Resources to ease me out of writer's block
June 2, 2022 2:58 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for books or online resources that have exercises and encouragement for folks struggling with writer's block who want to write fiction someday.
I've had writer's block for a really long time. I know I want to write things. On the rare occasions I do actually write, I'm happy to have written. I think I'm mostly blocked by perfectionism and fear of failure. I do have Bird by Bird and Writing Down the Bones, and they're nice, but they haven't really helped. What resources have helped ease you out of a difficult writing slump?
I've had writer's block for a really long time. I know I want to write things. On the rare occasions I do actually write, I'm happy to have written. I think I'm mostly blocked by perfectionism and fear of failure. I do have Bird by Bird and Writing Down the Bones, and they're nice, but they haven't really helped. What resources have helped ease you out of a difficult writing slump?
It's not everyone's cup of tea, but many people have had success with The Artist's Way.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 3:54 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Winnie the Proust at 3:54 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
This might not be what you're looking for, but taking a class has always been the best way I've found to break out of a writing slump. Since the pandemic, online classes have made taking classes more accessible wherever you are. Places like GrubStreet, for instance, have a lot of offerings. But there are lots of other options if you search.
posted by swheatie at 4:19 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by swheatie at 4:19 PM on June 2, 2022
You can get started with The Artist's Way by doing something the author, Cameron, calls the "morning pages" -- essentially, free-form writing to clear your mind from distraction.
Cameron suggests that you write three hand-written pages of text, all without stopping, every morning. You can write whatever you want; there aren't any wrong answers. You fill a page and move on to the next. Whatever ends up on the page, whether it's coherent phrases or scribbles or daydreaming or the same word over and over and over, is OK.
She suggests that this can be difficult and seem pointless at first, and that it takes several weeks for most people to get something positive out of it. She also suggests that, once they have made it past initial struggles, many people use this as their go-to exercise to clear their thoughts.
You're not supposed to judge what happens in your morning pages. You don't review them or use them as source material, though sometimes they can lead to big ideas that three pages might not be enough to cover.
I've used the morning pages on and off. I sculpted them to fit my own temperament by paring it down to two pages at first. Then I moved my writing to the computer because I felt more comfortable typing than writing by hand. Once on the computer, I wrote as much as I felt was necessary each day.
I might not be the model of success, since I don't feel a need for them to get my writing to work. Or maybe the point is to eventually create something from the template that works for your self, which I did.
There's a lot more detail in The Artist's Way. Many more exercises and ideas for trying to release your inner artist. The morning pages are a bedrock of her methods.
I'm happy to answer anything else I can about the writing process or what I've read in Cameron's book. Feel free to Memail me.
posted by mr_bovis at 4:23 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Cameron suggests that you write three hand-written pages of text, all without stopping, every morning. You can write whatever you want; there aren't any wrong answers. You fill a page and move on to the next. Whatever ends up on the page, whether it's coherent phrases or scribbles or daydreaming or the same word over and over and over, is OK.
She suggests that this can be difficult and seem pointless at first, and that it takes several weeks for most people to get something positive out of it. She also suggests that, once they have made it past initial struggles, many people use this as their go-to exercise to clear their thoughts.
You're not supposed to judge what happens in your morning pages. You don't review them or use them as source material, though sometimes they can lead to big ideas that three pages might not be enough to cover.
I've used the morning pages on and off. I sculpted them to fit my own temperament by paring it down to two pages at first. Then I moved my writing to the computer because I felt more comfortable typing than writing by hand. Once on the computer, I wrote as much as I felt was necessary each day.
I might not be the model of success, since I don't feel a need for them to get my writing to work. Or maybe the point is to eventually create something from the template that works for your self, which I did.
There's a lot more detail in The Artist's Way. Many more exercises and ideas for trying to release your inner artist. The morning pages are a bedrock of her methods.
I'm happy to answer anything else I can about the writing process or what I've read in Cameron's book. Feel free to Memail me.
posted by mr_bovis at 4:23 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm a writer. I used to struggle with writer's block. I read books and articles about how to overcome it. Nothing helped. Then I read this quote from Jerry Seinfeld's AMA on Reddit: "Writer's block is a phony, made up, BS excuse for not doing your work." I won't say that reading this solved everything...but it mostly did.
You overcome writer's block through writing. You don't have to write good stuff. You just have to write. Nothing else will overcome the block. Only writing will. For me, that meant setting aside time every day to do free writing. I just started writing in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, and I didn't care what came out. It took very little time for me to understand that this habit "primed the pump", as it were. By forcing myself to sit down and just write whatever I was thinking about, it unclogged whatever block was there. The words began to flow, and they quickly found some sort of focus.
Now I don't struggle with writer's block. I can literally sit down and begin working on whatever writing project I want to tackle. And it's all thanks to that Seinfeld quote and getting in the habit of free writing without any sort of expectation or judgment.
posted by jdroth at 5:02 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
You overcome writer's block through writing. You don't have to write good stuff. You just have to write. Nothing else will overcome the block. Only writing will. For me, that meant setting aside time every day to do free writing. I just started writing in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, and I didn't care what came out. It took very little time for me to understand that this habit "primed the pump", as it were. By forcing myself to sit down and just write whatever I was thinking about, it unclogged whatever block was there. The words began to flow, and they quickly found some sort of focus.
Now I don't struggle with writer's block. I can literally sit down and begin working on whatever writing project I want to tackle. And it's all thanks to that Seinfeld quote and getting in the habit of free writing without any sort of expectation or judgment.
posted by jdroth at 5:02 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I found Bonita Friedman's essay Envy, the Writer's Disease super helpful, particularly during times when comparison to others was stealing my joy. The essay is almost as old as I am, but it resonated with me at a time when more recent advice on the same topic was failing to land.
posted by terretu at 2:58 AM on June 3, 2022
posted by terretu at 2:58 AM on June 3, 2022
Liz Gilbert’s podcast Magic Lessons is great for this. Every week she talks to someone who is stuck in their creative life for some reason or another, and coaches them through it with kindness and humour.
There’s also a book, Big Magic, which I’ve not read but assume is similar.
posted by penguin pie at 3:25 AM on June 3, 2022
There’s also a book, Big Magic, which I’ve not read but assume is similar.
posted by penguin pie at 3:25 AM on June 3, 2022
Most of Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott) will be very helpful for this situation.
On preview, whoops, you have it.
posted by nkknkk at 6:07 AM on June 3, 2022
On preview, whoops, you have it.
posted by nkknkk at 6:07 AM on June 3, 2022
Tim Clare's Couch to 80k writing boot camp is great for this - a 10-minute-a-day writing exercise to help get you writing (especially if you could use a little more structure than just freewriting about whatever.)
posted by Jeanne at 6:29 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Jeanne at 6:29 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Since The Artist's Way's been mentioned a couple times I'll just say there's a group of us over at IRL going through it together right now if you'd like to join in or lurk. We're all at different chapters in the book so it's okay to jump in. It's pretty informal.
posted by probably not that Karen Blair at 10:49 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by probably not that Karen Blair at 10:49 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
War of Art if I feel like I could use a talking to by a tough but rousing sports coach, Artist’s Way if I’m more in the mood for nurturing from a hippie ‘80s GATE teacher.
It’s funny, I tried Bird By Bird but it always seemed to scare me more than inspire me.
On the more nurturing side, I LOVE the book What It Is by the cartoonist/writer Lynda Barry and as I am writing this I think I need to order myself a new copy.
posted by johngoren at 9:42 AM on June 4, 2022
It’s funny, I tried Bird By Bird but it always seemed to scare me more than inspire me.
On the more nurturing side, I LOVE the book What It Is by the cartoonist/writer Lynda Barry and as I am writing this I think I need to order myself a new copy.
posted by johngoren at 9:42 AM on June 4, 2022
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posted by BlahLaLa at 3:28 PM on June 2, 2022