The Agony Of Writer's Block—And How To Beat It

Everyone experiences it at some point: the need to write, whether because you have a paper due or you're a writer who would die without it, but the inability to make anything come to mind. The soul-crushing moment of staring at a blank page, knowing you need to put something there but not knowing what.

Or maybe you have every idea of what you want but can't get it out because something is stopping you. Maybe you know exactly what you want to say because you can feel it in your core, but, for some reason, no word seems to properly convey what you mean. Nothing is right, so nothing is written.

Whatever your form of writer's block is, it's the worst. At that moment, everything feels futile. Your essay is no longer worth it—you can afford to fail this one assignment. Your short story won't amount to anything—nobody will want to read it anyway. Your novel isn't going anywhere—it's time to scrap and start over. Your article won't be anything meaningful—don't even bother.

Giving in to that feeling of futility, that moment of "is this worth it?" is the worst way possible to deal with writer's block.

Instead, do the exact opposite.

Write anyway.

Don't know what to write? Write exactly that: "I have no idea what I'm writing about."

Don't know how to say what you feel? Write exactly that: "I have no idea how to put this into better words."

Next step?

Say why.

Why are you writing? Why can't you get the words right? Why are you so set on writing this thing that you aren't going to give up, even in the face of the worst foe a writer can face?

It doesn't matter which "why" you're answering, so long as you're answering why.

Chances are, you now have a better idea of what you're writing. Maybe you really do have to scrap an idea, but don't fully delete it. Keep it in a compost pile somewhere, waiting for a better time to be used. Maybe you have to merge in a new idea to make things less strained. Maybe you haven't done all the research you thought you did, so now you need to brush up on your knowledge.

Or, maybe, you're just afraid.

Maybe you're simply too scared of failure, so you don't even try.

This is my own personal downfall, and I know I'm not the only one like this.

I'm terrified to write something bad, so I end up not writing at all.

It's a problem I have always struggled with, in more than just my writing, but by struggling with it I have learned various ways to help others who struggle, too. The easiest solution?

Write anyway.

So what if it's bad? The only people who will see your messy creation are those you allow to see it, nobody else. Until you feel as though it is perfect, you don't have to show anyone.

Use that knowledge. Write horribly. Write as badly as you possibly can and go back later to make it better.

Perfection isn't the goal of a first draft—getting the words down is.

After that, you can worry about making it better. After that, you don't have to worry about writer's block. You get to deal with a whole other monster: Editing.

Editing is a whole other article (at least), so at least take pride in knowing you wrote something, anything, even if it isn't what you think it should be.