What are the reasons behind Writer's block?

Professionals would say "writer's block" doesn't exist. They have contracts with publishers and deadlines to meet and they have to get on with the "day job" same as everyone else, but...

"It's just that it's so hard..." (Prince Arthur character in Shrek 3). And it is. Really. Really hard. And sometimes you just want to give up, and your enthusiasm and ideas evaporate, and that's when the ole block of concrete falls out of the sky and drops on your head.

The thing is, writing is a subjective and emotional activity, as are all creative arts, so a good dose of inspiration is vital. However, in the real world, successful writers will tell you the inspiration is only the 1% and the remaining heavy digging, I'm afraid, is 99% (Thomas Edison, if you want to check it out).

Having said that, the first thing is not to beat yourself up. Writers are notoriously over-sensitive souls. They have to be, to tackle those life and death issues that inspire them in the first place.

Top Tips to beat the writer's block:

Make a regular writing time and always sit at the blank sheet of paper for at least half an hour. Learn not to be scared of it, and write anything - notes, a character description, keywords for an outline, post some tweets, compose a kick-ass Facebook post. Always do this, every day. Serious writers write something every day.

Take a break. Get up from the desk. Walk the dog. Go for a swim. Have a coffee, scoff some carbs, give yourself a sugar rush. Do deep breathing. Do the vacuuming. Give your brain a treat. Turn the music up. Anything.

Recognise that a piece of written work is an organic, evolved product of your brain. Sometimes you can't rush it and your subconscious is working on an issue that you can't solve immediately. Read Stephen King's On Writing.

Work on something else. This is often the most effective solution.

Don't beat yourself up. To produce top quality written work is difficult, very difficult (otherwise everybody would be doing it. lol) It takes talent, creativity, skill learned over decades, focus and faith in yourself.

Get some feedback. I have a small group of writer friends (serious writers) and from time to time we critique each other's work. It really helps.

Join a class or writing group. You'd be amazed how much collective inspiration there is.

So, as I said, don't beat yourself up. Be patient with yourself, but at the same time develop the discipline of a daily habit, interact with other writers, read writers who inspire you, and keep going. Don't worry about the writer's block, but look for ways round it.

posted over 9 years ago

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Word Smith‭

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The reason writers get a writer's block, the why in it's core, in my honest opinion, is because they're good writers. Good writers get the block. They're sensitive, self-critical. So self critical, they'd rather prefer not to type anything rather than type something which is shit. They don't want shit. They want their words glimmering like gold when they get down to write. And that happens rarely. That's why we have things called drafts.

posted over 9 years ago

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Amin Mohamed Ajani‭

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Disharmonized feelings are the main cause of Writers Block. All the writers want their writings to be idealized and want to be done in a quick period. It is always a difficult task for the writers to read the mind of the readers and it always puts the readers in a conflicted situation.

All of these feelings are natural and normal. Everyone finds writing a challenge. Many writers, however, compound their problems by employing weak writing strategies. When these methods fail, they give up.

posted about 5 years ago

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rosemorgan‭

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I think Writer's Block occurs differently for different writers. For myself, the main cause of Writer's Block is in what I've already written; somehow it prevents me from writing the next scene, without being boring or repetitive. If I don't think it's interesting, no chance at all a reader will think its interesting!

Most of the time, the way to solve writer's block is not writing anything new, but un-writing something old. So the way I solve this is by reading what I wrote, usually the previous chapter, or two, but as much as it takes, until I figure out why I got stuck where I did. Sometimes I edit as I go, improving the lines, or realizing I said something dumb, or realizing I was long-winded and there is a better way to say something.

Editing is fine, because in fact the point is to eventually change something significant. To reverse an easy decision, to take some information I gave the hero away from the hero (never give it to her, thus causing a hardship), to make something difficult that I inadvertently made too easy. To inject some bad luck or misfortune where she'd had normal luck.

Hero's and other characters need interesting things to do, and the most interesting things to do are them solving problems. My writer's block comes from writing myself into a corner.

When I don't know what to write next, and everything I think of seems lame or unimportant, I see two paths. Write about the lame and unimportant crap with the hope that getting it out of the way leads eventually to a good idea, and can be deleted or summarized. Or, go back and understand where you wrote yourself into a corner, how you got to a position where all your characters are "cycling", just living their lives and never breaking out of the repetitive weekly cycle.

But for me, Writer's Block is pretty much due to a lack of creativity and imagination that already happened, it is something I need to correct earlier in the story. I wrote an obvious next step and should not have. I let a problem get resolved without another problem to take its place. I made something too easy for the hero, or too hard for the villain.

And the way out has been, consistently, reading what I wrote and thinking about it until I figure how to change it, and unblock the path forward, I have to realize what it would take to make the hero step forward.

posted about 5 years ago

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Amadeus‭

3166 reputation 2 1399 614 37

As can be gathered from the other answers, there are many causes of writer's block. It will be impossible to deal with them all at once, meaning you will, at some point, experience it. Don't worry. We all have.

I've seen (and agree with) several answers mentioning fatigue and stress. Hildred also mentioned various forms of indecision, which is, in my experience, the most common form of writer's block. I believe there is a very large cause however, which everyone else has overlooked: lack of a theme.

If you'd like to look into themes in detail, check out chapter fourteen of Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. It is an invaluable resource. In a nutshell though, a theme is the point you are trying to convey with your novel. A lot of novels (and more so movies) do not have a theme. They consist purely of twisty plots, complex characters, or a combination of the two. Those things drive the novels forwards. In these novels, there is no theme, no message.

NOTE: In such novels as character studies, the theme is the character. The author feels it is important for you to meet this person, or occasionally, place.

A theme is important because it is the message you feel passionate about. You feel your readers need to know about it, and it is for this reason that you write the whole novel in the first place. Your passion gives you drive to keep writing. Being the opposite of boredom, this passion also keeps you writing.

Build your novel from your theme, not the other way around. Do this, and no matter what writer's block hits you, you will always be able to overcome it in the end and keep writing, because you believe in what you are writing about.

Short answer:

Cause: A lack of theme.

Solution: Build your story from a theme you are passionate about.

posted over 9 years ago

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Thomas Myron‭

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