I have been un able to write any thing for several months now. The worse case of writers block.

How do you deal with writer's block?

Write.

Not being cynical here, Lloyd. I honestly believe you need to just imitate whatever setting you usually use to write and put your thoughts on paper. No matter how mundane or uninspired they might seem.

What to write about? Anything, a sports show, a day at work, your family. Topics are infinite to the motivated artist.

Ahhh, how to find motivation. That's a whole other ball game.


Les

Lists. List, say, ten things you love/hate/want/remember. Or list ten girls you've slept with.Then, write a stanza about each. It soon comes back.
Or, you could try playing with form for a while, just for kicks. Write the best sonnet/villanelle you can.

Stephen

Another idea is to pretend you are someone else. Write what you think they would write. About anything. Don't worry whether it's any good. It's the physical process of writing that loosens the block.

(Nice exercises, Stephen!)

Ian

All of the above are great ideas. Another suggestion is to try to intensify your feelings and senses, so that you perceive the things around you much more acutely - for example, listening to music that really stirs you, watching very funny/sad movies, going for a walk in pouring rain etc. Sounds pretty basic, i guess, but it often helps me..

---------

and here are some extra tips to help you along:


How to Write Real Good.

1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren't necessary.
9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
13. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly
superfluous.
14. Be more or less specific.
15. Understatement is always best.
16. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
17. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
19. The passive voice is to be avoided.
20. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
21. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
22. And who needs rhetorical questions?


rikki

Here's what some of the pros say:

[owl.english.purdue.edu] />
[www.english.uiuc.edu] />
[arar.essortment.com] />

Rikki, I like your list. I think it would help someone to actually do all of these things to see which feels most natural. Then work on eliminating that one.


Les

Post Edited (11-10-04 03:08)

You can also stop writing until you have to write.

Peter



Post Edited (11-10-04 03:08)

[www.nationallampoon.com] />
here's michael o'donohue's classic "how to write good"

I lived on a writers' block once. When it got to be too much, I moved.

joet

I write the word f u c k over and over again on a sheet of paper til' somethin comes up. Works everytime. The farthest Ive gotten was 2 pages.

You might try writing "morning pages," as described in THE ARTIST'S WAY. That's three pages of stream-of-consciousness or ANYTHING ELSE, first thing in the morning. I find I usually start out writing, "Here I am in bed trying to write morning pages..." and end up drafting something new.

Or a spin on that: Force yourself to write a detailed description of your desk, the room you're in, your clothing, what you can see out your window, or WHATEVER, as long as you keep your pen moving. You will get so bored, you'll start writing prose or poetry just to escape the monotony of the assignment. (Or you'll write poetry about your desk, the room you're in, your clothing, and what you can see out your window.)

I like Peter's advice: "Stop writing until you have to write."

Spider Robinson (a science fiction writer) recommends a similar technique. Sit down and write anything- 'the quick red fox....', phone numbers, anything, and keep on doing it. Eventually, you get so sick of this that you start writing again.

pam

Make up three brainstorming techiniqyes before you got to sleep each night. When you can't sleep then for a week, they'll let you have a pencil and one piece of paper each day. Then you'll be able to write.

You can borrow my writer's block, attached.

Make up three brainstorming techiniqyes before you got to sleep each night. When you can't sleep then for a week, they'll let you have a pencil and one piece of paper each day. Then you'll be able to write.

You can borrow my writer's block, attached.