Writer’s Block or Abandonment?

Characters depend on you.

How often have you gazed into a painfully bright and blank word document, entirely unsure of where to take a story?

Or perhaps left it unchanged for two years before revisiting the file and deciding the whole thing needs a complete reworking?

That’s me.

I began writing my first novel three years ago. My passion for the story came in waves. One day I’d be drawing maps of the fantasy land where it was set, and the next I’d be making cups of tea just to get away from the keyboard.

I abandoned my characters in a forest, left them hanging in a cave for a good six months, and haven’t even the decency to let them know the direction book two might take.

As it has been for many others, writer’s block is an infuriating enemy of mine.

Just when I get the ball rolling it likes to jump out and kick the ball into another realm, and I’m not on a roll anymore, and God only knows where the ball ended up.

But I’ve come to realise that with the ceasing of enthusiasm over characters we once loved, comes the ceasing of their potential.

They’re waiting for us, ever so patiently, to plot their stories for them. To write them into existence.

I find it oddly enlightening that these beings freeze when we leave them. That as their writers and creators, we are the only people with the power, control, and imagination to propel their lives forward.

Writer’s block is an inevitable obstacle, but I propose that our broader intentions should be the reason we overcome it – because we simply owe it to the characters.

It’s a duty.

And an exciting privilege, really.