Ashenclaw has posed an interesting question (but one that all writers grapple with at some point) over at his blog. How do you deal with writer’s block, especially when you are on a tight deadline?
For me, I’ve found that most frequently my writer’s blocks come from weaknesses in my outline. Sometimes I need a certain series of events to happen for a certain reason and the characters must react to the events in particular ways. Occasionally, the characters have traits that can make it difficult for the necessary reactions to occur in a believable manner. When this happens, I go back over what I have written and insert notes on changes that need to be made so that I can proceed onward. Other times, I’m simply too mentally drained to give that work justice at that particular moment.
So, how do I get around writer’s block? It’ll sound counter-intuitive, but I write.
That doesn’t mean I keep working on that project. I frequently have several projects cooking at once. If I get stumped on one, I will take a fifteen minute break to work on another. The momentum from working on the other often gives me the insight and the energy I need to blast through the block on the first one and get back on track.
Another valuable tool is to set realistic expectations for yourself. In a marathon session, I once managed to crank out 20,000 words on one project in a single day. But, if I expected that of myself every day, I’d quickly burn out. I generally set a page goal for myself on a per-week basis. On Alayne’s Story, for instance, I have a goal of 5 pages per week. On Midnight of Lanar’ya, I average about a page a day (so 7 – 10) pages per week. On two unannounced projects, I get about 5 pages per week done.
Lastly, sometimes you have to realize you’re blocked not because you are having a momentary issue but because your work is fundamentally flawed. You have to see if you can salvage it or if it’s time to start over fresh. I have done that a few times when I reached a point of where I just could not make things work no matter what I did. After I started a fresh rewrite, I was able to not only meet my goals for the day, but when I reached the same point, I was able to sail past it quite easily.
On short-term projects (like term papers or news articles) I find that reviewing the source material or considering an alternate perspective on same is frequently useful in getting back on track.
Of course, if the block is occurring because I’m exhausted or sick, I don’t try to power through it. I go and rest.
What about you? What are some of the ways you overcome your blocks?
