Mitchell's Help Guide - Chapter 3

Alright, I am really going to mindfuck you in this chapter.

Writer’s block doesn’t exist. There, I said it. It is not a tangible object, it’s an idea, ironically, about NOT having ideas. Ha ha ha. So how do you make sense of this one?

For example, I was once writing a novel about a sea urchin that discovered the joys of cocaine. Now, I got stuck on what his experiences would be like high, because I had never been or met a sea urchin before you see. It was really difficult for me to get into the mindset of this character. Therefore, I utilised my imagination as far as I could. Took as much cocaine as possible and…. BAM! Nothing came to me.

Later, I examined the many possible reasoning for this. And come up with the following theories:

1. I was being too picky about how accurate my writing would be

2. I thought that everything I was writing was terrible

Basically, as a writer, there is this little arse-irritating voice in your head. Your internal critic. And they don’t shut up faulting and guilt tripping you when you are in the middle of the creative process. Which is –needless to say- very annoying. You have to battle against this critic and just sink your teeth into your work and believe in yourself and… Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Back up.

I sound like some hippy freak, who has taken too much marijuana to think straight. Oh wait, that IS me! Ha ha ha. Now, returning to my original point. Which was:

‘Don’t let the little voice in your head drag you down.’

I think it was a famous writer that once gave the advice of thinking that your first draft of anything would be shit. And they were right. It is raw ideas, in an unedited format; you are just blurting words down on the page. So no one is expecting the next, great bestseller. However, having said that, there are the gems of the work included in such a first draft, because there is no censorship. Such as the beauty of raw writing.

So, if you stop being picky about whether or not you’re going to be the next JK Rowling then you might find that you are a little more successful. Let go of all your inhibitions and just write. Therefore, there won’t be any reason to get “blocked” because you can just write about whatever you like. Simple, eh?

Now will all you motherfuckers give me a break and stop asking for advice, ok? And yes, that was me talking to the voices in my head

Chapter Four is: Why Characters Are More Important Than Plot.

Stay tuned folks!