Countless writers have struggled with the infamous writer’s block at some point in their life. Those times when writing is like slugging through the trenches, or worse, when getting anything on paper quite literally feels impossible.
The good news is that you’re not alone. Even classic writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Leo Tolstoy, and Virginia Woolf are all known to have suffered the condition. Joseph Mitchell of The New Yorker struggled with writer’s block for—gulp—thirty years. Merely an affliction of mindset or not, writer’s block can be a horrid experience to undergo, but for all these trials are countless words of advice on how to beat it. Here’s some advice conjured up from the writing community:
“If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.” — Hilary Mantel
“Pretend that you’re writing not to your editor or to an audience or to a readership, but to someone close, like your sister, or your mother, or someone that you like.” – John Steinbeck
“Writer’s block is my unconscious mind telling me that something I’ve just written is either unbelievable or unimportant to me, and I solve it by going back and reinventing some part of what I’ve already written so that when I write it again, it is believable and interesting to me. Then I can go on. Writer’s block is never solved by forcing oneself to “write through it,” because you haven’t solved the problem that caused your unconscious mind to rebel against the story, so it still won’t work – for you or for the reader.” — Orson Scott Card
“There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write.” ― Terry Pratchett
“Now, what I’m thinking of is, people always saying, “Well, what do we do about a sudden blockage in your writing? What if you have a blockage and you don’t know what to do about it?” Well, it’s obvious you’re doing the wrong thing, don’t you? In the middle of writing something you go blank and your mind says: “No, that’s it.” Ok. You’re being warned, aren’t you? Your subconscious is saying “I don’t like you anymore. You’re writing about things I don’t give a damn for.” You’re being political, or you’re being socially aware. You’re writing things that will benefit the world. To hell with that! I don’t write things to benefit the world. If it happens that they do, swell. I didn’t set out to do that. I set out to have a hell of a lot of fun.” – Ray Bradbury
