Starting Your Novel: Writer’s Block

The enemy of every writer out there, more than critics, editors, or well-meaning family members who just don’t get what you’re doing, is yourself. Writers block is what happens when you get in your own way. If you’ve been following my “Starting Your Novel” series, then you’ll recall my previous post about writing every day and sometimes needing to force it. Writers block is something you have to push through.

This is not a popular idea among, mostly because IT’S HARD. Or it can be. Sometimes it is as simple as overcoming a single hurtle and making yourself start your daily writing. Other times it can be a long and drawn out resistance that you simply have to work through all day. Regardless of how difficult it is, you cannot let it when. Remember, writers are like sharks. We must write to breathe and not sink.

A simple trick to overcoming this internal block is this...

1. Get into position to write. Wherever your workstation is, be at it. 
2. Take a deep, relaxing breath.
3. Tell the internal editor inside of you that it is okay, that nobody will read this until you are ready and that you will be coming back to revise it after your first draft is complete. It is okay to write poorly.  
4. Just write. Start. Go. Do not spend too much time on step 3, but come back to repeat it as often as you need. Just so long as you write, you are not letting blockage win.

Bonus Tip:

                Bullet point on a piece of paper what you want to write about. Not in any huge amount of detail, but a sort of line of progression. A trail of breadcrumbs if you will. This can be a tremendous help promoting creativity and helping keep you on track. 

Starting Your Novel: The Muse

Some writers refer to their inspiration and creativity as a third party, a being separate from themselves. The ancient Greeks called this the muse or the genius, holding to the idea that great works were not the creations of the artists, but rather that the artists were possessed by a spirit of creation. This is a romantic notion, but it is not altogether accurate. Your muse is not a separate entity or voice in the back of your head, rather, it is a creative muscle.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, make the mistake of thinking that your muse is not a part of you or has a mind of its own. It is capricious on occasion and sometimes stubborn, but that is not because it is willful. You simply haven’t trained it. This is the reason why so many writers have odd quirks and rituals for their writing process which seem almost arcane to those who do not write themselves. Find out what motivates your creativity. Do you write better alone? Surrounded by people but with headphones on? With pen and paper or at a computer? At a certain time of day?

Once you've determined the factors that are most conducive to your writing, reward and punish your muse - and by that I mean yourself - accordingly. Take pleasure in each small victory with an appropriately small reward. For example, give yourself an extra treat at dinner or let yourself go see that movie in theaters everyone is buzzing about. Bigger rewards for bigger successes and the same for failure and punishments. Now when I say punishment I do not mean you should hurt yourself. But if you don’t meet your goals, don’t let yourself have dessert or make yourself take an extra lap when you go out to jog. Something that your unconscious will associate with a negative consequence.

Write often and find the patterns that encourage your creativity.

Starting Your Novel: Don't Wait

The first rule for those of you wanting to start writing your novel is this…DO NOT WAIT FOR INSPIRATION. Being inspired is a fine thing—and it feels FANTASTIC when you are!—but it despite all the mysticism surrounding inspiration, it is actually a very small part of the writing process. In fact inspiration in and of itself is utterly meaningless. What is far more important is your dedication to your writing, whether or not you are feeling inspired.

Every professional athlete has mornings where they’d rather not get up and go work out, the same is true of writers and writing. I once wrote for a guest post that writers are like sharks. Sharks cannot breathe under their own power, they have to keep swimming so that fresh water can pass through their gills and oxygenate their blood. If they stop swimming then they begin to sink and suffocate. Writers suffer this same problem. A writer who is not writing is sinking and will find it harder to consistently write again when they pick up their pen or sit down at the keyboard to work on an extended project.

I’ve heard a number of people say “If you don’t feel it then don’t force it” in countless variations. This is dangerous advice for the writer who isn’t limiting themselves to shorter works and, more importantly, intends to COMPLETE a larger body of work. A novel is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and novelists must strap themselves in for the long haul and write daily, whether or not they feel like it. If you don’t, then FORCE IT. It will hurt, but when you look back, more likely than not you won’t be able to tell the difference between it and your “inspired” writing. If you can then this is what revision is for anyways. Muscle through it and meet your goal.  

In short, if you want to start writing a novel, then start writing a novel!