July 22, 2024
I got a question in my CC on Birdapp asking about what made me want to pursue writing, and how I gather the motivation for it even when suffering from writers block. I realized I had a lot more to write on this than I expected so I'm just making a whole thingy for it here heehee. thank you for the ask!
For a while my biggest aspiration was in drawing. I grew up drawing crappy Sonic OCs, and I had envisioned a webcomic, or at least some kind of short animation. Then I realized something big... or rather, I remembered something big... I really love literature! I fell out of reading hard at some point after middle school, but eventually regained that drive to experience reading again and delve into stories I love. Prior to that, I had been reading and writing fanfiction here and there, but it was picking up a book for the first time in years that made me remember "this is what I love. This is what I want to do".
Words are wonderful! Language is wonderful! I love the picture that a simple sentence description can paint. It can be a pain, but I love the iterative process of hammering away at paragraphs of text until the scene is exactly as I imagine it. I truly enjoy those things, and I decided since then that I'd follow up on that. I looked at the disjointed story ideas I'd had laying dormant for years and thought "what better time than now?" I believe up to that point I had been waiting for the "right time" to do anything, or I felt like I wasn't "skilled enough" to make what I wanted to make. But honestly getting anything done is just a matter of starting, no matter how crappy you think you are at it. So I started polishing my ideas, jotting more down, and making more active efforts to plot the narrative I wanted to see.
When dealing with "writers block" I feel like the first thing you want to ask is where it comes from. Are you just procrastinating? All creation is "work", so I think that's important to remember in that instance. Artists struggle to pick up the pen for themselves all the time, because no matter what, applying rigorous effort in the name of your vision is... still applying rigorous effort. It's understandable if you can't bring yourself to work every day. Sometimes when I don't feel like doing something, I think it's important to give myself a nudge and try to put at least one thing down; depending on how it goes, before I know it, I keep going and do a lot more work than expected! Other times, I feel my mind frying like bacon and I get up and take a break. Always value yourself!
But in my case, recently a lot of my writers block has come from tangible issues with approaching storytelling and writing. A lot of "where do I go from here" or "is this any good"? Part of it is creative dryness and part of it is self-doubt or anxiety over my own work. When that happens I try to take a look at what I have so far, even if I've looked at it all already. Personally I start with the characters; I love characters, I love fleshing out characters. Maybe look at the motivations and histories of your characters and ask questions about them, almost as if conducting an interview. The answers you have for those questions may spur you into greater ideas and give you a clearer vision of how you want to shape the plot. In general I think "asking yourself questions" is a really good process to get the writing juices flowing, as compared to basically just shouting in your head to come up with something. Ask questions and figure out answers. Most stories are built upon the most powerful question of all: "what if someone tried to do something but couldn't 🥴"
And if you haven't already, don't hesitate to look at works that inspire you too! Personally, I feel like if you want to write, but you aren't reading, you're doing yourself an extreme disservice. Writing without reading books personally strikes me as akin to trying to be a chef without having ever eaten. It's true that you will get a good idea of storytelling successes and failures through seeing stories in other mediums, but things like literary prose and pacing are something you can only really grasp upon through understanding the field you chose to play on. People love to sing the praises of strongly written fanfiction, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but something that's working off of established media with the audience's preexisting knowledge in mind is going to inherently miss a few things compared to reading a story where someone has to build their attachments to an audience purely from scratch. If you're trying to create something original, you want to look at other examples of people creating something original! Find some books that interest you, and read them because it'll be fun! Maybe skim a few books that people claim as bad too, so you know what not to do. ABSOOOORB! Your writing will improve for sure. I think there's a very tangible difference between writers who read and writers who don't. Look at your favorite stories and see what they can do for you!!
TL;DR ABOUT WRITERS' BLOCK:
Obviously I don't know exactly what each person is going through but those are just my thoughts and the things I consider whenever I hit that writing wall. Above all else, I'd say to stay persistent and trust the process. You're gonna absolutely hate what you're putting out some days, but don't give up on what you've got. Even if you hate an idea right now, write it down anyway and see it through; you may surprise yourself as it takes the form of something more enjoyable. I wish every aspiring writer all the luck and love in the world!