What is Writers Block? A guide to a writer's worst nightmare

Writer's block is the creative slump that authors face when they have trouble coming up with ideas or creating new material. It can affect writers at every stage of their career, from absolute beginners to best-selling authors. This condition can last from hours to years.

Many creators try to force it, hoping it goes away naturally. While this often works, certain causes of chronic writer's block need to be diagnosed before they can be treated.

In this post, we examine some of the most common causes of writer's block and show how other writers struggle with the same thing.

1. Lack of motivation and lack of creativity

You are full of ideas, but every time you sit down to write your head goes blank and you can't find the words to come out, so pause or hesitate. Research endlessly or turn to neglected tasks. If short breaks aren't enough, or if you take very long breaks, then it's clear that motivation is the problem – lack of motivation. It often feels impossible to get something done without a reason to write. Writing just for the sake of writing is not particularly motivating. Being told to write an essay in school "just because" quickly ruins the fun you get out of it. But if you're interested in the subject, or if your grades depend on it, suddenly you have the motivation to do well.

2. Without consistency, there is no motivation

For some writers, like Notes from Fog author Ben Marcus, finding the reason is just part of the larger writing process, he explained in an interview with Literature Hub.

“Every project starts with discovering what is important to you and then trying to fictionalize it. It develops a series of delusions that the act of writing has consequences and simply needs to be done. "

When you don't want to write something and you don't reach for it, when there is no result, it makes sense that you struggle to write on the page. Or your motivation may be perfectly preserved, but your creativity suffers instead.

3. You feel like you're out of ideas

Sometimes the urge to write comes at the worst possible time, when the idea is not yet ready. You may have concepts based on a web of thoughts and intuitions that you cannot put together in any meaningful way. and give up.

If you go to the well too often and come back empty-handed, you will soon begin to question whether your previous ideas were good and your overall worth as a writer.

4. Every idea needs time to brew

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jumpa Lahiri doesn't think writer's block is necessarily a bad thing. For her, it's just time to collect materials.

"What many call 'writer's block' is the time when ideas form in the mind as the story grows, but not necessarily written on the page in writing."

According to Lahiri, writing also involves spending time thinking, just letting the story play out in your head. Flowers do not grow overnight. Before even small shoots germinate, they need to be watered and cared for. Ideas are the same. But sometimes the ideas you have are the problem.

5. Ideas don't arrive

Your story is set up and ready to go. Everything is sketched and you write. Good progress! until they are gone. Suddenly, no matter what you do, you can't go any further. Words don't appear and you erase each paragraph before you finish typing. You feel stuck in the middle of the story and don't know how to get it going again.

If that sounds like you, you're in the same boat as this acclaimed sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury. In a speech (properly given in 2001), he diagnosed his own personal writer's block:

"You've been warned, haven't you? Your subconscious is saying, 'I don't like you anymore. You write about things I don't care about."

6. It's hard to work on something you're not interested in

When a story goes wrong, the writer's subconscious often knows it long before the conscious mind recognizes it. A lot that is structurally flawed can be repaired. You can give depth to letters. Ultimately, though, when an author tries to write a long-form manuscript about a story or protagonist he doesn't like, the whole process quickly becomes an omnipotent drudgery. For this reason, writers find that their best works are often the ones that are most personal to them, whether they arise from their own experiences or explore fascinating topics and aspects of human behavior.

Listen to that little voice and find out what is wrong with your story. Sometimes it's better to kill loved ones than to piss them off, especially when they're blocking your way forward. It may be related to your own fears rather than the problem.

7. I care about the quality of my work

What right should a story be written anyway? Everything that turns your cuck hand to read like a child wrote! think:

You have exposed your terrifying story to all your readers and friends. This is so embarrassing. If this sounds like your inner monologue, you probably suffer from impostor syndrome.

The core of this type of fear is about one's own perceived worth. Admiration for other writers and a lack of faith in your own abilities prevent you from writing at all.

Everyone feels like this sometimes, but it's okay! Even award-winning fantasy author Neil Gaiman can sometimes feel like an impostor among people who have accomplished far greater things than himself.

8. No one knows what they are doing

Self-doubt is a fundamental part of the modern human experience. There is no shortage of creative people on social media. Do your best and look as productive as you breathe. But the truth is that no one knows 100% what he is doing.

Even after you realize you're not a cheater, you may still be dealing with anxiety. It can stem from the urge for perfectionism, and you're certainly not the first author to come across it.

9. You can't overcome perfectionism

Perfectionism can be a great motivator. It's a very big trait of an artist to want to work until something is just right. But often the desire to create only good art can lead to greater concerns about the quality of the work.

As a beginner, it's natural to want to be as good at your job as you are at reading a book. However, frustration at not being able to keep up with your favorite author can have a crippling effect instead.

The gap between where you are now and where you want to be can seem huge and insurmountable.It's important to remember that it takes time to get there. Golfers don't give up when they first pick up a club and find they can't hit a hole-in-one. It takes practice and experience, which can only be gained by continuing to write.

10. Perfection is the Enemy of Goodness

Reflecting on her writing career on her WMFA Podcast, Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere, admitted she struggled with perfectionism even after publishing two novels.

She said, "It's very hard to silence the critical voice in your head. There's this saying, 'Don't let perfection be the enemy of good.' I'm a perfectionist, so I love this idea." It feels like you have to find your own comfort point on the continuum between perfectionism and full speed ahead.

For other writers, however, the idea of ​​being held back by one's own perfectionist tendencies may seem extravagant. In many cases, the cause of writer's block is completely out of your control.

11. Real-world problems get in the way

Everyone has a life outside of manual labor. We have to raise our children, do our laundry, clean our house, go to work, see our friends and family, and generally keep our lives organized and running, especially when it comes to difficult situations, often get in the way of our literary ambitions. When you've recently experienced a bereavement, when you're caring for someone in your family, or when you're with your family, let alone when you're burned out at work, or when you're suddenly confronted with a string of important family commitments, it is difficult to sit and write. You have to fight with your health.

12. Maybe writing shouldn't be an artist's first priority

When it becomes difficult to ignore the real world, writer's block becomes inevitable. In a three-way tug-of-war between caring for others, maintaining mental health, and working on a writing project, perhaps the first thing you should give up is your weekly writing goal.

But if you're not writing now, does that mean you're no longer a writer? In one of the must-read Story Club newsletters, Booker Prize-winning novelist George Saunders encourages writers not to base their identity as an artist on merit.

“Even if you are too busy to write actively, you are still a writer because you have a way of looking at the world with curiosity and interest and a certain affection.”

When life gets in the way, there's little a writer can do, work until the tide goes out, and refrain from punishing yourself for things you can't control.

Writer's block is the bane of creators everywhere. By understanding why it is happening, you can develop a plan to defeat it.

In the next article, we'll look at ways to help writers overcome this block.