When it comes to works that are mine, I have never not known where something was going to go, or what a character should say. But now, I find myself having my first case of
Writer's Block.
I do not enjoy Writer's Block. It is a thorn in my side and a pain in my ass. And what's worse, I have no idea how to get past it. I could print off my script and read it and make notes, or I could just do what I've been doing and continue to stare at my computer screen with the program up.
And the more I try to mentally work through it, the worse it becomes. Perhaps I shouldn't force it but I haven't written on this project in weeks (been working on another network spec instead). And it pains me that I can't find the words to my own story, cause it's mine and mine alone to tell.
*sigh*
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The two things I do when having difficulty:
- UCLA's Hal Ackerman advocates a brainstorming technique he calls "snowplowing," which consists of writing down all your thoughts as you are thinking through them. The benefit is that it helps you to follow thoughts through to their conclusions without forgetting what you thought. Also, if you force yourself to keep typing continuously, regardless of what you're thinking, you force yourself to keep the thoughts flowing rather than sitting still. Plus, at least you're typing, and not just staring at a blank screen. You can also snowplow by hand but I find it's not fast enough.
- If that doesn't work (and when you're really blocked, you often end up with frustrating pages of circular reasoning), then I find that staring at a screen is the least helpful thing. Going for a walk or a drive, possibly while listening to music that evokes the mood/themes I am writing about helps me to picture scenes that might work.
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