Beat the Clock on Writer’s Block
November 10, 2008
Stuck behind writer’s block? Wanna get unstuck in a hurry? I finally hit on the quick and easy way to combat writer’s block while making big gains in NaNoWriMo. This may not work for everybody, but I’ll bet most of you find it beneficial, even if you’re not partaking in NaNoWriMo. It’s working great for me.
Pick a scene, transition, set of characters in dialogue, descriptive setting, or whatever floats your boat about your current novel in progress (NIP). Set your watch, stopwatch, or an eggtimer for 15 minutes. Ready? Go!
Write either by hand or keyboard and just dare yourself to write crap. The goal is not necessarily to write real, unusable crap (for those of you who don’t get Nano), but to push yourself to get down some aspect of your story at a pace that’s faster than normal. This is an excellent exercise in flexing your writing muscles (which, in reality, is your critical and creative thinking processor); and while you will more than likely pour out some bonafide drivel, you’ll end up with some surprisingly good story elements (read: scenes, transitions, conversations, descriptive passages, etc.) that you didn’t have before.
Time’s up. How many words did you write? Make a note of it. Pay no attention to how much crap vs. drivel you’ve just produced. Seriously.
Now reset your clock for another 15 minutes. This time, see if you can beat your last word count.
The trick, of course, is turning off your inner editor. This means that you may have to consciously say to yourself that it’s okay to write crap. It’s okay to suck (because it is). Let your perfectionista take a walk, take a nap, or go to the reading room — just unplug him/her. By giving yourself permission to write crap, you’ll be surprised to discover how much great writing you really have inside you, and that most or all of it really isn’t crap after all.
Time! Ready for the next round? Let me know if this helped you — Oh, go!
©2008 Interminable Writer
Entry Filed under: Cockrill, culture, humor, life, nanowrimo, novels, random, stories, thoughts, wisdom, writer's block, writers, writing, writing life. Tags: Cockrill, crapwriting, inner editor, nanowrimo, novels, perfectionism, story elements, writing, writing life.
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1.
dianegallant | November 10, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I sometimes use a kind of freewriting as a way to generate ideas or to try to break out of a plot impasse. I also use venn diagrams. I write quickly, but I don’t time myself. I just stop when I either have my solution, or when I don’t think one is coming.
2.
ladybeams | November 11, 2008 at 11:30 am
This is interesting. I’ll have to give it a try. I’m sure it work for anything you’re needing to write, right? LOL. I usually use google alerts concerning my subjects to get ideas, but this sounds like fun, actually. (Altho I’m not sure my “concious” doesn’t take a walk often enough already. CRS)
I’ve been thinking about a small non-fiction piece. I’ll have to read more of your tips.
3.
uppington | November 11, 2008 at 12:00 pm
For even more fun, play with an online friend. Get set up in a chat window, say ready, set, go, and see who can write the most words in 15 minutes, or 30. I lack the discipline to do this activity alone. (sad, I know.) Surprisingly, some very good raw material has come out of this practice for me.
http://uppington.wordpress.com
4.
K. Jayne Cockrill | November 11, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Diane – Unfortunately, I’m as slow at writing as I am at reading. But I always cross the finish line. So this exercise has really helped me.
LadyBeams – I’m sure it would work just as well for nonfiction.
Uppington – Do you actually write into the chat window, or just write in your word processor and then return to report in?
5.
Linda | November 11, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I agree that we have to tell the internal editor to be quiet while writing. This is my second time with NaNo, and it is harder this year. I might try the timed writing.
6.
Lisa | November 12, 2008 at 11:22 am
We must be on the same wavelength. I seem to be blocked because I hate mediocrity in my writing. I need to LEARN to actually sit down and write crap. Maybe then will I actually see that I have better things pouring out of me when it’s not forced as it seems to be some days.
7.
uppington | November 12, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Jayne – you type in your word processor and (honestly) report your word count. I suppose you could do it with a live friend at a write in, but any time I’ve tried something like that we talked too much and wrote too little.
Lisa – glad to know it’s feeling forced for somebody else from time to time. The last couple of days have been like shoveling sludge.
8.
K. Jayne Cockrill | November 12, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Uppington, we did talk a little. But we only had a limited amount of time and we both wanted to make some headway. So our conversations, when we had them, consisted of story talk. What’s going on in your story? Where are you at in the process, etc. The rest was quietly spent typing and trying to block out the loud “boys” discussing the history of religion nearby.
KJ
9.
Alex Moore | November 13, 2008 at 10:43 pm
I use this exact method for cleaning house! Fifteen minutes of pain isn’t that bad, right?
10.
uppington | November 13, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Do you get to drop the vacuum cleaner in the middle of the floor when your time is up? Or leave the other half of the tub unscrubbed? That would be awesome.
11.
K. Jayne Cockrill | November 13, 2008 at 11:38 pm
But of course! When the timer goes off, the whole world stops. It’s like playing Red Light Green Light.
12.
bobbi chukran | November 17, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Yes, it helps tremendously. Thanks! bc
13.
D | November 17, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I’ll have to give this a try. I haven’t written any decent prose in about four years now so I’ll try just about anything!