Does writer's block exist? No. Are the plenty of writers who believe it does? Yes. Are they completely off? Well, not entirely.
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| This Phantom's real - writer's block isn't. |
Here's the rub as I see it - if you're an experienced writer, you have a handle on your craft. You trust your writing muscle, you trust your instincts. You have that confidence because you've been commissioned before, you've jumped every hurdle, you've fought every battle, you've crawled through the foulest mud of development hell and you've made it through alive, stronger - and, ideally, produced.
Take the example of a marathon runner (and we all know that the marathon analogy fits writing like a glove, don't we!?). The runner knows he's done the e.g. New York marathon - he knows he has what it takes. He keeps in shape and, by doing so, can feel entirely confident about making it through the next marathon in one piece, too. Same with scripts, same with us - we've done it before, we can do it again.
Writer's block, to me, doesn't exist. In my case, a period of non-writing is a period when I instinctively know that I'm not supposed to write. If it feels right, I write. If I feel like writing crap, I write crap. And if I don't feel like writing at all, well then I'll happily be the world-class procrastinator I love being. Basically, the trick is not to worry! Trust yourself, trust your writing muscle. Because, heck, we all know how it works - while we walk the dog, while we dust the action figures, while we re-sort our DVD collection - our writer's brain is nicely at work - things are-a-happening. All part of the process.
But what about beginning writers, you might ask? What happens if you don't have the body of work to give you confidence? Well - take a good look at the title of the blog! That's what'll get you there - write, write, write! The more you write, the more you work your writing muscle, the more you learn to understand and use it (remember the marathon runner? He knows exactly when to slow down and when to haul ass). And should you, somewhere along the way, feel that you've just been attacked by the dreaded writer's block phantom - just remember that - it - does - not - exist. What exists is your writing muscle - it wants to and needs to grow - so work the damn thing and before you know it, you'll trust it.
2 comments:
Edward Albee agrees with you... I remember reading a Q&A where he was asked if he ever has writer's block. He said, no, but sometimes he did have the feeling he'd rather not work on a particular play at the moment -- so he didn't work on it, and came back when he did feel like it.
Hi there - yeah, it's a tough subjects for writers - I call it a trap you can fall into. So Ed Albee is of the same mind, eh? That's great company to be in - thanks for sharing!
In case you're interested, the latest post is about adaptations - "Writing in someone else's world"
http://danielmartineckhart.blogspot.com/2010/11/writing-in-someone-elses-world.html
Cheers!
D
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