Solving Writer's Block

After years of professional writing to deadline I'm probably one of the most unsympathetic people you could meet when it comes to writing. My attitude tends to be "just get on with it."

This situation is not alleviated when it comes to Writer's Block. So if you're here looking for sympathy ... sorry, I'm all out. Take a look at the PS below for a very tiny hint of it.

I'm going to be very unpopular — even controversial — when I say that I don't think writer's block actually exists. At least it doesn't exist in the form of "I've lost my creativity", it only exists as "I don't know what to write next".

And that's the key.

I've had "writer's block". In fact I manifest what some would call "Writer's Block" every time I'm commissioned to write something. Why? Because I don't know what to write ... yet.

It has been reported that Jane Austin said "Write what you know". Well, I'd put that a different way and say: You can only write what you know.

In fact it's a no-brainer: How can you write something you don't know? You have to know before you can write and that is the problem — it's also the solution.

Here's a recent, personal example.

I have, for many years, been working on my great novel. (I haven't been working on it continuously I hasten to add. There have been breaks of years.) I'd written about 120,000 words and then reduced it back down to 98,000 but I was two-thirds of the way through and I was stuck.

My earlier breaks were due to work load and whatever, but this time I was truly stuck. I didn't know what to write next. I had Writer's Block! (Apparently.)

My novel is a fantasy and there is a non-human civilisation in it and the main character had got to the point in the story where she had to get up and visit a city belonging to this other species.

I was stuck because I didn't know what to write next.

The problem and the solution. I didn't know what words to put down on the paper because I did not know what this civilisation was like: What did they eat? What were their buildings like? How did they get where they were? Etc, etc.

Once you realise that this is the problem then the solution is obvious. Find out!

So I researched this non-human civilisation and worked out all these little details that I had to know before I could write. Which means, in this instance, I invented it. And suddenly I could write again.

So: Writer's block = don't know what to write.

I would suggest that if you don't know what to write next then it is because you don't know what to write. So find out. Regardless of the subject, fact or fiction, realistic or fantasy. You need to research and keep researching until you can write again.

You'll probably discover all sorts of interesting things and find that it enhances your work enormously — you'll also discover that even if you don't put every single fact into your writing (and you shouldn't) there'll be a huge increase in the authority of your work.

Steve Turnbull

PS: There are other situations that are called "writer's block": (a) having your attention stuck because something very distracting has occurred in your life; and (b) no time.

In the case of (a) you're just going to have to get your attention unstuck before you can write.

(b) Is something else. It's very easy not to have enough time. All I can say is this: A friend of mine, the author Roger Jon Ellory ("Candlemoth" and other novels), is a man dedicated to his real job. He works 9:00am to 10:00pm to make the world a better place (I'm not being facetious). Plus he has a family.

Yet he is a published novelist and a nominee for the Silver Dagger award. How?

He makes sure that he writes for 1 hour every evening, about 1000 words, in fact he aims for 40,000 words per month and usually manages it. So, in a few months, he can turn out a complete novel.

Time can be an issue, but it just requires organisation and dedication.