Tips for defeating Writer's Block (the affliction; not the Forum)

I suffer from writer's block. No, not the inability to write anything good (though I probably suffer that as well) but the inability to write. Or more appropriately the inability to finish.

Being this is TV Tropes, there no shortage of writers here. Which means, somebody here had to have gone through this. And somebody had to have succeeded. I need to know what you know.

I do NOT care how outlandish, schmaltzy, maudlin, or Pollyana your story is. I don't care how outrageous your solutions was; hypnosis, aromatherapy, acupuncture, singing (though I can't sing), exercise; whatever (though I do draw the line at drugs or witchcraft).

All I ask is that 1) you're a writer, as in you've completed 2 or more complete stories of any length. Battlestar Galactica fan fic; three paragraph horror story, War And Peace-length novel, whatever. 2) You suffered a clear case of writer's block. Not that you started a story and realized it was stupid, or you just weren't interested. But you clearly wanted to finish the story, but something akin to the Dark Side of the Force stopped you (somewhat similar to stage fright).

And most important..3) be honest. Brutally honest. Be mean. Be harsh. Be anything, just, for the love of God, help me beat this fucking thing once and for all.

I find it helps for me to have some kind of plan for your story. I don't necessarily have to write it all down (in fact I tend to plan in my head), but I do need some sense of direction.

The drugs I can understand, but what's wrong with witchcraft?

@OP: Okay dude, I'll give you the recipe for finishing that worked for me.

• 1: Lock yourself away. Find a space with a door that can be firmly shut. The space within should be free of distractions (I'll get to the specifics on that in a minute) yet still possess the tools you need to...well, write. When I did Na No Wri Mo in ten days *
  and eight of those ten days, I had to work a full shift
  , I did in an unfinished office on a laptop which had neither games nor internet. It was just me and the story, and it was awesome.
• 2: Eliminate ALL distractions. Divest yourself of the Internet, games, books, movies...hell, set up a mini-fridge and have people bring you meals if you can manage it. Disable spell-check and grammar check on your word processor. Turn off your phone, or better yet just leave it in another room and forget it exists. The point is to be as alone with your story as you can be for the time it takes for you to get it out and written. That brings me to my next point, which is...
• 3: Don't stop. When it comes to that first draft, write and keep writing. Don't go backwards, only forwards. When you stop writing, you lose energy, continuity and spontaneity. Sure, you have to stop occasionally - eating, working and shitting still need to happen, no getting around that - but only stop when physically necessary. Otherwise, always be putting words down. Write fast enough that your self-doubt can't catch you.
• 4: Don't edit as you go. Editing is for after you have something to actually fuck with. When writing the first draft, adopt the mantra "Fuck it, I'll fix it later" and stick with it. There will be time enough for editing when the writing's done, and the writing isn't done until you type the words "The End."
• 5: Keep it secret, keep it safe. There is a time and a place for critiques...but that time and place ought to wait until you are done with the first draft. Don't inflict your work on people until you have completed the first version of it. Get your idea fully out there - and by "out there" I mean "actually written" - before you show it to anyone. Ideas are vulnerable when they aren't fully formed...they can be killed dead by the slightest negative input. Don't let this happen to you.
• 6: Fucking start with something. The bare page intimidates many a writer. Don't fall prey to that. Just put a bad beginning on that bare page and build on it. The first few pages will be painful - don't lose hope. Just keep pounding the keys and I promise, if you can get through the anguish there's good stuff to be had. Just don't stop and don't start editing, for the love of your God. If the first draft isn't done, editing is just second-guessing running under a name it doesn't deserve.
• 7: This is not rocket science. Writers aren't priests, and they aren't wizards. They're just people who decided words were cool and stuff. You've been doing what your favorite authors did for a long time now...you just learned to call it by different names ("blogging", "forum posting", etc.) because the idea of Writing A Novel is just too damn scary. Writing is a craft, and damn near anyone can learn it...all that's required is time and effort. If you can communicate in a language, you can write a novel, just like if you can nail two sticks of wood together you can build a house. The only difference between both those pairings is how much time you're willing to commit to the process.
• 8: Don't give a fuck about what other people think. This is why shutting yourself away and eliminating distractions is so important. Whatever you want to say isn't out there, it's in there...in your head, basically. So pay as little attention to the outside world as you can while wrestling with said idea. As Stephen King said, stories aren't created, they are found. And they are found in the heads of people with ideas.

You know, people like you.

There. That's about all I know. Now, sit down at the computer and raise hell.

Maxima: one note from someone who is not a writer, but who does work in a similar creative line (art garments and custom clothing), complete with creative blocks: You won't beat it "once and for all." You'll have to beat it over and over again. I hit a block on almost every project, when it simply isn't working the way I want and it's so inviting to just throw it behind the couch and quit. Like Drunkie said, the only way past it is to remove all the distractions and simply push through whether I want to work on it or not, whether I think it's going to turn out or not, whether I'm happy with what I'm producing or not.

You have to keep beating writer's block?? Argh!

Yep. Sorry.

For some folks, it gets easier each time. For others, any one occurrence can be bad, moderate, or fairly light, depending on other circumstances. Some projects may go block-free or nearly so. Others may be one block after another. But it's not "once and never again."

edited 11th Jun '13 1:45:46 PM by Madrugada