History Main / HowIWroteThisArticleArticle

* ''Comicbook/HowardTheDuck'': An entire issue is about author Steve Gerber's writer's block.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': This is how ''[[FictionalDocument Under The Hood]]'' begins.

Almost always a form of SelfReferentialHumor. SisterTrope to WritersBlockMontage, which is a {{montage|s}} of an uninspired {{creator|s}}. Compare and contrast ThisIsASong, which is a song that is at least partially about itself. SubTrope of MostWritersAreWriters because RealLife writers often have characters who are writers too, which when gone meta, it becomes this trope.

Almost always a form of SelfReferentialHumor. SisterTrope to WritersBlockMontage, which is a {{montage|s}} of an uninspired {{creator|s}}. Compare and contrast ThisIsASong, which is a song that is at least partially about itself. SubTrope of MostWritersAreWriters because RealLife writers often have characters who are writers too, which when gone {{meta|fiction}}, it becomes this trope.

* Music/MitchBenn: Benn wrote and recorded an entire album in 24 hours for charity. The last song, "Party Animals Need Not Apply" is about how this SelfImposedChallenge isn't fun and ends with a repeated line about how he needs to [[{{Padding}} pad it out]] to make the time.

Almost always a form of SelfReferentialHumor. SisterTrope to WritersBlockMontage, which is a {{montage|s}} of an uninspired {{creator|s}}. Compare and contrast ThisIsASong, which is a song that is at least partially about itself. SubTrope of MostWritersAreWriters because RealLive writers often have characters who are writers too, which when gone {{meta|fiction}}, it becomes this trope.

Almost always a form of SelfReferentialHumor. SisterTrope to WritersBlockMontage, which is a {{montage|s}} of an uninspired {{creator|s}}. Compare and contrast ThisIsASong, which is a song that is at least partially about itself. Go to WritersBlock, the general trope for when fictional characters struggle for ideas to put in their work. See also MakingTheMasterpiece, a dramatization of how a creator's magnum opus came to be.

Almost always a form of SelfReferentialHumor. SisterTrope to WritersBlockMontage, which is a {{montage|s}} of an uninspired {{creator|s}}. See also WritersBlock, the general trope for when someone struggles for ideas to put in their work.

->''"Couldn't think of any lyrics!''\\
''No, I never wrote the lyrics.''\\
''So I'll just sing any old lyrics.''\\
''That come to mind, child."''

-->''"Couldn't think of any lyrics!''\\
''No, I never wrote the lyrics.''\\
''So I'll just sing any old lyrics.''\\
''That come to mind, child."''

* ''[[http://www.ttrarchive.com/missingtheobvious.html Missing the Obvious]]'': This ''Franchise/DoctorWho'' fanfic by Daibhid Ceannaideach, written for a "crystals" challenge on rec.arts.drwho, is a ''Fanfic/ThisTimeRound'' fic in which Daibhid's AuthorAvatar completely fails to write a fanfic about crystals. It opens with a parenthetical comment that he can probably get away with this just once.

* An academic journal of psychology once published a scholarly study entitled [[http://www.ericpazdziora.com/best-paper-ever/ "The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of Writers' Block"]]. Peer reviewers commended the author for showing his results in great detail while being admirably concise. Of course, [[spoiler:everything except the title is blank.]]

* ''Series/TheStoryteller'': In "A Story Short", the eponymous storyteller is [[ScheherezadeGambit forced to tell a new story every day]]. On the last day, due to an outlandish series of events, he doesn't have time to think up a new story, so he tells the story of why he couldn't.

* ''WesternAnimation/PeteTheCat'': In "Begin to Begin", Pete is supposed to be writing a new song for his band, but has writer's block and keeps procrastinating. He eventually ends up writing a song about how he should ''not'' procrastinate and just start writing.

->''"Couldn't think of any lyrics!''
->''No, I never wrote the lyrics.''
->''So I'll just sing any old lyrics.''
->''That come to mind, child."''

Almost always a form of SelfReferentialHumor. See also WritersBlock. SisterTrope to WritersBlockMontage.

When someone is contractually obligated to churn out regular humorous articles, they occasionally reach an inspirational dead end. Sometimes, to deal with this, they write an article about how they can't think of anything to write. This makes such pieces essentially forms of {{Metafiction}}, since they typically involve the author ''writing about writing''.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Hobbes ended up writing this story for Calvin after he tried time traveling two hours into the future to retrieve his completed story, only to find it hadn't been written yet. Unfortunately for Calvin, the class loves it, but it makes him look like a laughingstock.

* This is how ''[[FictionalDocument Under The Hood]]'' begins in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.
* An entire issue of ''Comicbook/HowardTheDuck'' is about author Steve Gerber's writer's block.

* The ''Franchise/DoctorWho'' fanfic "[[http://www.ttrarchive.com/missingtheobvious.html Missing the Obvious]]" by Daibhid Ceannaideach, written for a "crystals" challenge on rec.arts.drwho, is a ''Fanfic/ThisTimeRound'' fic in which Daibhid's AuthorAvatar completely fails to write a fanfic about crystals. It opens with a parenthetical comment that he can probably get away with this ''once''.

* ''Film/{{Adaptation}}'' is this in movie-form -- it's a film telling the story of adapting a book into the screenplay of what eventually becomes the film you're watching.
* Fellini's ''Film/EightAndAHalf'' is a film about making a film, when you've run out of ideas.

* In ''Literature/BreakfastOfChampions'', Creator/KurtVonnegut's narration frequently goes off to explain what he was going through when he was writing it.
* Belgian novelist Herman Brusselmans uses this trope on occasion, often as an introduction. The first sentence of ''De kus in de nacht'' (''The kiss in the night'') is as follows: "''As usual I have nothing to say and I will do so [[{{Doorstopper}} for about 600 to 650 pages]], we'll see.''"

* Creator/DaveBarry does this every so often.

* Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy once wrote an article in which he explains that he should wrote a humorous article, but he can't, because a young man is standing behind him and reads what he writes (he usually wrote in coffee houses).
* Creator/UmbertoEco had a column in the Italian news magazine ''L'espresso'' and he once wrote an article about how he can't think of anything to write about, but the space needs to be filled, so he's now writing this article about how he can't think of anything.
* This is the subject matter of [[MacGuffin the manuscript]] in ''Literature/TheCityOfDreamingBooks'', and it's specifically noted that it ''should'' be a ClicheStorm by all rights. Yet, reading it convinces people that it's the greatest piece of literature ever put to the page.
* Creator/ChuckTingle's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin story]], ''Pounded In The Butt By The Sentient Physical Manifestation Of My Writer's Block Then Realizing I've Already Found Inspiration By Literally Writing About How I'm Not Inspired''.

* In the song "Boat Drinks" Music/JimmyBuffett sang, "I should be leaving this climate/I've got a verse but can't rhyme it."
* In "A Story Short" from ''Series/TheStoryteller'', the eponymous storyteller is [[ScheherezadeGambit forced to tell a new story every day]]. On the last day, due to an outlandish series of events, he doesn't have time to think up a new story, so he tells the story of why he couldn't.

* ''Music/WeirdAlYankovic'''s song "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" is about this.
* Music/{{Eminem}}'s song "Just Lose It" has a section that goes "I don't have any lines that go here".
* Music/BenFolds' "One Down" is about the fact he's contractually obliged to write 3.6 more songs and he feels conflicted about "turning in a bunch of shit."
* ''Music/TheyMightBeGiants''' "Number Three" (third song on their first album) is about burning out after writing only two songs.
* [[Music/NoDoubt Gwen Stefani]]'s hit "What You Waiting For?" is about Gwen's writer's block during the making of her debut solo abum, ''Love Angel Music Baby'', and addressed to herself.
* ''Music/{{Chicago}}'''s "25 or 6 to 4";

* Music/MorrisMinorAndTheMajors' "Another Boring B-Side" (the b-side of "Stutter Rap") details the cynical process of writing a song that most people will only listen to once.
-->It's another boring b-side, another load of tat
-->It has no redeeming features, and we're really proud of that
-->You're listening to the product of considerable neglect
-->But for a lousy one pound eighty, tell me, what did you expect?
* Music/FiveIronFrenzy briefly dips into this on the second verse of "Superpowers" (which is otherwise about the difficulties of being a touring rock band):

* Music/MitchBenn wrote and recorded an entire album in 24 hours for charity. The last song, "Party Animals Need Not Apply" is about how this SelfImposedChallenge isn't fun, and ends with a repeated line about how he needs to [[{{Padding}} pad it out]] to make the time.
* The Music/NatashaBedingfield song "These Words" is about the difficulty of writing a love song that really expresses how she feels about the person she's dedicating it to.
-->Trying to find the magic,\\
Trying to write a classic,\\
Waste-bin full of paper,\\
Clever rhymes, see you later.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Hobbes ended up writing this story for Calvin after he tried time traveling two hours into the future to retrieve his completed story, only to find it hadn't been written yet. Unfortunately for Calvin, the class loves it, but it makes him look like a laughingstock.

* Many of the quirkier [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] Radio 4 documentary strands do this, with the narrator explaining the difficulties of production, and sometimes describing (or even recording) arguments with the producer. Often the phrase "this is not the programme I expected to make when I started" is involved.

* A semi-recurring theme in the contemporary arc of ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' is that Arthur hates "can't-think-of-a-joke jokes", but not as much as he hates failing to update his webcomic. Likewise in the space arc, Tristram thinks writing a song about being unable to write a song is "only funny once".
* Webcomic/{{Qxlkbh}}, [[{{Metafiction}} naturally]], has multiple:
** [[https://qxlkbh.github.io/41 41: untitled]] features the [[GuestStrip guest author]] trying to make a guest comic.
** [[https://qxlkbh.github.io/82 82: behidn the panels]] has Andrew, one of the regular authors, attempting to come up with a comic idea.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[Wiki/{{Uncyclopedia}} Uncyclopedia]]'s [[https://uncyclopedia.ca/wiki/Writer%27s_block article]] on writer's block.
* Tim Urban opens his Website/{{TED}} Talk "Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator" with a description of his own last-minute writing of the TED Talk as an example of his process.

* In "Begin to Begin" from ''WesternAnimation/PeteTheCat'', Pete is supposed to be writing a new song for his band, but has writer's block and keeps procrastinating. He eventually ends up writing a song about how he should ''not'' procrastinate and just start writing.

* The Music/NatashaBedingfield song "These Words" is about the difficulty of writing a love song that really expresses how she feels about the subject.

* Webcomic/{{Qxlkbh}}, [[Metafiction naturally]], has multiple:

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[[folder: Fanfic]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

[[folder: Radio]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* ''The Exploding Library'', a Radio 4 series where comedians talk about their favourite cult books, generally starts its episodes as a fairly conventional "This is why I like this book, here's some other people talking about the book" and then starts adding things "going wrong" with the production and the presenter commenting on them, in a surreal manner that -- of course -- reflects whatever weirdness makes the book a cult.

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In "Begin to Begin" from ''WesternAnimation/PeteTheCat'', Pete is supposed to be writing a new song for his band, but has writer's block and keeps procrastinating. He eventually ends up writing a song about how he should ''not'' procrastinate and just start writing.

[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/howtowrite.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:305:This caption explains how to write a caption...]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Creator/ChuckTingle's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin]] story, ''Pounded In The Butt By The Sentient Physical Manifestation Of My Writer's Block Then Realizing I've Already Found Inspiration By Literally Writing About How I'm Not Inspired''.