There's a lot of conflicting advice around about writer's block, from the It's all in your head to the It's all in your head! I wondered what you all thought, especially as I'm to deliver a conference paper on this very subject next week at the annual Short Story Conference.
(Patricia Duncker was there last year, and Al Kennedy, but I was safe last year behind the bookstall...)
Here is what some people have had to say on the topic:
Ayn Rand calls it The Squirms [I like this expression]
Janet Burroway says, Writer's block is not so popular as it was a few years ago. I suspect people got sick of hearing or even talking about it - sometimes writers can be sensitive even to their own cliches. But she reminds us that W H Auden observed that the hardest part of writing in not knowing whether you are procrastinating or must wait for the words to come.
Richard Rhodes says, If you're afraid you can't write, the answer is to write. Every sentence you construct adds weight to the pan,
but
Toni Morrison says, When I sit down in order to write, sometimes it's there; sometimes it's not. But that doesn't bother me anymore. I tell my students there is such as thing as writer's block, and they should respect it. You shouldn't write through it. It's blocked because it ought to be blocked, because you haven't got it right now.
Hmmm. Who are we to believe? Perhaps each case is individual and unique - to the person, to the process, to the task at hand.
Thomas Mallon says, face the fact there is no such a thing
but....
There bloody well is for me! And an entire conference paper depends on it!
Please - Your starter for 10 - Give me your thoughts. Do you get blocked? Is it a myth? How do you deal with it?
Posts
