Jun 13, 2024 07:00:00

Six writers answer the question: What to do when you hit 'writer's block' and can't get your writing done?

When you are writing a novel, you may experience

writer's block, where you just can't think of one more sentence or you can't think of any new works or episodes at all. Literary Hub, a literary media outlet, interviewed six writers about their thoughts on writer's block and how they deal with it when they feel blocked.

Six Writers on How They Tackle Writer's Block ‹ Literary Hub
https://lithub.com/six-writers-on-how-they-tackle-writers-block/

Rumaan Alam , an American novelist who wrote the Netflix film ' Endless Weekend ,' said, 'Writer's block is a myth.' There are times when you can't come up with a big idea or you don't feel like writing. However, that doesn't mean you can't write anything, as you can always write something boring. Still, there are days when he doesn't even feel like picking up a computer or a pencil, so on those days, Alam reads books to objectively view his work and his writing ability. In addition, there are days when he doesn't even feel like reading, but he says that continuing to think is an important part of writing.

Leslie Sierra Jamison , a novelist and essayist who also serves as director of the nonfiction writing department at Columbia University School of the Arts, suffered from writer's block when she was young. Jamison would drink a lot of alcohol and bake a lot of sweets. In recent years, when she couldn't finish a task or project, she would take on other tasks or projects to distract herself from it, but Jamison says, 'I don't recommend this method.' In any case, Jamison seems to have dealt with writer's block by focusing on other things and distracting herself from the task she was stuck on.

Irish author

Joseph O'Neill said, 'Some writers are very obsessive. If they don't write for even a day, they feel anxious, guilty, and even sick. I'm the opposite. After writing for even a few minutes, I start to feel anxious, guilty, and even sick. So, for me, writer's block is not abnormal, but the act of writing itself is abnormal.' For O'Neill, the act of trying to come up with great ideas and sentences is nauseating, and since not writing is a natural state, he doesn't worry about not being able to create.

George Saunders , an American novelist, children's book author and professor at Syracuse University, supports the idea of American author David Foster Wallace that writer's block is caused by 'the hurdles that writers set for themselves are too high.' Writers who fall into writer's block are so greedy that they type a line, delete it, type the next line, correct it, and repeat the cycle. Saunders points out that the way to overcome writer's block is to 'get used to your own revision process,' and that it is important to think that the first sentence you write is not a bad one, but just a starting point for an idea.

Whenever Chinese-American author and lawyer Qian Julie Wang faces a writing block, she heads to the city to seek inspiration. But it's not just about going out. Wang says she allows the actions of the people around her and what she sees on the street to inspire new ideas, character development, and plot points, stimulating her thinking.

Ruth Ozeki , an American novelist and filmmaker with a second-generation Japanese mother, has been writing down her 'process journal' since she first wrote a novel. A process journal is a document that can be an idea unrelated to the novel you are currently writing, an experimental text, a loose, relaxed note, or a conversation piece about writing. When you are having trouble writing something, writing down questions in your process journal often helps you organize your thoughts and find the answer. Before you start writing, you can open your process journal and write down the events of the day and your motivation for writing, and when you finish writing, you can write down your next idea, to-do list, etc. in your process journal. Ozeki said that having a text file that you can always face helps you write.