Random Topic Generator: What’s it Like Having Writer’s Block

One of the scariest situations a writer can find themselves in is Writer’s Block – a condition where a writer doesn’t know how to progress the story. It’s where a mental brick wall has been built between the story and your creative part of the brain. Sometimes, Writer’s Block can feel as if you’ve lost all your creative energy, never to write again.

OK, that escalated quickly, but Writer’s Block isn’t nice, and it strikes suddenly without warning, and sometimes it you don’t necessarily know you’ve got it until the deadline date starts looming. You can be merrily going about your days, writing away when you feel as if you need to take a small break before ending the story. Except these few days start building up, and only when you realise the deadline is next week and you have not a clue what to, do you discover that you have Writer’s Block. This the mildest form, though. You can be pumping out thousands of words per day when suddenly you stop, because you don’t know what happens next. The story has been flowing nicely, you’ve known everything about the story, inside and out, except how it ends. Every ending you can think of doesn’t fit, or simply you cannot think of an ending; your creative energy just doesn’t want to flow anymore.

This can leave you feeling a bit confused because you’re wondering how could this have happened, and if the days continue to fly by without a single word written, you can start feeling down, lethargic, unenthusiastic; you just want to write, but nothing’s working.

I have experienced Writer’s Block before and I can tell you it isn’t nice. They were the most stressful couple of weeks of my writing life. I had just published my first book and the excitement started to build, I felt highly motivated, and with a strong sense of accomplishment, because it was a huge achievement. I put a staggering amount of effort into making sure the book was as perfect as it can possibly be and once I had published it, I felt a lot of pressure tumbling from my shoulders like boulders down a cliff.

A few weeks after the release date the mechanisms that I had set in motion were operating on their own, I was able to focus on my other story. As I started planning and writing, I fell back down to Earth quicker than I thought I had. I believed I was gradually descending calmly, but instead I crashed to the ground like a tonne of bricks. I only realised that had happened when I stopped writing altogether, and I was experiencing the exact opposite of what I had a couple of weeks beforehand. I didn’t feel excited anymore, I didn’t feel motivated anymore, and as continued to struggle getting the words out on paper, that huge accomplishment didn’t feel so huge anymore, especially as if it was going to be my only book; I believed it to have kick-started something massive.

I had hit a mental brick wall. I spent days upon days trying to write something, but only to stare at a blank piece of paper or screen. I tried multiple techniques in an attempt to revitalise my motivation and knock down that wall, but all failed. I was stressing myself out, growing more and more grumpy with each day that I did nothing. I actually thought about giving up on writing altogether and never look back because I genuinely believed I had hit the end of the road. My creative part was only able to put together one book and that’s it, no more stories for me.

I was able to overcome my Writer’s Block, and it was in an instant. My mum took me to see someone who would be able to help. I explained my situation and they turned round and frankly said, ‘what can I do about it?’ It was in that moment the wall had been knocked down. He said it in such a tone, it was obvious that no one could do anything to help me, other than myself, and I cracked a smile for what felt like ages because I felt a little silly for disturbing him for such a mundane problem. He continued to justify what he said, ‘If you want to be a writer, then write.’ And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

Everything we do comes with their own set of problems. I’ve never experienced Writer’s Block since and I hope not to do so again. I have had a few moments where I don’t know what to write and have been stuck on a certain scene or not known what to write for this blog, but that’s not Writer’s Block, that’s simply being stuck. They’ve all been a minor problem that I’ve always managed to overcome one way or another.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)