Battle of the Block

It got me while writing The Scarlet Omen; it attacked while I wrote A Maiden’s Legacy and it’s gotten me now while writing Book 3. That wretched alien wall that decides to come slamming down between writers and their creative juices—you know what I’m talking about. Yes…writer’s block. It’s the most useless of all ailments. It doesn’t even strengthen our immune systems like other diseases. Right? Wrong!

I’ve been learning the hard way that writer’s block is something from which no one can escape (if there’s anyone out there reading this who disagrees, please feel free to contact me so that I can take blood samples). I used to hate it, wishing that someone would come up with a vaccine.

“Discipline allows magic. To be a writer is to be the very best of assassins. You do not sit down and write every day to force the Muse to show up. You get into the habit of writing every day so that when she shows up, you have the maximum chance of catching her, bashing her on the head, and squeezing every last drop out of that bitch.”
― Lili St. Crow

(Source: www.goodreads.com)

If writer’s block is such a natural thing, should we be fighting it? Of course we should! Just like our bodies fight off the flu, we need to get off our butts and write. With every bout of the flu we come back stronger than before. Similarly, with every writer’s block episode we come out with a clean sheet of paper with which to work. Think of it as a big kick in the butt reset button!

When I was working on The Scarlet Omen, I got stuck just as everything was getting exciting. The whole mythical world of Masa was already in place with its monsters and heroes. However, my mind just shut down because of the many possibilities—there were just too many different roads that my characters could take to get to THE END. What happened next? That annoying wall came hurtling toward Earth accompanied by self-doubt and tears. The same thing has happened with every book I’ve written. Either I didn’t have enough facts to go on or there were too many battling for my attention.

So what have I learnt from this? I’ve learnt that every obstacle in life can be used to your advantage. I’m taking writer’s block as a chance to step back and assess my work from a new vantage point—to de-clutter if you will.

I’m not going to take much credit for this post because I was completely stumped last week and wouldn’t have gotten out of my hole had it not been for THE PIXAR PITCH.

·         Once upon a time

·         Everyday

·         One day

·         Because of that

·         Because of that

·         Until finally

(Source: http://brighthillgroup.com/dan-pinks-pixar-pitch-is-really-rich/)

This is a miracle worker! My favourite way to make an outline of your book while keeping a clear head. Assessing your work (when you hit that Great Wall of Blockage) using these sentences will change the way you look at a book.

I’ve also fallen in love with writingprompts.tumblr.com because of the awesome writing material used by the author. Once you start his exercises, you should be back on track with making fantastic literary history! Good luck peeps.