Quote About Writer's Block

March 17, 2017 8:29 AM

I am trying to find to source of this quote or idea. It goes something like, "If you have writer's block, it is because you told a lie. Go back, find the lie, fix it, and you will be able to keep writing."
posted by moonroof to Writing & Language (1 answer total)

This probably isn't exactly the quote you want, but it steers close to the same idea. Maybe it will stimulate your recollections. It's an article on The Awl, 21 Lies Writers Tell Themselves. Look at lie #6.

Lie #6 says -- "If there is some idea you both cannot write about and cannot let go of, the problem is usually not with the idea. If you are blocked this way, it may be you need approval of some kind you can’t quite admit. You may fear being disliked generally, or fear the loss of approval of a parent or maybe even someone you barely remember. If you think that if you write it, it will destroy you, underneath that fear is a need for someone’s approval that you fear losing, and underneath that is you as a captive to that need for approval. It’s not even that you have writer’s block in other words — you may have Stockholm Syndrome with your writer’s block. You may even have dressed your block up with the aura of a tragic romance, because of how it keeps you from destroying your relationship to this person who you fear would disapprove if you were to become a writer.
And, chances are, that relationship (or at least, that need for approval) is exactly what you need to destroy."


And lie #1 is funny.
posted by puddledork at 8:59 AM on March 17, 2017 [5 favorites]