’ll have to make due with the few lingering thoughts that I have and see if they will bear fruit. (Please bear fruit… even a sour pale cherry.)
Not completely a loss in terms of hope.
I would love to ask someone to save me, but it might be just a little pathetic to ask for help without trying to help myself first, right?
Defining Originality
I like to think of myself as being a creative soul, though many might disagree and say that I am delusional, which is probably true. I want to be a writer and artist except with the capabilities of keeping food on my table (a problem I have yet to find a solution.) Besides the starving artist aspect, there is this whole idea of having to be original. After all, who likes a copycat?
But after living a quarter of my life, I find that originality is an outdated and over-glorified concept. There is no truly original ideas left, if there are then they are far and few. What is left to be discovered are the approaches to grasping existing concepts.
It is very much like the idea that there are only oh so many original plots in the literary world (the actual number is up for debate, but the fact is that there IS a number). If there is a limit then who are there best-selling authors that are able to just WOW us, the readers, into going “HOLY SMOKES!” or some other exclamation of awe?
Like I said, it isn’t the originality of the plot, but the beauty of their writing style, voice, and break down of the idea. Or that’s my opinion.
Now don’t think that I’m being pessimistic, I’m not. I’m just analyzing my useless efforts to be original, when all I need to do is just do everything my way and that would be original enough. Right? I mean how many people can claim to be me?
Well… minus the creepy stalkers and invisible wanna-be’s (I don’t that I have any), there is only ONE me and that in itself is original. So here is to me forgoing originality in my creativity and just trying to write, draw, and live as I want and like.