Writer's Block--laziness, or legitimate?

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't written a post in this blog since... Christ, November. Upon the start of the new year, I began on a grandiose and doomed resolution to write everyday on my novel. I quickly became stuck due to wild characters (a subject for another day) and decided to give it a rest. Months later, I stumbled upon the solution, but lacked confidence about my ability to string the right words together to communicate the idea. I felt like I couldn't keep up the same sort of language I was using previously.

Does any of this sound familiar? As a reader of this blog, you may indeed think so. Writer's block is often claimed to just be laziness regarding the actual work of writing: sitting down and putting words down. But the very real truth is that, sometimes, the words just don't come out, and if they do, they don't seem to come out right, further dragging our confidence in our writing skills down. Many professional authors have turned to drink or drugs for "creative stimulation", but I don't find this to be helpful, or healthy.

I did, however, break through this block, at least I hope I did. This act of taking hammer to brick is one of the hardest parts of being a writer, and often leaves many "failed" writers in its wake ("failed" here meaning "those that have given up"). They want to write, but the words, the scenes, the very images don't come. Why, and how to fix it?

My problem was that, upon writing a scheduled scene, a character acted in a way I didn't expect or plan for. It was perplexing why she would do this, and I tried to write the scene without the action taking place. In the end, it was the latter that seemed false, and the former that rang true. But it did not seem to be in the right place. What had happened?

It took me time to think and contemplate, all the while working on other projects and, to be honest, partaking in leisurely activities. In the end, it was talking with another writer that made me realize what had happened. My characters had taken the story and changed it to their will, something that should make every writer shout victory to the heavens. This is what we want. We want the characters to guide the story and, in the event that they act out of place, we should be thankful. Unfortunately, we are usually confused. For me, the situation was that this scene, however welcome, seemed unprovoked. In the end, I decided that I needed to move scenes around, and eventually add something knew between established instances.

But it took a lot more to regain my writer's voice. A lot of reading, a lot of writing experiments, and even the purchase of a book with writing advice. My problem was no longer writer's block. I could write just fine. My problem was that, not only was I not satisfied with the words I put down, I felt afraid that I wouldn't be able to do the scene justice.

During the aforementioned NaNoWriMo, there is a saying that comes and goes as people begin to doubt their ability. It is: "Don't get it right; get it written." You can always change it. Just try to write it at first. Get down the skeleton of what you want to write. If that's too daunting, just work on the marrow. Just the underlying structure of the underlying structure.

If you find yourself plagued with writer's block, I do have some avenues for you to take, if you really feel like you're stuck. Take some time. Think about something else. Give it a week, and if it doesn't work yet, give it another. If it still doesn't work, don't immediately return to it. Work on another project. Another story, another avenue of writing. Talk with some writing friends (I can guarantee that I'll write about that later.). Read. Write journal entries, freewrite, experiment. Read a book of writing advice to make you feel like you should be writing. Write somewhere new, like a coffee shop or cafe. If you normally type, write in longhand, and vice versa.

In the end, for me, it was writing out the scene in question by hand that really stabbed through that now gelatinous barrier. Try it out. You might just find that, a change in... something will result in a change for the better.