Drawing a Blank — The Curse of Writer’s Block
Sometimes
These blank pages
Cut me like a knife
Three days sat at a computer and that was what I came up with. I never experience much writer’s block; I am the very definition of a prolific writer, managing (almost always) at least one poem a day. On this occasion however, about three months ago, I had nothing. Zip. Not even good old fashioned Stream of Consciousness madness.
For me, writing is cathartic. Poetry is a way of expelling the demons within me and I love it more than I could possibly describe. It has taken over my life to a point that I no longer see with my eyes but with my pen. I imagine artists feel much the same, seeing in watercolours or charcoal. I need poetry in my life, I need to write, to share. It’s like therapy.
So as you can imagine, for me those three days were the longest I can remember. I finally cracked on the third evening and just wrote how I felt. I felt drained, I felt savaged and I felt hopeless. The lack of a poem hadn’t just affected my present, but my past work as well. I looked at my old poems and I hated them. I hated what I’d written because I questioned how I had ever written them in the first place with this pitiful mind that won’t even write one damn thing!
And then it came. Sweet relief. Dare I say orgasmic…
It was my first experience of writers block and safe to say if I get there again I will be approaching it in a different light. After my three day war of attrition I decided to do some research into how other, more renown authors deal with the subject. The results were fascinating and well worth sharing.
“Over the years, I’ve found one rule. It is the only one I give on those occasions when I talk about writing. A simple rule. If you tell yourself you are going to be at your desk tomorrow, you are by that declaration asking your unconscious to prepare the material.”
Norman Mailer had a typically scientific approach to writers block. Make time and space for your writing and it will flow. While I agree that having a defined time and place to write definitely helps the process, I also think that if you can’t write, you won’t be able to write anywhere. I needed something more than this!
Stephen King, who judging by his output has experienced about one hour of writers block his entire life, has a curveball of an idea. He believes you should give your character, be it the main protagonist or someone you are writing about at the time the block hits, a new challenge or problem to overcome. This way you have to write, in order for the character to overcome the challenge. Again, this is good, but I was more interested in the psychological reasons for the block, and the ramifications stemming from a troubled mind unable to process its feelings through writing.
“take a writer away from his typewriter and all you have left is the sickness which started him typing in the beginning”
Anybody that knows me knows how much of a soft spot I have for Bukowski. I understand he is not everyone’s pint of scotch but he wrote some beautiful lines that really speak to me above and beyond any other poet. Here he got to the crux of the issue for me. Poetry (and writing in general) as emetic. Again, I am sure it runs the same way for all artists in a way. Bukowski never really got writers block but I think he contributed nicely to the debate with this piece.
“The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day … you will never be stuck.”
Ernest Hemingway had, in my opinion, the best answer. Don’t wait until you are out of ideas. Stop when the ideas are still flowing. Jot them down and go do something else! Then when you sit back down to write, look at what you have noted down and start again. It is such a simple idea, but one that has literally no flaws. It is beautiful in its simplicity, much like the man himself.
So, that’s my two pennies-worth. I would be interested to hear from you guys, to see what gets you writing again. Is it S.O.C, prompts or just good old fashioned attrition? Let me know!
Yours, Obstructively
Stuart Buck
@stuartmbuck
