Destroying Writer’s Block: Part 1 of 2

This is not part of my official tutorials yet, but it’s something writing-related that I think could add value to the authors on here suffering from writer’s block. I will break it up into two text-only parts, and then re-submit it as one or two videos. After that, I’ll post a quick short story I wrote a while ago, and then start getting my hands dirty with my new novel.

Hope the tips discussed here will help you in some way :)

The system I use for smashing through writer’s block is what I dubbed the Turbo Scenes method. The basic gist of it is that when writing a novel, short story, or even a post on Steemit; you might find yourself staring at the blank screen for hours on end. This is not necessarily because you don’t know what to say, but mainly because you don’t want to mess it up. That’s where this system can help you.

The entire idea behind this method is to worry about getting the content out of you, and onto the screen first, and only then worry about polishing it into the gem it will become later.

When I started writing The Son of Perdition, I was all fired up, and ready to go. I had a decent outline with tight chapter and scene breakdowns, and knew exactly when I was going to write what. I churned Chapter 1 in no time, but halfway through Chapter 2, something strange happened. My writing came to a grinding halt. It wasn’t a lack of knowing what to write. That information was there in front of me, in my notes. I just couldn’t force myself to write a specific scene. Don’t get me wrong... it wasn’t an otherwise dull or boring scene, in fact, I had actually looked forward to writing it for quite some time.

At first, I thought it was that dreaded Writer’s Block that tripped me up. I tried all sorts of “writing exercises” to overcome it, yet, couldn’t. I then realized that I had no trouble writing thousands of words when it came to those exercises, so there was obviously nothing wrong with my writing. I would fly through an exercise and then return to Son of Perdition and then just lock up again. Something else was wrong, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Two months flew by in which I didn’t write a single word for Son of Perdition, and with about 100 000 more words to go, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel was more an optical illusion than a reality. I thought about dumping the project entirely—and a few times I was tempted to smash that DEL button and get it over with—but my stubborn nature wouldn’t allow me to.

It was during one of those times when I lightly tapped my finger on the DEL key that I decided, “Screw it, I’m just going to get this sucker out, even if it kills me!”

Over the next few minutes that followed, I wrote key sections of the scene as quickly as I could, ignoring spelling, grammar, and everything else that could stand in my way of just getting the words out of my head and onto the screen in front of me. When done, I took a step back and couldn’t believe my eyes. After two months, the scene was finally on the screen! Sure, it needed fleshing out and a lot of editing, but it was out of my system, and I could finally move on with my book!

After that scene, I flew through the rest of the book, refining and using the system I now refer to as Turbo Scenes. Since then, I’ve used the technique in The Incubus, The Succubus, and also in a host of shorter stories I’ve co-written with various other authors under different pen names.

Note that this technique might not work for every writer. We’re all different, and what works for Tom, might not work for Dick or Harry. But do me a favor and at least give it a fair shot when you get to one of those scenes or posts that you just can’t work through. Heck, even if you’re already halfway through it, and for some reason can’t push on, you can still implement the Turbo Scenes technique to your writing.

I’m confident that if you follow the instructions outlined in this and the next post, you should be able to rip through the rest of your story or article in no time flat. I have purposefully stripped the fat and fluff for the sake of brevity on the Steemit site to only give you the good stuff, because the whole idea here is to get you back to your writing as soon as possible!

Most authors use “word count” to determine whether they’re on track with their writing schedule or not. They use the number of words that they have written in a day to measure the productivity of their writing time, setting a word count goal for the session, and then trying their best to reach that goal at the end of the day.

Some authors can easily churn out 7,000 words or more in a single sitting of five hours, while others might just manage 1,000 in the same amount of time. While word count is a good way to measure your productivity or set your goal for your next writing session, there are a few problems that might arise when depending on word count alone:

• Good writers might feel inadequate and insecure in their craft, because they’re not hitting those high word count numbers as their peers. They might be part of a writing group, and when it comes to bragging about hitting numbers that day, he or she might feel like they can’t compete. The problem here is that authors begin to confuse “lots” of writing with “good quality” writing, and in many instances, those hacking out 7,000 words, would probably need two or three re-writes to hit the same level of quality as those only reaching 1,000 for the day.

• If you allocated 3,000 words for your next writing session, but your scene turns out to be 4,700 words, you might finish your session with an incomplete scene. This either disrupts you from your writing, wasting valuable time during your next writing session to “get back” into the same mindset and kick off where you stopped, or it forces you to go over your allocated time, which in turns chews into whatever you were supposed to be doing next.

• Thinking that you still have 85,000 words to write before you’re done with your novel might overwhelm you and lock up your creative mind to the point where you rather scroll down your Facebook wall or—heaven forbid—decide to wash dishes instead. Anything to avoid taking on that mountain. Yet, when thinking in scenes, it’s much less intimidating to think that you only have to tackle a mere 45 scenes (at an average of 1,888 words per scene) in order to finish that very same book.

Let me just go on record and say that I firmly believe that the word count system has its merits and works for a lot of writers out there. However, no one shoe will fit everyone on earth, so the best would be to try a few systems to see which works best for you. That said, if you find yourself overwhelmed or undervalued because of the word count system, rather start thinking about scenes instead.

Always remember your end goal: a finished book or article!

If word count helps you get there, great! If not, rather track your progress in scenes remaining. Either way, focus on your end goal and do whatever it takes to get there.

Most people believe that writer’s block hits an author when he or she has run out of something to say. I’ve actually found the opposite to be true. When writing a novel, you spend a few months on plotting, writing, editing, re-writing, etc. The problem is that a creative person’s brain never stops conjuring ideas for stories. You watch the news, and BAM! You’re in the store, deciding on which cereal to buy when you overhear two women talking about something, and BAM! You have all these ideas, but no outlet. You can’t start writing on the exciting new ideas that just struck you, because there’s still that 85,000-word monster you need to finish. And that’s when your mind tends to lock up...

Why?

Well, like the faithful servant to the craft you are, you fire up your PC, and open your current work-in-progress file. You think about the scene that lies ahead, but compared to that new idea that just hit you, it feels dull, and like a drag. All that passion you initially had for the project is suddenly gone. You’d much rather spend some time on that awesome, new story.

My advice would be to create some sort of “idea vault” for yourself. It could be a folder with sub-folders for each new idea that strikes you over the course of writing your book. So, if your main folder is VAULT, you would then create one called CEREAL_GOSSIP or whatever works for you. Next, create a new doc in the folder and then jot down a quick synopsis and a few bullet point items of things you need to remember when you return to this particular project in future. Also remember to jot down what excited you about the idea in the first place.

Once done, save the file and close it down. Return to your current work in progress, and then use the technique outlined in my next post to push you through your current scene. Because your mind knows that your new idea is filed away and kept safe, and it doesn’t need to keep nagging at you to remember it. You are thus now free to enjoy the rest of your current project.

But what do you do if that’s not the case? Well, here are a few suggestions:

• Set your timer to 10 minutes, and speed write the current scene. Now instead of fleshing it out immediately, treat yourself to something to snack or drink first. Take a walk around the neighborhood, and only then start fleshing out the scene to its completion.

• Don’t write the scene at all. Instead, skip ahead two or three scenes until you find one that you would like to write at that given moment in time. Finish that scene, and then return to the one you had a problem with, and nuke it too. The momentum gained while writing the other scene combined with the success of finishing an entire scene should excite and motivate you enough to finish the one you were initially stuck at.

• Re-look the scene. Something might be out of place, or not working in the overall storyline. Perhaps the scene is just fluff, and not really serving a purpose to your overall story? You could consider throwing a curve ball in here by doing something that the reader would never expect, such as killing off a vital character, or increasing the stakes for your main character. Your mind might find the scene too dull for your liking, so shake things up a little and hit the ball right out of that comfort zone of yours.

• Approach a fellow author and describe your scene to him or her. Ask them to speed write the scene for you, using the technique that I’m going to share with you. Once done, flesh out the scene in your own words, using their version as a roadmap to completion.

The bottom line is that writing begets writing. If you get stuck somewhere, find something else to write, and then use that momentum to finish off that scene you’re stuck at. Use different strategies to trick your own mind into giving up the goods. Time yourself, and if you find that you’re stuck at one place for longer than, say, ten minutes, implement a more drastic measure. Keep going at it until the scene is out of the way, and you’ll probably find the next one flowing from your fingers with no problem at all.

Everything you write in a story should have a purpose; every word should serve towards some end. The same goes for scenes. Every scene you write in your book should have a purpose of either moving the story forward, revealing more about the plot, characters, or both. A scene could be anything from a few thousand words, to a single sentence. That’s another reason I tend to shy away from the word count system. As long as the scene serves its purpose, it could be as long (or as short) as required. If you’re set on writing a certain amount of words, you might be inclined to sub-consciously try to sculpt your scene around your word count, instead of letting it serve its purpose.

Before we can tackle a scene using the speed writing method, we first need to establish the purpose behind it. Is it to drive the plot forward, reveal something about one of the characters, or both?

For the purposes of illustration, I will create an imaginary scene:
Scene: Man in parking lot makes way to car and encounters fugitive
Purpose: To let fugitive talk to cop and set certain plot elements in motion

Okay, let’s stop here for now. In my next post, I will use this scene to illustrate the method, and show you how you can incorporate it into your own writing. Be sure to follow me so that you get some sort of notification when it’s up (should only be a few hours from now).

See ya soon!

LdR

Image Credit: The image I used at the very top is a free stock image, and does not require attribution. I'll still link to it though. You can get it here.