Someone sent me a PM asking for more suggestions on writer's block after reading my first article. As I wrote the answer, I realized that this should reach much more people. So I'm actually posting my reply here. Trust me, it isn't a done to death stereotype. It might actually help you!
So let us begin! Here are some of the innovative ways to break the block.
1. My best friend - Recorder:
Whenever I get/crack an idea, be it a joke, an emotional moment or a unique theme, I use recorder in my cellphone and record that thought in a very random way. When you're excited about an idea, you should try to record it immediately. When you get struck with blocks, these ideas shall help you immensely!
2. Search for a unique theme/subject:
Literature is bigger than Pacific Ocean. If you want to make your mark, you ought to be madly inventive. I'll give you an example. I wanted to write a poem on homophobia. Now this subject is intense, so much that any humor revolving around this subject is mostly regarded as offensive.
I'm someone who loves writing humor. So I came up with this idea. The entire poem was full of puns. Homophobia was compared to hatred towards left-handed people. It was feel-good poem which tried to prove that sexual orientation is natural and can't be controlled. It was funny because of puns and it ended happily where the boy realized being left is not a crime.
The poem received polar views. Some said, this was incredible. Others said it was trashy piece.
But I did try in a small way to make a difference. If we come up with unique subjects the joy of writing multiplies 10 times.
3. The First Draft:
One of my biggest learnings is, never ever ever post your first draft on internet. I did that with my novel and though the response for first 2 chapters was phenomenal the third one was severely criticized.
What works for a novel is the editing. A good novel can be turned to a great one just by tidy editing. But the editing process should start only after the 1st draft.
Criticism on first draft can suck your enthusiasm. You should put it online only after completing the whole draft. This works wonders!
4. Ignoring the manuscript:
Again, this is my way of improving the quality of the story. Suppose I have 2 ideas in my mind. I'm working simultaneously on both. One of them picks up and I start working on it. The moment I finish the first draft, I keep it in cold storage till I forget about the idea.This is an excruciating, bloodcurdling process which pays rich dividends if we actually execute it!
Mind keeps flickering towards the story, but don't give up! Try to write something else. A short story, other poems, random no-sense, but don't think about your story. After one-one and half months, the temptation towards the story dries down. Look at your draft now. Is it engaging? Funny/emotional? You get your answers. It works like a heck. I laughed out loud on my own jokes and even cringed for some of the useless info-bumps. You don't need any adviser if you work in this manner!
So I tried my way to give you unique solutions to the routine problem ever writer faces.
Points:
Time spent:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Mark this comment as a review? Points will be awarded to the poster.
Your comment was posted, but it wasn’t long enough to count as a review. Reviews need about four complete sentences (at least 250 characters). Try writing another review that explains your thoughts in more detail — the author will appreciate it, and you’ll earn points for it.
125,011 Literary Works • 672,841 Reviews
Hey, Red here! Just thought I'd add a review to get this out of the Greenroom
Great Job!
I loved all your suggestions, honestly, but here are my thoughts. I loved the suggestion of getting your ideas down as soon as you get them. I've never thought of using a recorder for that; I usually just put the idea down on paper, but a recorder is brilliant. Uniqueness is always good in writing, while clichés can be funny, something new and different is, in my opinion, a better read. Finishing the first draft is another major thing, though I'm not sure it's under the category of unblocking writer's block.
I also agree with Timmy about this having more of a relaxed feel than an essay, but I've seen some laid back essays so it's not a big thing.
Overall it is a very helpful and fun article
Timmy here
So you wrote this in a P.M? That does make it more difficult to review, since you didn't actually write it as an essay. Since you wrote it as a P.M., it has more of an at-ease style to it, and not really having a format to it - just talking what comes to mind. Regardless how you wrote it, I will go through and just give you an opinion-handout as I read. Ready? :3 Let's jam.
The first point you give to your reader is basically don't let an idea get away from you. Which is great. A writer should never let an idea get away from them, which I find myself doing all the time - and I never remember to write it down or record it (as you suggest) or anything else. So this was a great pointer, and something to remember. But I did find it somewhat... minimalistic? There are so many different ways to get an idea down for later - writing it down, telling someone close by, recording it (your idea). And you only mentioned the one part of it, which I truthfully had never thought of before. If it's poetry you're talking about here, that no worky. I don't know about everyone else, but talking into a phone for poetry? For an idea, I think it would work. Although I am skeptical about if it's any faster or easier to remember than simply just writing your idea down on paper, or typing it into your phone or something. Your idea is good, very good, but you could have expanded on it more. More techniques to remember the ideas.
Since you're talking about someone's direct speech, it should have been in quotes - since you are quoting people there. ^.^
Your third point isn't as good as the others, and not entirely accurate. Let me give you an example: I am writing a novel on YWS right now, and I am just writing along as we do, going on to chapter eight in a few months (second place project). My reviewers are following it along, and liking it and everything.... They're following it as I acquire my voice, and helping me to find my writing, and my voice - as well as everything else. At chapter eight, they told me something which caused me to just come to a dead stop in my writing to look back. The first two reviewers pretty much told me I needed to get to work, and work on it a lot - that my writing had changed for the worse. I never would have noticed, never would had known, had my reviewers not told me that. So posting your first drafts are just as important as your second, and I would even venture to say it's more important. And I don't know about everyone else, but criticism on my novel is my enthusiasm. I have something to work on, to be better at. YAY. The point of a first draft is to acquire to a voice, better your writing and get the idea down on paper. The second draft is to perfect what you have learned in the first draft. Even though I would get a nice ego boost from posting my purdy second-draft chapters, I would benefit so much more from posting them as a first draft.
I am in the third draft of a novel at the moment, and haven't actually posted any of it on YWS save for a few random chapters (three+ year project, so was wayyy before I found YWS). If I had someone to help me on my writing and the story and the characters and the pacing and the plot in my first draft? o.0 That would have been phenomenal, and the third draft may not have been necessary.
That is my opinion on that point. Some people may see it as different, I suppose.
TSK TSK Always write your numbers out - so two instead of 2. hee-hee Tiny nitpick, but I gotta say something.
This piece could use a sharp eye to snatch all the errors such as the one above (missed a space in-between the sentences), and others spread out through the piece. They corrupt your piece like a glitch in the software, and this piece should be looked through and all the mistakes pulled out.
I agree with the fourth point entirely, and that is exactly what I am going to do when I finish the last draft of my novel. A few weeks away from it will allow me to distance myself better from the piece, so I can look at in a new perspective. We writers get so close to our pieces, and we get so used to reading the mistakes that we don't see them. Time away from hem really help you find everything wrong with the piece. You could have actually delved into that part of it more - the reward of waiting for so long. You go through and say how to wait and give your piece time - what things we can do to put the piece out of our minds. But you didn't give me much on what to do afterwards. You told us that you'd laugh at your own jokes and all that jazz, but I didn't get the feeling that it would do anything except enhance the reading experience of your own piece. What about editing? Help with that? As a reader, I want more for that section. It deserves more.
I enjoyed this and I think they are valid points which would help anyone with any writing - not just getting out of writer's block. And I don't actually think this was intended for people with the block, but just writers in general. And your points did help me, and gave me things to think about for when I go about editing and coming up with ideas. Keep writing helpful articles. :3
~Darth TimmyJake
Nice, nice.
Awesome bro. I can relate to the points mentioned by you. Thanks for this article, it is really helpful.
This is vary helpful.I never would've thought that there were a lot more way to get rid of writers block,because I've had my fair share of writers block.In fact, I still have it but it's not a severe.Thank you for some more ways to get rid of writers block.
This is vary helpful.I never would've thought that there were a lot more way to get rid of writers block,because I've had my fair share of writers block.I still have it but it's not a severe.My personal favorite one was the second one search for a unique theme/subject.Thank you for some more ways to get rid of writers block.
Quite helpful, especially the last tip. Thanks!
thanks. I consciously tried to avoid cliched suggestions.
That's why it was helpful