Writer's Block: The Editor Inside

Writer's block takes on many forms, and I'm sure almost any writer has experienced the condition in one way or another. There are dozens of websites dedicated to "curing" writer's block, but, for the most part, they've never provided me much assistance.

In the brief period I've been writing fiction, the biggest obstacle I've found to writing stories is the nagging voice inside my head: the editor inside.

Whenever I sit down to write, the cynical editor in me rejects sentences almost immediately. "That's banal and silly. That doesn't make sense," the voice says. Often the nagging voice causes me to strike down ideas and sentences before they even appear on the page.

The following are a few exercises and bits of advice that have helped me over the past several weeks.

1.   Accept the nagging editor – Accept that the nagging editorial voice in your head isn’t pure evil. In fact, it’s the rational voice that’s quite useful during the revision process. I’ve found this acceptance goes a long way in alleviating the pain of writing a first draft. Simply tell the voice that the time for molding and cutting will come, but if it wants anything to work with, it’ll have to shut up for now.

2.   Write a crappy first draft – This is perhaps one of the better pieces of advice I’ve come across, and it’s courtesy of Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Don’t be afraid to write a really crappy first draft of your work. After all, it’s a first draft, and nobody will see it but you. More often than not, crappy first drafts turn into decent second efforts and quite good final revisions.

3.   Free writing – Write for any length of time (I’ll often sit down for 15 to 30 minutes) with no clear goal in mind. Simply write what you’re thinking. The idea behind free writing is that it’s supposed to put you in a creative state of mind. I frequently find that among the rubbish, there are often a few nuggets of usable story ideas and material.

4.   Keep a journal – Similar to free writing, keeping a journal, whether you realize it or not, helps put you in a creative state of mind. It also creates a habit out of putting your thoughts into words on the page, the idea being that you’ll be more likely to do so for your stories.

5.   Look at a photo – I’ve found that looking at visual works of art, especially interesting photographs, often helps get the creative cogs turning in the brain. Ask yourself questions when looking at photos-who, what, why, and where? Story ideas might come fast and furious from a place you’d never expected.