How To Conquer Writer's Block

First of all, let me tell you I don't believe that writer's actually get stuck.  We just think we do.

We may find ourselves cycling through ideas we don't like, but that is the process of elimination.  It's essential.

Sometimes this can go on for longer than we like and we get frustrated.  We make up labels like "writer's block" and "stuck."

But,  I'm here to tell you:   Just because it isn't coming as easily or as gracefully as it has in the past, you are still moving forward.

Keep going.

On my current project, I am about to start on a rewrite of the first "rough" draft.  I'm not even counting it as a draft - because I had to execute the outline I had worked on in detail for over a year.  But mid-way through the writing I knew it wasn't working, but I had to deliver the execution of the outline anyway.

Thankfully, the brilliant producer I am working with recognized that it wasn't working either.  So, in a way I'm back to the drawing board.  But in a way I'm back for the first time because this time he's letting me run with it.  And the discoveries I made about story and character in the outline and rough draft are informing my new choices.

I realized today that the reason why I ended up with a near miss - that felt D.O.A. and overworked -was because I had skipped a vital step way back at the beginning.

Usually, on assignment or writing a spec the first thing I do is find out what the story is about and what the character arc is.  I have to know these two things before I make choices of how to demonstrate it.

This time around I was given parameters and asked to connect the dots.  I connected the dots again and again and again - but because I didn't do the first most important step, the picture I created by connecting the dots never came out right.  It was totally my fault.

I thought because I was being fed such great concepts that I could just skip that part.  Wrong!  And so for a week or so I've been "stuck."

"Writer's block" is simply a symptom that you need to fix something before you can go forward.

When writers (myself included) get stuck it's because they are insisting on plowing ahead, instead of being willing to let go of what they've already written in search of a better path.

Think of it as a maze.  You start down the wrong chute at the beginning and even though you nearly get to the finish, you hit a wall.  You can either keep going down the same path and come up trapped again and again or you can go back and find where you made the wrong move.

Sometimes going back is the only way to go forward.

Happy Writing.