Writer’s Block and How to Beat It

Before It Causes Depression

For many months, I could not write. It was as if a solid, black, heavy mass of inertia had lodged itself in my brain, paralysing my will to put pen to paper. I slumped back into a state of total disinterest, zero motivation and depression. I spent many hours staring at a blank sheet of paper, wondering if I would ever write again.

For committed writers, writing lends meaning to their life. But if they can’t write, then living becomes a grey, purposeless activity.

If you are a creative person, especially a writer, ‘writer’s block’ is something you may already have experienced. In its milder form, you can usually shrug it off and get on with the business of writing. But, when it slams you in the guts, descends with some weight into your psyche, then it becomes serious. Your mental health can be at risk.

So let’s look at this debilitating condition, gain some insight on its causes and how you can overcome it.

Symptoms of Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is primarily a condition suffered by writers and prevents them from producing fresh, quality work or where the creative process slows down or dries up completely. It also diminishes the will to write and becomes more entrenched as this negative state continues. Existing writing commitments or writing skill appears to have no influence on whether the ‘block’ will strike and it can afflict a writer for months or even years.

Naturally, a writer wants, and perhaps needs, to write to pay the rent, so when he becomes unable to follow his profession, his general state of mind deteriorates and can lead to irritability, mood swings and depression.

What Are Its Causes?

Studies have suggested several causes, both physical and psychological. But some early writers believed that the ‘block’ had a supernatural source telling them that their writing days were over. Herman Melville abandoned novel writing a few years after the publication of Moby Dick because of severe periods of writer’s block. He could no longer cope with the mental strain.

The Austrian psychoanalyst, Edmund Bergler, was the first to describe the condition in 1947. He believed it was caused either by oral masochism, mothers that had only bottled fed the infant author and or the result of an unstable sex life.

The modern psychological explanations are less prosaic and fanciful.

The creative challenges and problems that he finds in his work can adversely affect a writer, causing him to run out of inspiration. He hits a creative brick wall and cannot find a satisfactory solution.

Being human, a writer will experience problems in his personal life, suffer physical illness, financial loss or the breakup of an important relationship. Such events can stifle creativity and trigger writer’s block until they overcome such situations.

Many writers, often those who are very talented, can have low self-esteem and an ingrained sense of failure. They allow the rejection slips to convince them they have failed and will cease writing; writers block then occurs, and the condition becomes self perpetuating.

Physical Causes

Writer’s block can also have physical causes created when the normal activity of the brain is disrupted.

If a writer is under constant stress, causing acute anxiety, it can gradually shift mental activity from the creatively effective, cerebral cortex to the limbic system; the latter being that part of the brain that deals primarily with the ‘fight or flight’ response.

So, with the brain’s creative power-house (cerebral cortex) less empowered, then a problem with creativity can occur. The writer struggles to think clearly and finds it difficult to fashion and manipulate ideas.

Of course, any actual brain damage or disease can affect the author’s ability to write. One such disease, known as hypergraphia, or the intensive desire to write, alters the functioning of the temporal lobe and then appears to stimulate writer’s-blocking behaviours. Individuals who suffer a stroke, causing brain damage, can experience a severe form of writer’s block known as agraphia.

How To Beat Writer’s Block

There are many suggestions from writers about how to break free from writer’s block. It can be a debilitating condition and authors have stated that it can be the precursor to depression if not tackled in its early stages.

So, here are some approaches to relieve the ‘block.’

……. consider your writing environment. Make sure it is a pleasant place to work; light, clean, and with bright décor.

……. try altering the time of day when you write. This can relieve the psychological pressure of having to be creative at a set time, which is not always possible.

……. join a local writer’s circle. You can then discuss your problem with like-minded individuals who are more likely to empathise and offer helpful suggestions.

……. keep a daily journal. Just write anything. Try free writing. By doing this, you are simply trying to dislodge that ‘block’ from your creative process. This certainly helped me.

……. Divide your writing project into sections and tackle one piece at a time instead of trying to write the whole in just one intense sitting. This approach lessens any self-imposed psychological urgency. You can still be aware of your deadline, but you are creating a more measured approach.

…… use brainstorming with mind-mapping to stimulate creative ideas. This exercise helps to bypass the left hemisphere of the brain and access the creative, right hemisphere more directly.

…… have at least one day each week when you don’t write or even think about writing. As they say, ‘take time to smell the roses.’ Relax and recharge your batteries.

Some authors can find their lives seriously disrupted by writer’s block. For others. it may never be a problem. But if it descends and prevents you from writing, then know that it will eventually end.

But you may have to grit your teeth and force yourself to write. Just write anything. That is always the first step to recovery.

I hope the above suggestions help the writer. They are not an exhaustive list. You may have your own solution. I would love to hear about it.

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