Writer's Block

[ShortHair]

The OP says there's no such thing as writer's block. Apart from Christopher Wright, I don't think anybody here has even tried to define it.

It's true, we all have times when we simply don't write. Sometimes I don't feel inspired, or I'm still thinking about a scene, or I'd rather do something else, or most often I'm just too tired. If I did try to write at times like those, I'd have to rewrite everything, so why bother?

I believe, however, that the original meaning of writer's block is that one can't write. It's like impotence. One physical failure can turn into a pattern of mental failures. One can even reach the point of questioning one's masculinity. One knows that one has the basic skills for the activity, but anxiety about failing again makes it almost impossible. There's even an element of performance anxiety in both fields, since there's no point to writing without readers. Starting up again can be quick and easy, or it can be slow and agonizing, depending on where the anxiety actually comes from.

What the OP means by writer's block, I'd say, is more a matter of motivation.

 

[Penpilot]

Here's how I define writer's block. It's when you're stuck on at a specific point in your story and can't seem to be able to find a way past it, and think you are unable to write any more until said point is figured out. To me it's a wrong way of thinking and approaching the problem.

As mentioned above, some people get fixated on a problem and can't seem to move past it. From my experience, in writing, in mathematics, and programming, the solution is usually to step away from the problem, get some distance, and come back when fresh. The solution will come easier when you remove yourself from a specific way of thinking.

Now people may think this is what they're doing by not writing. Yes, in part it is, but it doesn't mean you can't skip over the problem and work on the next chapter or scene, running under the assumption the problem stopping you will be solved later. By not writing, it's like a mathematician running up against an unsolvable math problem and saying, "I can't do math anymore. I got mathematician's block."

By writing on, even forcing yourself to write, gets your brain thinking differently and on different things, achieving the exact same results as walking away and doing nothing. The difference being more production.

For me, I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck and pushed through by simply making a note in-line saying "They find solution to this" and moved on. Usually the solution slap me in the face in the middle of writing the next scene. As for writing uninspired scenes, I find more often than not, they formed a launching point for something really good because the basic elements were there, but expressed really poorly.

For what it's worth, my two cents. It probably ain't worth a plum nickel.

 

[Philip Overby]

I'll be another person to say: writer's block doesn't exist. But I don't think it's because of laziness per se. It's because of a sense of perfection that can't be attained in one draft.

@Christopher Wright: You said you spend hours just writing a scene where someone goes downstairs. I assume if you spent hours writing that, you're not lazy. But the problem was you were trying to make that scene perfect when it didn't really need to be. No one can write a perfect scene their first go. Make it as best as you can, and then move on. I'll suffice to say that if your story is awesome, no one is going to care that much about someone going down the stairs.

Most of the time writer's block doesn't come from a lack of ideas of what to do, but a wealth of ideas of what to do. So it's actually not writer's block but writer's, um, flow?

I would say if you're just sitting at a computer not writing anything and then say "Screw it, I'll go watch TV." Then yes, you are lazy. But if you work hard on a scene for hours and hours, then you're a perfectionist, and to me that can be both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because when you write a first draft, you want it to be really, really good. It's a curse because you never finish anything because you're constantly working on one scene.

So maybe writer's block does exist and maybe it doesn't. But I don't think you can call someone lazy if they're actually writing for hours on end.