Overcoming Writer's Block

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By Chris Jorgensen

This is by no means an “insert method of fixing everything” sort of article. I am not an expert in, well, anything. But that does not mean that we can’t write up an opinion piece to give some people a new frame of perspective, right? So, with that in mind, let’s talk about overcoming writer’s block.

1. Read

I know. It sounds simple, but hear me out. Read. And don’t just read one thing, read everything. Your favorite book, the book you have read seventeen times in the last two years, the new book at the store that caught your eye because the cover was your favorite color, that book by some famous great American author that you were forced to read in high school but never did and only used spark notes to write your book report. Read it now.

Look, it might seem like the easiest answer in the world, and it is, but I promise you nothing will get your creative drive back faster than sitting down and seeing words on a page. There is something wonderful about it, and really, nothing gets you in the mood more than seeing what other thoughts are and how you can do something similar. From experience, reading is the thing that will drive you to write and create more than ever.

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2. Admire Other Art Forms.

Ever been to a museum? No? Go fix that. Haven’t been to a live concert? Fix that too. The arts are not just a singular form in the books you just read to get to this step. You have to expand your creative horizons. Go find new music to listen to at a record store (those totally still exist, right?). And if not, you have the internet at your fingertips. Youtube new music, go listen to something you never thought you would listen to. Try listening to an instrument you never knew existed before. Listen to the music of a foreign place you’ve always wanted to visit or never heard of. The world is full of dynamic and varied sounds. Explore that.

And go to a museum. Learn some history, or go to an art gallery and just look at things. The best part of being a writer is observing the way things around you work. The world is full of creative expression, and it is your job as a writer of things to explore everything you can and tell us about it. Or look up illustrations about literature. Find the illustrations of old stories and the myths that grew out of them. Art is the visualization of the words you write, and you should familiarize yourself with how other people are expressing themselves.

3. People Watch

But don’t do it in that creepy dude in the large coat at a park type of people watch. Just go where people go, see what they do, how they act, the things they say when no one else is listening. What do people do with their hands when they are shopping? How do they stand, how do they greet the person at the register of a store? These are all the things you never think about as they happen. The tiny idiosyncrasies that everyone has but no one acknowledges.

Also, go outside, go see people in the real world too. These are all the things you won’t get from the internet or movies. You need to go out there and discover it as it happens. I’m also going to put meeting new people in this category as well. Meeting someone new will give you a ton of insight into character design. All those tiny details we just talked about, yeah, observe and see what people do. Your characters will thank you for making them more genuine than the usual cookie-cutter character you thought was so unique that it turns out they have zero individuality about them. So go see how people act outside of your own head. They might just surprise you.

4. Reflect on Your Old Works

Here we get to the hard one. This is the one that gets everyone the worst. You have to go back and see your old works and find the things you could do better. All that stuff you just learned up there? Use it to examine your writing. Look at your characters. What is wrong with them? Why don’t they feel real? Read over your descriptions. What do they lack in the environment? Why does everything around your characters feel so flat?

All of these things can be found around you if you take the time to look. But the problem is, and I know this cause I wrote this after a series of blocks, we live in our own heads. When we write, we are so obsessed with looking inward to our ideas and story that we often forget that it’s the real world that inspires us in the first place. Don’t forget that it’s out there, and it is your greatest resource. Utilize that resource and make it yours.

So there we have it, a few things to help you get on when you find yourself staring at a blank screen for too long. Like I said before, none of this is expertise on my end, just things I have noticed and observed in the times where I need to find a new muse to write for. Now go live a bit and see how well it reflects in your works,

Chris Jorgensen is a writer of the Editing Mee team. Chris is often described as an amalgamation of too many things for his own good. Writer, musician, academic, book collector, scavenger, and one of the authors of our Collective Darkness Anthology.