Kernel of Insight: Just Another Block In the Wall

So, I'm working a good deal more now and my week has been very crowded, so less time for writing.  However, as this kernel of insight should explain, I still try, even when time is limited or I am hindered.  This one I think is good for any writer or aspiring writer, either as a reminder or a lesson.  We all get stuck.  We all hit the wall.  We all suffer writer's block.  This is just my perspective on how it happens, why it happens, and the best ways through it.

Hope you enjoy.  And I hope to have my chapter done either by next week or before the 23rd.  Just in time for Convention.

Kernel of Insight: Just Another Block In the Wall

             I'm making progress on my current chapter, but I hit about a week solid of writer's block, where I ran headfirst into a wall and just did not know what to write...did not know what to put to paper...so I just sat and stared as my pages went from 4-5, then back to 3, then to 4, then to 3 and you get the idea.  This isn't the first time it's happened, but I don't talk much about writer's block and neither do my other friends who write.  It's...an odd phenomenon to say the least, but most people just like to blow it off, writers included, as "I can't seem to write" or "the words aren't coming out right."  These are sometimes what happens, but it's more detailed than that.

            For me, at least, not knowing what to write is pretty much NEVER the issue.  A lot of people think that writer's block means we don't know where the story will go or how it will progress.  I know how my story wants to go.  So do many of my friends who write.  They have chapters written well in advance of where they are because they know where they want to go.  Getting there is the problem.  I don't mean that in a broad sense, such as putting three chapters in between to properly transition, but more we don't know how to word these transitions.  Or even if we do know, we feel uncomfortable with the results.  These can be as simple as a going to sleep transition leading into the next day or a full chapter or two to cool off the characters and let plot details sink in.  Sometimes, doing these transitions can be daunting because they aren't always fun.  They're the characters reflecting on what's already happened, sometimes in an unspoken way, sometimes verbally, and you have to take the pace slower.  You have to include character building small talk.  You have to make the scenery and body language tell how they are feeling.

            Okay, you don't...but I think your story will be poorer for it.  I've done a full throttle draft of what I'm writing.  It was called Rise of the Lich King back then...and we just jumped from plot point to plot point...and while fun to write, it didn't give my characters much time to grow.  While I tried, they seemed forced, and having to accept the gravity of things in minutes rather than days or weeks.  It just wasn't as effective as taking time to cool down and reflect.  A friend of mine is writing historical fiction and, despite letting the audience know that the main character, a female sword smith, is apprehensive about her ability to forge a sword, we go back to it several times, usually during transitions.  When she is hired to join a specific group, we take time to see her doubt, her worry, and to understand that she is conflicted, but still moving forward.  This shows tremendous growth for the character and lets us grow more and more attached to them.  And even greater than action sequences or drama, I think these scenes are important.  I use dialogue and people discussing things to get this growth across while my friend uses introspection and body language.  However, these sections can be painfully hard to write.

            A lot of a writer's block can come from you trying to force words into a character that...really doesn't want to say what you are saying.  Even if it's just experimenting with words, you get the feeling of an uncanny valley effect, where they may look like your characters, but they act strangely off.  And this leaves you confused and wondering where to go or how to improve it.  Listening to a character isn't always easy after all.

            Minor spoilers for the next chapter, we have some minor drama relating to Mina and Celine's decision to leave Acacia.  People upset by it.  Now, originally I toyed with those upset being more angry and selfish than anything, but ultimately accepting...then we shifted into the smiling walking away sequence where it basically says "Friends forever, no matter what..." this was my self imposed idea of how things should go and...it didn't work.  The shift was too sudden and emotionally, the characters were all over the place.  There was a place for some selfishness and some stoicism and some understanding, but it was all jumbled and didn't match characters.  I think I've fixed that as of this writing, but for a full three or four days, I just sat at my screen, unsure of what to say or how to fix the dialogue and body language.  It may still not be right, but we're getting there.

            Writer's block in a broader sense can happen for other reasons too.  Stress is a big one, where you need relief, a game, time with friends, being able to sleep, whatever, but are pushing yourself to write.  While it is good to be driven, if you aren't able to properly focus on what you want to say or get done...it'll just make your words suffer that you'll have to fix later.  I hate having to skip a writing session for any reason, but sometimes life comes first...priorities are important for a writer because you do need to have some feeling of serenity while writing.  Not total serenity, but if you're flat out miserable, then your writing will reflect that, you know?  And that can be good for some types of stories, but you may be more irrational, more prone to unusual character turns or plot developments that may not make as much sense...gives you all that more work to do in revisions and edits.

            A good deal of writer's block, for me at least, comes from phrasing...the wrong phrase can set the mood in a bad way and you don't always have the knowledge or the experience, or hell, even the mindset to phrase it better.  A good example is, how do you describe a gun, without saying, "it's a gun!"  I agonized for this with Canak's chapters, because I want to get the point across but I'm trying to handle it from the perspective of an outsider.  Or the speeches...how do you make them subtle but still get the point across?  It happens more than you think.

            This is just my perspective when it comes to writer's block.  It's hitting a wall for whatever reason, usually because you simply don't know how to put things.  You know what you want to write and where you want to go, usually, though sometimes you can be unsure of where you want to go in a first draft but anyway...you know what you want to do, but not how to put it down on paper.  This can be phrasing, dialogue, pacing, it really is what I think affects writers the most because either due to external stressors, like work or critique or what have you, we cannot think about the best way to put something or ANY way to put something, or it can be to internal stressors, where doubt or tensions or a desire to change the situation will lead us down the wrong path, deviating from character consistency that we will either have to correct later in the story, explaining it away, or correct in editing, which wastes time as we go back to square one and have to figure out how to put something, AGAIN.

            Best way around writer's block?  Well...there isn't one, I think.  We all get stuck sometimes, because of stress or because we just lack the eloquence at that particular moment to put something.  However, while I might say sometimes you shouldn't write if you're in a bad state of mind, you should still SIT DOWN TO WRITE.  This may sound a bit weird, but just sitting down, trying to get into the mindset, and either reading or putting your brain on your work will, in the long run, help you figure it out.  And really, you will have to figure it out.  Some others may offer perspective, however you are the writer and ultimately, what you come up with goes.  So, I say make time to write and even if you don't put a single word on the page, at least put your mind to the task.  Think.  And experiment.  Just because we don't know what to say or how to put things sometimes doesn't mean we shouldn't vomit our thoughts on the page because even if we have to delete it all, at least we're getting bad ideas out of the system to make room for good ideas.  Hell, sometimes good ideas are formed into seeds and nested in bad ideas.

            What you should not do is stop writing entirely.  We sometimes need a break, sure, but remember that the longer you are away from writing, the harder it is to go back.  That's one reason I do these weekly updates.  Even if I don't talk about my story, sharing my experiences gets me thinking about them...and that helps get me sitting down to write when it really counts.

            I'm over my writing block, just FYI.  I expect to have my chapter finished soon, but, like I said before, priorities...I have more work now and less time to write, so I have to make compromises sometimes.  But, I always still sit down to do it on the weekends and on whatever weekdays I can muster.  To me, that's the best way to fight the block.