SCENE: An idyllic unidentified kingdom, specifically a lovely chateau where a young woman sits, writing, by a window
CHARACTERS: Our heroine, the Storyteller, named EMMA; the villain, a stout, stubborn creature named WRITER'S BLOCK; supporting characters currently unnamed
PLOT: A crafty wizard has sent his best curse, Writer's Block, as an obstacle to keep the land's Storyteller from getting everyone to their happily ever afters.
OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:
First, a little background about the heroine (a.k.a., me). I think my journey to being a writer started years ago, probably when I was four and would create stories for my Barbie dolls. Those stories would last for days and my mom would have to step over everything when she came to tuck me in at night because my dolls would have adventures all across my room. If my friends came over to play, I'd often dictate what their dolls had to say or do, all to fit in with my storyline. I've only truly thought of myself as a writer since I was maybe around fourteen or fifteen, even though I had been writing full-blown stories since I was ten. I've definitely known that I wanted to major in creative writing since I was sixteen. My life has been busy since I started college, but I was always able to fit in short writing sessions here and there, especially my first semester when I was taking only fourteen credits.
But lately, particularly last semester and then this summer, I haven't felt those little bursts of inspiration that would drive me to carry a notebook everywhere I went. I'm lucky if I can write 500 words a week these days when I used to write 50,000 words every November (thanks to National Novel Writing Month). And I don't understand it.
I hear all this advice, saying that writers should write every day, even if it's only 100 or so words; that we should write anything, even if it doesn't fit with our current work-in-progress; that we'll grow rusty if we don't write regularly. And you know what? All that advice scares me. It needles at me every day, especially on days where I don't write anything. It makes me worry that maybe I'm not cut out to be a writer after all. I'll wonder what I've done wrong, if I'm doing something that's blocking the creative juices. Every time a well-meaning friend asks how the writing or my book is going, I have to put on a brave face and say, "It's coming along." Most of all, though, I wonder if I'll ever break through the writer's block.
Like I said, I can sometimes write about 500 words a week, but the week before last? Besides blog posts (both for here and my personal book blog), I wrote nothing. A couple weeks ago, I did a promptathon with one of my best friends and I actually wrote stuff, but I don't see any of those little pieces turning into something bigger.
And that book I mentioned? I've been writing it for almost two years. It's undergone a lot of idea changes and reworkings, but it's nowhere close to finished. I feel like I'm at the point where I should put it aside and start another project, but it won't let go of me, even if I can't figure out what it needs. It's like a possessive ex who won't let me move on.
I don't have a concrete answer on how to break the curse of writer's block. Believe me, if I did, this would be a much more positive post. I want to be that brave warrior princess/writer who slays the dragon that is writer's block or who breaks the curse by being herself. But right now, I'm not. I'm at the point in the story where the hero is downtrodden and feels like all hope is lost. All I can do is hope and pray the climax battle with writer's block is coming soon and that I'll soundly defeat it.
