What Causes Writer's Block?

[Coco]

Or "creativity block" in general?

I have always been fascinated when a band can create unbelievably good music for a few years and then produce nothing thereafter.

I have heard of writers also who put out a couple of books in a span of a few years, and then put out nothing for, sometimes, the rest of their lives?

Just curious!

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This message was edited by Coco on 1-21-03 @ 2:34 PM

[Bob Impact]

I'm a writer with a year and a half worth of block currently. Beyond being crippling to your job it's the most annoying thing i've been through. I originally thought that my decision to begin taking Lithium was behind the block, but it's becoming more and more apparent to me that I have trouble writing when my life is going well. This week for instance I've been dealing with the fact that two people i'm close to are in the hospital and most likely won't make it. Now that i'm depressed i find myself writing more often. So maybe it's the emotion. I don't know, I can't even write a post anymore.

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[Reephdweller]

For me it's strange, I could easily write pages and pages of material or stories. But if I have any kind of a deadline it tend to lock up. I usually have to work very hard to get the thought of the deadline or pressure out of my mind.

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[Thebazile78]

Like Bob mentioned, I too write some of my best stuff when my life is screwed up.

Take Eric Clapton, for example. Eric Clapton is a very talented performer/writer/guitarist, but, as soon as he quit his negative habits (drinking/drugs) his music was lacking something. Now he volunteers with heroin addicts.

He's still using his creative energies, just not for self-destruction.

For me, writers' block tends also to come from stress.

If I'm stressed out at work or in other parts of my life, the last thing I want to do is come home and work on something else.

I've got at least 3 or 4 projects that have been "in the works" since high school and the last thing I wrote seriously was a poem in July 2001 which only 2 other people have read.

If there's a more deep-seated, psychological explanation, I'd like to hear it. . . and work out some of those issues in therapy so I can write again!




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[Bob Impact]

But if I have any kind of a deadline it tend to lock up. I usually have to work very hard to get the thought of the deadline or pressure out of my mind.

That reminded me of my first publisher, who was intent on me writing a certain story within the space of three weeks, I felt pressured and as if my ideas didn't count and hence, the story sucked and I wouldn't allow it to be printed using my name. It ended up running in a rag who's name I won't mention to avoid embrassasing myself under my pen name, which I also won't disclose to avoid embrassasment.

So yes, I concur that deadline induced Writer's Block is not only possible but happened to me.

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[Reephdweller]

don't take this as a joke...but i do remember reading about a famous writer...who once said essentially that you need to clear your mind...and that he'd do so by batching..he'd then be relaxed and was able to write. i forget the writer...maybe Patterson

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[Reephdweller]

I do all my best work on Heroine.



it's been a while hasn't it?

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[HordeKing1]

Paradoxically, many are at their most creative while depressed and things seem bleakest.

Writer's block can be caused by many things. Stress, fatigue, lack of interest, or even lack of talent. If you push through the block, (a difficult thing to do) it eventually disappears.

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[Dan]

Writer's Block is for the lazy. Just
power through it and write a little
crap until you get back in the
groove.

I know because I'm lazy.

I do what Hemingway did: always
stop writing when you have a
little more left in your well...that
way you have something to start
with in the morning.


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[DarkHippie]

Hemmingway also used to shoot himself with Testosterone in the arm while typing standing up and naked. Do you do that too?

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[PotentialIsZero]

i've been going through a block for a long while now. i have a few things i've been trying to write down for a while now; i can see them all in my head like a movie but i just can't get them down. i've been thinking lately that this may have come because i don't have eny deadlines, when i was in school i could turn stuff out at a furious pace in the span of a few hours. i would pass it off until about the night before and then thats when i'd write my best stuff. Now with no deadline i've been stuck and anything i do write just ends up looking like a waste. i don't remember the name but there was a playwrite that always waited until the last moment to write and he wrote some great stuff. But thats what i need, i need a forceful deadline to finish my work. Anything you think might help me?

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[HordeKing1]

Just write. Don't worry about the purity of the language or the syntax or the flow. Just get the ideas out. Once you habituate yourself to writing, you'll probably find it easier to clean up the stuff you had to struggle to get on paper.

Since you work well with deadlines, get an alarm and set it for one hour. Give yourself, just that one hour to write. After that, put it aside until the next day. Eventually you might expand to one hour 2 or 3 times a day, but start with just one hour in which all your writing for the day must be done.

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