Writer’s block. It’s generally considered the curse of the creative. It doesn’t generally apply to writers only though, it can affect any creative endeavor. Myself, I tend to go back and forth on believing in this kind of block, and tend to think of it as a distracted muse rather than a physical “I can’t write this” stop.
The horrible thing about this type of stop is that you never know when it will hit, and can only plan so far for it. While most other things in everyday life you can account for, or get back to your creative creation later, the block is less so. If you experienced this in your creative life you’ll know what I mean. It affects every creative differently.
For myself, it usually takes the form of which subject do I start\continue\finish often leading to none getting done, or very minimal because I don’t feel like I’m giving it enough time for itself.
So it’s not that I don’t know what to write, it’s like I don’t feel like I can write. Like the words that come out during this time aren’t what I would consider my best, or appropriate, or good enough for the story I’m trying to tell.
For artists, at least some I know, it comes down to not feeling right about what they want to try. Even if they have ideas, being able to draw it the way they think it should come out; even after several tries at doing it. Something I tend to call the crumbled paper effect (although a lot of that now is being done on digital paper so at least the environment is being helped).
For photographers, probably much the same I would imagine… I’m not really an artist or photographer, so I can only guess at the feelings or problems when it comes to being blocked on their side of the creative line.
I don’t claim to know the secret to getting past this, even for me it doesn’t work 100% yet–I’m still trying. However, maybe some of the following suggestions might help others.
The first for writing, and this is really any form of writing, from novels, to screenplays, to audio dramas, to shorts, whatever. Write fan-fiction.
As weird as that sounds (and I’ve suggested this in another post here) writing fan-fic can be kind of cathartic. If you’re writing fan-fic, it’s something you know. Something you love, and something where you know the characters really well. You’ve seen them played by whatever actor is portraying them. You know how they behave, and interact. It’s kind of freedom, in a way.
If you want to try working on your original story, find a whiteboard. Any stationery store will usually have some cheap (ok they’re not good ones but good enough). I love whiteboards for sketching out ideas, mind mapping, flow chart of plots. Don’t try to plan on it, just scribble (hopefully legibly lol). Start with the points you know in basic form. Draw lines off them to other points, fill in gaps. Even take characters along their journey, but in really short distances if you don’t have a complete finish for them yet.
For instance, take a character from a house, move into the street. The next line maybe he chats to a guy\girl walking past, followed by maybe he goes into a store? But hopefully you get the idea.
Word dumps is another way to get moving, although to be honest these never work for me as I have too strong of an internal editor. That little bastard tends to edit more as I write so I can never just write anything with thinking. Even as I write this, I’m deleting and pausing on words before typing. But if it works for you, great. Dump those thoughts onto a notebook–not THE notebook that’s an entirely different topic.
Not being an artist, or photographer, or any other kind of creative I can’t really suggest what might work for you if you are one. But perhaps try the sketch dump? The same principle as above, but don’t think about anything and just move the pencil\stylus around in front of you and draw shapes. Maybe something will form. Perhaps an outline will appear if you have enough lines on the page that it might spark what you wanted in the first place. As I said, I’m not an artist myself.
For photography, maybe taking a walk, or a drive, to somewhere that you haven’t been before. See something unfamiliar, and the sights that accompany that trip. Something of interest might pop up along that trip that brings you into a new idea for a picture series.
Well, that’s probably about all I can suggest for now. As I said, it tends to have varying degrees of success and probably will among all creatives. But hopefully it’s a starting point if you’re reading this and you’re stuck.
I guess one final idea for any creative, is do you have a person that inspires you as a muse? Do they have some spare time? A minute or two? Talk to them. Ask questions. Draw them. (with permission obviously, which goes for photography too because otherwise that’s weird).
Well, I hope if you’re reading this it gives you some ideas, or sparks something that helps you be creative again. Happy writing\drawing\painting\photography\whatever.
And good luck to you!
Dreaming Screenwriter 