Young Writers Society

Being ‘blocked’ is infamous among the writing community.

However, you may be surprised to know that the condition of ‘writer’s block’

does not physically exist! It is a fallacy, borne in the mind that we cannot

write, when really there is another matter to blame entirely.

‘The internal critic.’

There is –buried in the mines of your imagination – a little

voice that sometimes rears its ugly head. And it says things like:

‘You’re writing is rubbish.’

‘Why are you still doing this?’

‘You should just give up.’

The BIGGEST mistake you can make is listening to this voice.

It will get you nowhere. (Apart from digging your own creative grave.) The

voice is designed to be your own worst enemy. It’s like a really harsh editor

who hates everything you produce; and continually insists you go back to the

drawing board to better yourself. A useful technique when you get yourself in

this position is to look at things rationally.

Firstly: reading through your work, is it the best you can

do right now? If yes… great! If not… you may want to make changes. Changes are

fine, until you get to the point of no return where… you’re making changes for

the sake of it. Or, you’re not really making your work better, just ‘different.’

And that’s no good. You need to be confident in what you have written in front

of you, until it can only be made different in your mind.

Another fatal err can be thinking that something is better

than nothing. Which is hardly ever the case! Forced creative is worse than

none, because you will most likely drive yourself insane trying to come up with

that illusive ‘a good idea’ and never find it.

Logically speaking, there are no such things as good or bad

ideas, because it’s all subjective. In the same way, your writing cannot be

good or bad, because it is all a matter of opinion. However, people’s opinions

obviously count when you are creating literature because it is one of the arts.

If your desire lies in the realm of making money from writing, you will need

people to like your work in order to buy it. Basic principles of business.

Controversy can be good when you’re just starting out; because

it helps you decide where you want to place yourself within the writing market.

(If anywhere at all, it is entirely plausible that you may want to start your

own sector.) Now whilst this is doable, it obviously more difficult trying to

establish yourself as opposed to fitting in with what already exists.

To make a claim such as: ‘I am going to be the next JK

Rowling’ is more than a bit ridiculous, since it is so highly unlikely. Whilst

there is such a thing as luck in the business of writing and having the right

idea at the right time, you also need the discipline and passion for your

subject to be able to sustain yourself throughout the writing process.

Ultimately, what you choose to do is exactly that: a choice.

And only you can make it. Chances are, you will start ideas and never finish

them. Or steal from one of your stories and slam it into the other. If you’re struggling

to decide on a genre, you will probably end up creating a

romance-horror-comedy-action-adventure-fantasy-thriller-western-with elements

of kung fu- novel! And that’s ok – because you don’t necessarily have to

pigeon-hole yourself.

But back to the fact that you are never really ‘blocked.’

You need to switch the voice. I wonder whether you were critiquing this

organised ramble as you were reading? Whether or not you actually agreed with

anything I said is irrelevant. Because it’s both wrong and right. It’s all

opinionated.

Your personal experience with give you the best counselling

on how to get you out of your head and get your ideas on the page. My advice:

Gag your internal critic and write something now, anything!