Writer's Block - We All Have It

Hello everyone. This is LaVel Moorehead. Today, I want to bring up the topic of Writer's Block. What is it and how can we as writers overcome it?

I just read the article "How to Get Past Writer's Block" by Stanton Rabin. Ms. Rabin published 6 books since 2008 and helps writers prepare their manuscripts for submission. I love her take on Writer's Block. She says that we all have it; the way that people describe Writer's Block as "insurmountable" instead of surmountable. In her view, we all have problems in our writing, whether you're a seasoned writer or not. We just have to get through it.

How do you define Writer's Block? Ms. Rabin defines it in two ways. One, the writer has a psychological block. This psychological block deals with fear and failure. "Oh, I don't want anyone to see my work. Oh it's absolutely terrible. Yadda, yadda, yadda." I've said that to myself a thousand times. Writers write manuscripts and many go in the trash bin because they don't like the work or they understand that it needs improvement. So, understanding that writing doesn't mean that with one manuscript you're on the way to success and stardom is key.

An example Ms. Rabin uses in the article relates how students feel intimidated in writing a scene that requires a lot of emotion. She points out that this intimidation may be a way that we as human beings deal with conflict. Ghosts of Russian czars in a scene that Ms. Rabin wrote in "The Curse of the Romanovs" reminded her critics from her previous book. The ghosts told her main character Alexi to "give up," a reflection on how she felt before. Writers like myself need reminding that not everyone will enjoy our work and that criticism is part of the game. That's just life. Ultimately, we need to move on because someone out there will enjoy our work and we need to work on improving ourselves, not absorbing lies that we are useless.

Another main issue is the storyline. Is there a bump in the road of your story that you can't seem to pass over? Well, Ms. Rabin has some advice here. Alexi & his sister Alexandra plan to rescue 11 prisoners in "The Curse of the Romanovs." However, Ms. Rabin couldn't understand how they would get the prisoners out of a well-protected fortress. How, how, how would they pull that plan off? In the end, the author was inspired by Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandle in Bohemia" where Holmes uses a smoke bomb. Ms. Rabin was able to implement the smoke bomb in her story for her characters. Sometimes, writers just need to sit back and think and not worry too much. The solutions will come, only if we think the plot points through. Worrying won't help, it'll just stack on other worries where you're worrying about worrying. How's that for a tongue twister? Worrying wastes time. You just need to move on.

Before I go, let me leave several points that Ms. Rabin says that writers should consider (and some are shocking!)
1. Contrary to popular wisdom, don't "write what you know." -She says this because this may unconsciously place blocks to where you don't want to write about your past or you don't look at the work objectively to see if it's written well or not. Personally, I don't mind writers "writing what they know," but it's definitely good to look out for what she says.
2.Know that it's OK to abandon a writing project. - I've dealt with this personally this past summer. I started on the project "Pharador" thinking that everything was going to be brilliant. It wasn't. Once I looked at my manuscript and saw diverging plots such as virtual reality, mythical creatures, a magical land outside of Earth, I knew that I had to change course. Sometimes, it's advisable to stay on course and tweak your story, but sometimes, you should just change course.
3. Don't edit yourself too much while you're working on a first draft. - This is VERY interesting. Usually, we want to edit and revise immediately. For a manuscript, writers can save a a whole bunch of time by moving on to the next chapter. You can edit and revise later.

So, what do you think about this topic? I will attach the link to this post. Have a wonderful day. I will come back with more great articles and updates on my novel. :)
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=8aaa3f92-f7f5-425b-b45c-431ec38a6585%40sessionmgr111&vid=2&hid=119&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=31259234
Peacec. :-0)