No, dear writer, there is no such thing as creative block
Introduction: the fall of a myth
You have an incredible idea for a book/article, and sit down to write. You write around 10,000 words, and you stall. Nothing flows from your fingers or mind anymore.
You’ve encountered one of every writer’s greatest fears: the dreaded creative block.
It can last a few minutes, days, weeks, months, or — God protects us — even years.
Regardless of whether you’re a novice writer or an author of decades, you’ve probably come up against this wall at some point in your journey.
However, if I told you that THERE IS NO CREATIVE BLOCK?
You might be rolling your eyes right now, thinking: “What do you mean it doesn’t exist? Creative block is a real entity! I’ve experienced it myself!”
So let me explain: there is no such thing as creative block, there is a lack of planning.
It’s as simple as that.
Read on to have your writing journey revolutionized.
There is NO such thing as creative block
Every writer has experienced the following situation: you have a great idea, and you feel the muse of inspiration whispering in your ears as your fingers fly across the keyboard.
However, the muse is temperamental and disappears.
What happens next?
We call this creative block.
If you Google “What is a creative block?” you’ll come up with something similar to the following description:
it’s a psychological phenomenon in which a person faces difficulties in generating ideas, and solutions or expressing their creativity fluently.
However, there is no such thing as “creative block”.
Don’t get me wrong, a person can experience difficulties in expressing themselves creatively.
But do you know why this happens?
It’s due to a need for more detailed, documented planning before writing.
This is intrinsically linked to the way we see creativity: as a muse. That’s where the problem lies. We can’t rely solely on inspiration to generate ideas and write.
The Symptoms of Lack of Planning
We may disagree about whether creative block exists or not, but its consequences are very real.
Throw the first stone at anyone who hasn’t had a project shelved and abandoned because they didn’t know what else to write. I have a few myself (and I’m not proud of it).
With each interrupted project, our frustration grows, we feel we’re not real writers, and we feel we’re a sham. Such thoughts significantly increase the chances of giving up writing altogether.
I bet this has happened to thousands of writers around the world.
Can you imagine how many incredible stories/articles haven’t seen the light of day?
Perhaps the problem is the way we view the creative process.
Most writers only write when they feel inspired to write. They think that to be creative there can be no strings attached or structure. They think that real writers don’t need to plan.
That’s a mistake.
And you’ll understand the reason behind my words.
Detailed and documented planning is the key
In an ideal world, all writers are inspired all the time and write with ease without planning anything.
However, we don’t live in an ideal world.
We live in a chaotic, ephemeral, and liquid world (Zygmunt Bauman would agree with me without a doubt). We are more inattentive and forgetful. And there are still writers who rely completely on their memory and inspiration to create.
Our minds play tricks on us and one of them is to give us the feeling that we have the whole story completely determined in our thoughts.
You, dear writer, have a vague idea of what happens at the beginning, middle, and end. However, you can’t know every single detail of what’s going to happen in your story. You know point A and point Z but you don’t know the rest of the alphabet.
You just think you do.
So plan.
By planning, you create a map, a compass to the final destination: the existence of a completed project. There’s nothing more rewarding for a writer than having a finished project (at least the first draft).
I bet you want to get your unfinished projects out of the drawer and give them the ending they deserve, don’t you?
So plan!
“But how?” you might be asking yourself.
It’s worth pointing out that in this text, I’m going to focus more on fiction writing.
There are many ways of planning and structuring writing:
- The three-act structure (this is a classic — find out more in Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story by K. M. Weiland).
- Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey (learn more in “Hero of a Thousand Faces”)
- Jessica Brody’s 15-point structure (find out more in “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel”)
- John Truby’s 22-point structure (learn more in “The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller”)
- Among others…
I won’t go into detail about each structure mentioned, but I will write a detailed article on each of these structures later.
You need to choose the one that best fits your mind.
Test each one if possible.
Don’t forget to document your planning. After all, our minds play tricks on us.
There’s no doubt that writing is much easier when it’s structured and you know what to write before you even open Google Docs/Scrivener/Word.
Conclusion
On our journey as writers, we’ve all faced what we call “creative block”: the feeling that the words are gone, the muse of inspiration has disappeared and the writing process has become an uphill battle.
However, it is crucial to understand that creative block is not a real entity, but rather a manifestation of a lack of planning.
Creativity should not be seen as a capricious and demanding muse that visits the writer randomly and chaotically.
Instead, creativity should be cultivated through detailed and documented planning.
By embracing structure and organization, writers can avoid the discouragement and frustration that come with unfinished projects and interrupted writing.
Choosing the planning approach that best suits your mind, whether it’s the three-act structure, the hero’s journey, or the 15-point or 22-point structure, is the first step to unlocking your creativity. By doing this, you create a map that guides you through the writing journey and helps you reach the ultimate goal: the completion of your project.
Instead of allowing the creative block to be a barrier, recognize that the real issue lies in a lack of planning. By adopting a structured approach, you will unleash your creativity and bring to light incredible stories and ideas that deserve to be shared with the world.
So plan, write with confidence, and prove to yourself that creative block is just a fallacy, while planned writing is the key to success.
Kisses, hugs, and coffees.
