Writer’s Block and the Uninspired

So, I am writing a novel right now, and for those of you who have never tried this (or any other major project of equivalent magnitude), you should know that it’s hard. I’ve been to school and have a line of degrees that say that I know how to write. But, the fact of the matter is, no amount of schooling can prepare you for the trials that come along with actually trying to put rampant imagination on the page.

I won’t go into excruciating detail about my book, because it will be released soon, and I don’t want to spoil all of the juicy goodness, but essentially, it is a paranormal story about a group of young people as they all work towards resolving struggles in their lives in the midst of some very fantastical happenings.  The issue that I’m experiencing with this novel is that, originally, it was written as a story about a single young boy. Then, I decided that a solo protagonist wouldn’t be able to explore the dimensions that I wished to visit. Then, I found the story remained narrow and needed a little spice—a little darkness. So, I added a third.

My issue came when I was trying to interweave two additional stories into the substantial portion of what I had already written. This made writing more like piecing together a puzzle than actually writing.

Long story short, it has caused me to go through numerous rewrites, brainstorming, storyboards, and character adjustments to get to the point where I am now (which is still about 20% incomplete).

And, on several occasions throughout my sojourn to write this novel, I have experienced the phenomenon of writer’s block.

I have always treasured my ability to avoid writer’s block. My imagination remains sharp in most situations, so I can plug through any roadblocks that I experience with a little creative problem solving. However, that does not mean that I am immune to writer’s block—just that I have trained myself to overcome those moments of being “uninspired.”

The formula, in my experience, to avoiding an breaking writers block (not just on writing, really, but on any creative block), is to work through it, regardless of being uninspired.

What I mean by this is, if you get to a point in a work and become stuck, write the next chapter anyways. It will probably be rubbish. It will probably not make it to the final draft. But, it will get something on the page. This is what is most important—forward motion.

Open-water sharks have to swim forward at all times to pump the appropriate amount of oxygen through their bodies to live. If they stop swimming forward, they will suffocate. The same goes for artists. If you put a project on “hold,” or succumb to a creative block, that work will suffocate. You may be able to revive it later on, but picking up an old work is exponentially more difficult than powering through a minor creative block.

Just remember the power of revision. If you don’t like four chapters in the middle of your book, then you can go back and change it. The important thing is that you keep working, in spite of the difficulties—or die.

The same can be said of any struggle in life, when you think about it.

Woah. This post was waaay more profound than I expected it to be.

I need to take a long shower and ponder.