Not Me Offering Advice on Writer’s Block
Writers are at a Summer Retreat. Another group is at a writing workshop where the main aim is to read and share drafts, and offer and receive honest feedback. At her home in Edinburgh, a mother with a toddler taking a nap scribbles a story that she thinks is a golden gift from heaven. A student tries his hand at writing a short-short between working on his doctoral thesis. If they all submit to a themed submission opportunity, whose work do you think will be accepted?
There is no correct answer. It’d depend on a number of factors. No two editors are the same, and the process is highly subjective. One thing is, however, consistent: A good piece is a good piece is a good piece. Yet, given this situation, every writer except that lucky one will be disappointed.
At some point in a writer’s life, every writer coming off a rejection, if they’re like me, will question their creative process in relation to the work they produce. They’ll ponder how their mental faculties are driven (or not) by intelligence and unique experiences, and will be dragged to the edge of a vicious cycle of self-doubt. They’ll be convinced they’re sinking into what is called ‘Writer’s Block.’ What then?
Take heart! Some have argued ‘creative output’ as the work of genius, others calling it that of a maniac, executed in the brief intervals of relative sanity! In either case, creativity may be defined as high output of ‘divergent thinking,’ as opposed to convergent and compliant thinking. I find this not only somewhat agreeable, but a reason to be proud of.
Let’s say the mother who waits for her toddler to take a nap before she can jot down a few words, or an office-goer who keenly awaits lunch break to pen down a poem, is so passionate that they want to produce a real, existing, substantive material that combines the factors that represent them. Again, reason to be proud of. More so when we see that their creativity actually began much before that: i) preparation, when the theme, topic, message, setting, character etc. were assembled. ii) incubation, a relaxed time during which the person did not work consciously towards material available nor the structure nor juxtaposition, but when connections were unconsciously made, say, while cooking, or on the commute. iii) inspiration, the eureka experience when the person suddenly saw the solution about how best to give it form and shape. and iv) production, when the insight was put into a useful form that will truly and effectively convey what the creator had in mind.
When we talk of Writer’s Block, or compare creative output between fellows in the same writing group or workshop, we must therefore remind ourselves how the creative process arises from the unconscious/subconscious rather than occurring as a conscious process. For a new story or poem to ‘occur,’ we must typically be in a dissociative state to let the mind wander freely and thoughts and images float around without censorship. Instead of pushing ourselves mechanically, allowing this fluid time surely helps. The brain is probably still working feverishly, despite the subjective sense of reverie and relaxation, throwing out possible connections between unrelated capacities — verbal and visual spatial associations, abstract and concrete associations, colours, images, concepts, people and places, history and present.
Fascinating to think of this spectacular magic happening every time we create something — our brains working as entities without executives, organizing and self-regulating, until the desired output emerges. Creativity is non-linear, chaotic, complex and dynamic, and once we begin to look really closely, I believe we might be more sympathetic towards our minds and bodies working overtime to satiate the writerly urge.
Yuval Noah Harari says “A rule of thumb for me is — If I sit down to write and my mind is busy and unclear, I don’t force it. This is the time to do administrative tasks — sending emails, answering questions, tidying up the living room.” In Adam Grant’s words: “The best antidote to writer’s block is to stop pursuing perfection and start writing whatever comes to mind. No one complains about having teacher’s block, accountant’s block, or plumber’s block. They just get to work.”
As an end note, let’s be kinder, rather than being angry and hateful, towards ourselves and others. Let’s be mindful that creative people are often those that have a capacity to see the world in a novel and original way — literally able to see things that others cannot.
