### ### ### ### ### #### ### ### ### #### ### ### ##### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##### ### ### ########## ### ### ########## ### ### ### ### Underground eXperts United Presents... ####### ## ## ####### # # ## ## #### #### ## ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## #### ## ## #### # # ####### ## ## ## ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## ## ####### ####### # # ## ###### ###### [ Writer's Block ] [ By The GNN ] ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ WRITER'S BLOCK by THE GNN/DualCrew-Shining/uXu or... 'a generally quite boring conceptual analysis of a luXurious problem strictly limited to the interest of a few.' People who write on a regular basis now and then experience a problem that, despite its temporary character, is highly annoying. Roughly speaking, this is the inability to write. One day, when the writer sits in front of the word processor, typewriter or pen to nail the latest thoughts down, nothing happens. If the writer is experienced, he or she will understand that this has nothing to do with her ability, but is merely a psychological block. This insight, however, is not very helpful. A writer wants to write. If she cannot do what she wants, she will despair. It is therefore not surprising to find historical examples of writers who has been abusers of various stimulants, desperately trying to overcome the periods of writer's block. Writing requires two main things: inspiration and experience. Inspiration is needed for the ideas, experience for getting the ideas down on paper in an acceptable manner. A regular writer seldom needs any more than one single (and often quite simple) idea to be able to write a short story or novel. The rest - characters, places, history, disposition - comes automatically, thanks to the experience. Someone who is inexperienced must weigh every sentence, every person and place, during the writing process. I believe the reason for this is the fact that what separates regular writers from the rest is the ability to build a whole world inside one's mind. This world is then transported through the hands down on paper. Inexperienced writers cannot perfectly build this world in their minds, and must therefore check every word to see if it is in correspondence with the world they are trying to build. When the writer is not in a state of block, the process of writing is simple. She gets an idea, and types it down. That is all, actually. In fact, the fictional world is constructed in her mind the very second she gets the idea. She just has to sit down and let her hands do the work. When a writer claims that she does not know what constitutes the writing process, this only means that she works without knowing that she knows what constitutes the writing process. Then one day the writer will notice that the writing process is not all that easy anymore. She has to actually think of how to write. This is the first stage of the block. When she gets an idea, she cannot just sit down and type. She has to actively create the world she is about to deal with. It does not build itself anymore. The tempo slows down. If the writer was able to fill ten pages every day, she will now notice that she is unable to fill more than five. The ideas are still there, and she wants to be able to write ten, but it is just impossible. And she does not really know why. Time will pass, and the amount of written material will decline. The writer will despair as she suddenly is unable to write a single sentence. Still, she's got all the fine ideas, but they will just not write themselves anymore. The final stage of the block is when the ideas leave her. No ideas, no writing, nothing. She just sits by the wordprocessor, typewriter or pen and wait. And this she must do. A fully developed block cannot be forced away. After a while, the ideas come back, but not the writing. When some more time has passed, the writing comes back, slowly at first, then back to a normal pace again. The block has passed. Until next time. How long does a block last? It depends on the person. Personally, I have discovered that mine comes once a year, and it lasts for about one to two months. I really hate this period, as I always believe that I will not be able to write again. Other writers I have discussed this matter with say the same thing. I no longer believe that I will not be able to write again when I am in a state of block; but I am tormented by the ideas that pop into my mind. They are good, and I love them, but I cannot write them down. I just have to accept that they will never be written. It is no use to take notes for the future, because the ideas must be written down the very moment they appear, otherwise they lose their substance. The moment I feel that my block is on its way to pass, I rush to the computer and type, type, type. The more I type, the better I feel. I would not claim that I actually WRITE anything, I just type. This file was not written, it was typed for pure therapeutic reasons - something the quality and content probably reveal. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- uXu #411 Underground eXperts United 1998 uXu #411 ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/texts/uxu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------