I can honestly say, this was the longest period of true writer’s block I’ve experienced. For almost three years, I’ve been unable to write, mostly coinciding with unfortunate events I’ve recounted before about an online group and harassment.
But was it really writer’s block? Or merely a strong feeling of emotional pain?
Writers’ block or writers’ reluctance?
Certainly during the last five years, I’ve had promises broken about my writing. Lesson learned: Trust no promises unless accompanied by payment, contract, and a deadline – and clear expectations of what would happen on the other side when I turned in the work.
I’ve suffered personal loss. As a faith based writer, I can tell you no man lives forever. Parents and friends will cease to live. It hurts tremendously. But you must go on, though others in your life cease. It just takes time.
I’ve lost two cats. Anyone who dismisses this as unimportant has no heart, and I worry you may be a sociopath. Experts on grieving will tell you that cat owners often feel more pain over the loss of a cat than the loss of a child.
I experienced a major health trauma that was severe. That takes weeks just to be able to think rationally again beyond, “I’m hungry” or “I’m tired” or “I’m in pain”.
I’ve suffered the bugaboo of internet life – people will type boldly behind a keyboard what they won’t say to your face.
I’ve had it proved one more time that others will publicly attack you, and those around will be silent. It appears my desire to defend others and be extremely fair is apparently – extremely rare.
But was it writers’ block? The kind others suffer from?
I’d have to say – no. It wasn’t.
Two kinds of writers’ block
There are of course two kinds of writers’ block I’ve encountered. I’ve spent a long time reading Tweets from writers. Pro writers get ideas, good or bad (wait – the truly scary clown was really a worm?). Unpublished writers suffer from writer’s block.
What’s the reason?
Writers’ block #1 – lack of ideas. This is not the most popular kind. I see people tweet it all the time, “I came up with this idea for a story and…” Obviously, coming up with the story is not the problem.
I will say (and I’ve said this about four times before) that I’ve seen people make a mistake that is the same as “no idea”, and not realize it. They say… “I’ve got the coolest character!”
Yes, but something must happen to that character, and she’s got to go do something. That’s story. What is it that happens, and what must she do? That’s the story idea.
If you’ve got the character but not the rest, you have no story.
Writer’s block #2 – this is the kind I put most of my effort into fixing. It’s usually caused by a common mistake about writers. First, what’s the analysis of writer’s block #2?
“I have an idea, but don’t know how to execute it.”
You write like a champ for 800-3000 words, then SLAM! Everything stops. Why? You have an idea, but no idea how to execute it.
Why? Because – and I’ve said it two dozen times since 2019 – I have met one true pants’er.
One.
Pressure
I have met, listened to, and read the tweets from hundreds of people I diagnose as planners who imagine they must be pants’ers, because there’s a lot of pressure to be a pants’er. Want to identify that peer pressure? Assume for 12 months you are a planner. Now go read tons of blog posts, magazine articles, tweets, and watch every movie you can on writers.
You never see a cork board.
Never.
I’ve read it’s 50% pants’ers and 50% planners. Here’s my analysis based upon my field interviews with writers… the real statistic is 1% pants’ers and 99% planners.
Jealousy
And this was the genesis of why I was blasted online – someone informed me they’d NEVER be able to write a thousand words a day. Why, books take YEARS to write!
If he’d taken a minute to listen to me, learn, I’d have helped him through it. You just need to plan out the plot of your novel. Know what’s supposed to happen. You need sixty plot points.
Then you only need three things to write a scene.
- What happened before this.
- What must happen in this scene
- How the scene must end.
If you know these four things (sixty plot points, what happened, what must happen and how it ends), I guarantee you are now limited only by your typing speed.
Every book I have ever planned fully I have completed.
Only one book was I able to write by pants’ing.
If the two who harassed me had listened and learned, I could have helped them.
Oh, well. You’ll have to figure it out on your own.
While I write my latest novel, “Patagonia”.
Conclusion
Was what I went through over the last three years writers’ block? Honestly, no. I am confident that what I went through was unwillingness to write because of pain, betrayal and loss.
I stand firm in that – yes, writers’ block exists. Yes, people truly suffer from it. In most cases, it’s merely cause #1 or Cause #2.
But sometimes it’s “I don’t want to write now”, for reasons of emotional pain. And that takes time.
It will end. And you will write again.
