“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Writers block and Bordem (so true)

Wow. I've heard so many people try to explain writers block and help to get rid of it, but never has anyone gotten it so right. Right here guys is what writers block really is. And if you know what I'm talking about and know what our doing this will really help you get rid of that nasty writers block.

how do you cure bad cases of boredom and writers block??
-Anonymous

Well, that depends on whether you are talking about boredom in general (in which case, I have a variety of solutions of varying levels of crazy and fun) or boredom with a writing project. Given that the second half of your question is about writer’s block, I am going to assume that we are talking about the second one.

Here is my rule, regarding writing: don’t write anything that bores you. I realized several years ago, that there were two types of scenes: scenes I really, really looked forward to writing, and scenes that just kind of HAD to be there and were kind of boring to write. And then I realized that scenes that are boring to write are also often BORING TO READ. So I stopped writing them. If you’ve reached a boring scene in your book, ask yourself: (a) does it HAVE to be there, and (b) what can you do to make it MORE EXCITING? Remember, scenes shouldn’t just do one thing. They should do LOTS OF THINGS at the same time—plot, conflict, characterization, etc. I try to turn every scene into one of those scenes that I’m just lusting to write, for one reason or another. Maybe we’ll see a character I love who we haven’t seen in a while (Callum scenes were always this way for me with Raised By Wolves), or maybe there will be a revelation that I’ve been super excited for, or maybe I’ll get to play with a trope I love or deal with some kind of conflict or tension. OR MAYBE I CAN DO ALL OF THAT AT ONCE!

As for writer’s block, I believe there are two kinds: Block Type A exists because you are writing the wrong thing. That plot twist you just inserted? It isn’t working. Or maybe you DIDN’T insert a plot twist, and you should have. Maybe the book is getting boring & you really need to trash the last three chapters you wrote. You’re having trouble moving forward because something in your gut is screaming THIS ISN’T RIGHT.

The other kind of writer’s block happens because writing is hard. It is blood and sweat and tears and sitting in front of your computer when you’d love to be out having a life. This happens to me a lot in the middle of the book. The scenes aren’t boring. They’re just… hard… And I’d really rather write the beginning of a new book, or surf the interwebz, or watch TV, or…

You get the picture.

So if you’re feeling blocked, ask yourself: “is there something that isn’t working? What happened in the previous chapter? What decisions have I made recently?”

One trick I frequently use is to go back and change the very end of the previous chapter so that something EXCITING AND GAME CHANGING happens. I’ve found that trying to end each chapter on a high point or plot twist makes it easier to write the next one.

If, after you’ve contemplated the project for a few days, you don’t have any answers, I usually just assume that it is the second kind of block, in which case, I sit my butt down and write, whether it’s good or not, whether I want to or not. Because ultimately, 95% of “block” happens because writing is hard, and it’s not going to get LESS hard.

-Jennifer Lynn Barnes

you can see this on her tumblr right here.

How do you guys feel about this? Because I think she hit the nail on the head.



well...off to read The Goddess Test....have a great night!

2 comments:

  1. "And then I realized that scenes that are boring to write are also often BORING TO READ. So I stopped writing them."
    Oh my. That's so true. I don't know why I couldn't realize this sooner, and on my own.
    Definitely going to <3 that post.

    ReplyDelete

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