It's about time to post...
When writing a blog post, I don't really think. I just write. Since I have free time, I figured it was a good time to post something new. Throughout these last three days, I have been living Internet free, excluding Netflix. Throughout the hours of these three days, I have been writing and sleeping. That's it. All together, I have written thirteen thousand words and added them all to my novel. I have been writing absolute crap, and that's how I've gotten so much done. In fact, that is what this post is going to be about. To kick off 2015, why don't we learn how to cope with writer's block and how to stop it next time? That sounds like a plan.
Recently, I visited an author's blog. I was reading about motivation and how to write more within a short period of time. I came across the blog or Rachel Aaron. It's title is Pretentious Title and you can find it if you follow the button below! It had this cool triangle map on there that contained what you needed to write faster. I figured, "Heck, this would work for writer's block too!" so I am going to post the picture down below.
Recently, I visited an author's blog. I was reading about motivation and how to write more within a short period of time. I came across the blog or Rachel Aaron. It's title is Pretentious Title and you can find it if you follow the button below! It had this cool triangle map on there that contained what you needed to write faster. I figured, "Heck, this would work for writer's block too!" so I am going to post the picture down below.
That triangle represents so many ways that you can defeat writer's block once and for all! I promise that if you follow one of these many methods below, you will say "Sayonara" to writer's block and "Bonjour" to writing freely.
Method 1: Following the Triangle
*Disclaimer: This triangle is not my idea, and I did not come up with it. Please if you repost it, don't give me credit unless you use my exact words. Thank you.*
The triangle is a very simple concept. It is an easy to use concept as well. Follow the steps below.
Step 1: Knowledge
Knowledge is pretty much the key to this triangle, as it said in Rachel Aaron's blog post. If you know what you are writing about, you don't have to worry about writer's block because the words will flow freely from your head and onto the paper. This is the one essential element to writing, but if you have no idea what you are writing, take down notes and come up with something. Writing from what you know is also a key element. If you are a thirteen year old girl, you definitely can't write about a twenty-four year old man. Why? Because you don't have any experience as a twenty-four year old man. This goes the same for research. Researching your whole story will be a big long post in the future. Researching your novel is how you know what you're writing. I once wrote a short story about a girl who traveled to Paris, France. I stayed up for fifteen hours researching everything that you can do in Paris, France. If I wanted to, I could write a fifteen page essay on the name of Paris, France. (Okay, okay, that is a bit exaggerated, but you get the idea.) KNOWLEDGE IS THE MOST ESSENTIAL PART OF BEATING WRITER'S BLOCK. Writer's block is the idea that you don't know what you are writing and something is blocking the flow of words from your body. Know what you are writing in order to beat writer's block. I can't stress this enough.
Step 2: Time
Manage your time. If you have fifteen minutes to write, don't say that you can get one thousand words written within that time. I mean, unless you write one hundred words per minute. Also, if you keep a detailed schedule saying what time you started writing, how long you wrote, how many words you wrote, when you stopped writing, how often you write, etc. etc. then you will have more of an idea of how long it takes you to write what you need to. If it took you three months to write fifteen thousand words of your novel when you only wrote fifteen minutes everyday, then try to write twenty minutes everyday this time. See how long it takes you to finish fifteen thousand words. Keep track of your time, and manage it wisely to get the fullest result.
Step 3: Enthusiasm
Have you ever woken up, and gone "God, I really don't want to write today"? That's because you have a huge lack of enthusiasm. How do you expect to get pumped up and write if you aren't excited about it? If you are excited about it, then you want to do it. You want to think. You want to... well, write! Having enthusiasm can take you from writing five hundred words in an hour to writing fifteen hundred words an hour because you just can't wait to get them on the page! Enthusiasm is just as important as knowledge and time is.
The triangle is a very simple concept. It is an easy to use concept as well. Follow the steps below.
Step 1: Knowledge
Knowledge is pretty much the key to this triangle, as it said in Rachel Aaron's blog post. If you know what you are writing about, you don't have to worry about writer's block because the words will flow freely from your head and onto the paper. This is the one essential element to writing, but if you have no idea what you are writing, take down notes and come up with something. Writing from what you know is also a key element. If you are a thirteen year old girl, you definitely can't write about a twenty-four year old man. Why? Because you don't have any experience as a twenty-four year old man. This goes the same for research. Researching your whole story will be a big long post in the future. Researching your novel is how you know what you're writing. I once wrote a short story about a girl who traveled to Paris, France. I stayed up for fifteen hours researching everything that you can do in Paris, France. If I wanted to, I could write a fifteen page essay on the name of Paris, France. (Okay, okay, that is a bit exaggerated, but you get the idea.) KNOWLEDGE IS THE MOST ESSENTIAL PART OF BEATING WRITER'S BLOCK. Writer's block is the idea that you don't know what you are writing and something is blocking the flow of words from your body. Know what you are writing in order to beat writer's block. I can't stress this enough.
Step 2: Time
Manage your time. If you have fifteen minutes to write, don't say that you can get one thousand words written within that time. I mean, unless you write one hundred words per minute. Also, if you keep a detailed schedule saying what time you started writing, how long you wrote, how many words you wrote, when you stopped writing, how often you write, etc. etc. then you will have more of an idea of how long it takes you to write what you need to. If it took you three months to write fifteen thousand words of your novel when you only wrote fifteen minutes everyday, then try to write twenty minutes everyday this time. See how long it takes you to finish fifteen thousand words. Keep track of your time, and manage it wisely to get the fullest result.
Step 3: Enthusiasm
Have you ever woken up, and gone "God, I really don't want to write today"? That's because you have a huge lack of enthusiasm. How do you expect to get pumped up and write if you aren't excited about it? If you are excited about it, then you want to do it. You want to think. You want to... well, write! Having enthusiasm can take you from writing five hundred words in an hour to writing fifteen hundred words an hour because you just can't wait to get them on the page! Enthusiasm is just as important as knowledge and time is.
Method 2: Let Yourself Write Crap
Crappy writing is one other way to defeat writer's block once and for all. Instead of thinking to yourself "Oh, this is crap, let me fix this. I need to make it perfect." think to yourself "I just need to get the words on the page." If you fix everything that you think isn't perfect, then you will never finish your first draft. You will NEVER.
If you are scared of writing crap, then get out. Don't write. You need to be able to open your mind and just let the words flow. If you don't let the words flow, then what will you have? You will have a barricade in your brain that writers call Writer's Block. You won't have a perfect first draft, and that is okay. What you need to do is have an imperfect first draft so you can end up making it perfect once it is all completed. Editing is the perfect way to make it perfect, but without the crap writing that you do before, then you won't have anything to edit. In fact, if it perfect before you edit it, then you won't like writing because it won't be a challenge! Make it a challenge by writing crap. If you can't let yourself write crap, then don't let yourself write at all.
If you are scared of writing crap, then get out. Don't write. You need to be able to open your mind and just let the words flow. If you don't let the words flow, then what will you have? You will have a barricade in your brain that writers call Writer's Block. You won't have a perfect first draft, and that is okay. What you need to do is have an imperfect first draft so you can end up making it perfect once it is all completed. Editing is the perfect way to make it perfect, but without the crap writing that you do before, then you won't have anything to edit. In fact, if it perfect before you edit it, then you won't like writing because it won't be a challenge! Make it a challenge by writing crap. If you can't let yourself write crap, then don't let yourself write at all.
Method 3: Eliminate Distractions
If you are distracted then you can't focus. Turn off the television. Turn off your phone. Unplug from the internet. Clean off your desk so that you can concentrate without a mess. Tell your family that you need time to yourself and not to disturb you. If you get rid of every single distraction that you could possibly think of or know about then you can finally focus. If you focus then the cure will come to you. Just focus on what you are writing and read over your last couple of paragraphs. If you just concentrate and read then the words will come to you. I promise they will.
Method 4: Move Around
If you move around, then your creative flow will come back to you. Try cleaning the house for an hour until you come up with an idea. Walk around the park until you get an idea. Don't sit on the couch and watch television and eat bagels. That will only stump your creative flow for a longer time. If you get active and move your body, whether that be dance or sing or even exercise, then you will spike that creativeness inside your brain to reactivate once it has gone dead.
How to Beat Writer's Block Forever
Do you want to never deal with writer's block again? Plan better. If you are writing a story, then write every scene that will happen in your story in order to get to the ending. Write every main point that will happen in a scene. One of your scenes may look like this.
Jane Doe and John Doe get into an argument over who gets to have the last brownie. This brownie contains sugar though, which John is allergic to. If he eats it then he will die, and Jane is trying to tell him that but he won't listen. When this argument ends, he doesn't eat the brownie and Jane won the argument. It takes place in a suburban house in City, Country.
(Continuing from above) If you are writing a story, describe the main points that will happen in a chapter. If they are longer chapters, they will contain more points than shorter chapters.
Anyway, see you next time. Remember to plan and stop writer's block once and for all! I hope you all had a good New Year's and I hope that you all were safe. I hope you all had a good holiday season and that you got lots of presents! I know not everyone celebrates the same holiday, so if you did get presents, then feel free to comment below what you got! See you next time!
Anyway, see you next time. Remember to plan and stop writer's block once and for all! I hope you all had a good New Year's and I hope that you all were safe. I hope you all had a good holiday season and that you got lots of presents! I know not everyone celebrates the same holiday, so if you did get presents, then feel free to comment below what you got! See you next time!