On using your original source of imagination to overcome writer's block

There are times when your imagination runs dry. It could be from overwork or stress of another sort. It could be that you are simply tired. Unfortunately, such times can coincide with when you need to come up with a new story, new piece of art or new song. Sometimes the pressure of having to come up with a complete idea or at least the basis of all the ideas to come in one fell swoop is enough to have the imagination stalling in a form of shock.

There's plenty of solutions available for what's called writer's block, with advice from going on a run to taking a boat trip. All are valid and many will get you the result you want. There is, however, a difference between a forced idea such as one found in a newspaper article and one fresh from your own imaginings and insights. The difference is realised as something so insubstantial as a sense of playfulness or freedom. Normally you'd think these elements to any form of art wouldn't be so important when art can be made quite well without them. But I suppose it is fairly safe to say that the difference between good and great art and writing comes down to these insubstantial elements.

So, if you've got yourself a case of writer's block and you're looking to overcome it you can take that boat trip and observe those around you or read the newspaper and pull out interesting stories. There is a chance you will pick just the right story and a sense of play falls upon you before you even pick up a pen or brush. Or you can find your original source, or form, of imagination and apply it to whatever is currently concerning you.

When you were a child you would have tried all sorts of artistic things, whether you knew it or not. You may have had a paintbrush handed to you by a frustrated play school teacher who just wanted you to waste some time and time waste you did with great joy. You may have loved playing with sand or sloshing water about in whatever pattern you preferred. You may have formed imaginary friends and held tea parties or you may have excelled at building Paddle Pop stick (ice blocks for those who don't know about Paddle Pops) weapons to throw at your siblings. There was something you did as a child that at first was just fun but then became a bit of a skill or identifier.

For example, I was the child who did such a thing as imagine two large and patterned rocks as car parks or mines and run my matchbox cars over them while imagining scenes. My sister was the child who would skip about the back yard collecting leaves in a basket while singing to herself or her imaginary friend (we were never sure). My brother was the one who loved to make himself into a crocodile at the pool and chase his sisters about, snapping his hand/arm jaws the entire time. All of us excelled in various types of backyard warfare.

These times flew by rather quickly but they are lasting memories of who we are. These were things we did that identified us. You couldn't swap them around easily. There was no way I had an imaginary friend but I was definitely one for imagining large scenes. And while I tried on the crocodile form it was really best suited to my brother. These activities reflected the wells of imagination and interest that were originally there. People, places, dramas, big scenes, strange animals, playful human interactions. Of all the things you did as a child, there has to be something that spells you or holds much of what you were as a child. And it is that which you could easily draw on to create playfully.

Having an imaginary friend means you're deeply interested in both others and yourself on a close scale. You like relationships and don't like being alone much. Or at least you didn't when a child. Being creative now, you might have departed from focusing on relationships and people to things like politics or social issues. It seems like the two should be the same but what's happened is you've skipped from having imaginary friends to having imaginary scenes. It would be like my sister trying to be me and it would work out just as well as my time trying to be the crocodile. You could do it, with effort, but it won't feel altogether natural. Skipping back to creating close relationships may make you think you will have to give up on wider issues but this is false. Don't forget about microcosm viewpoints on macrocosm issues.

In all, to solve writer's block, a lag in inspiration or the desire to create just look to your past. Find what it was to be you back then and incorporate it into the work that is a reflection of you now. You can still be smart and insightful, cutting edge or old school with a twist, but with the addition of some original interests there is a greater chance your final work will include some of that all important playfulness and sense of freedom.

On writing lulls and getting through them

Almost no one can write continuously and never feel a lull coming on. Lulls are a bane for writers as they can lead to that thing we call writers block if we don't go back to writing soon enough.


Lulls occur for various reasons. They can be because you get sick, there's a crisis with a loved one, you over-tire yourself, you worked to hard and burnt out, you're chewing on an idea in the back of your mind or you're called to do something else by necessity. Whatever the reason lulls usually last days at the least and can extend endlessly at the most. It is just about every enthusiastic writer's nightmare that the lull eventually cuts them off from what they love, the weaving of words.


How to get through lulls without loosing your writing skills or your enthusiasm can be as simple as working on several projects at once. There are many projects to choose from, some necessary for writers and some not.

Blogging and networking
Now, there is a lot of talk about blogging and social networking being only a distraction for a writer and there is some truth to this. Networking and blogging do take time, there's no denying it. But if the ideas and motivation are there and the blogs are posted once or twice a week rather than once or twice a day then there shouldn't be too much issue. Only when you have no ideas on blogging and are sitting there for hours pondering away will blogging become an issue. Otherwise, blogging is simply setting aside an hour or two to belt out a short piece and then sharing it. During a lull in writing, blogging can actually help you remain involved in searching for ideas and writing. 
Networking on the other hand, does little but keep you informed as to writing trends and of the progresses contacts have made, sometimes leading to feelings of envy and insecurity.

Mental projects
These keep the mind occupied and churning away. They could be on learning a new job or taking a course at any educational facility. No matter the project the use of the mind keeps you taking on new ideas, which as you know provides new fodder for writing and also keeps you in a problem solving frame of mind. Both are essential in writing as nearly every stage requires new ways of looking at things, new material and solutions to the various problems that crop up, whether in writing style or content.
The problems with mental projects though are that they are time consuming, require much of your mind that could otherwise be aimed at writing and all that comes with it as well as being surprisingly tiring. Undertake mental projects during a lull only if you know that you can put them on hold when needed, they aren't too time consuming or if they're necessary for living the life you want.

Physical projects
These can be anything from knitting, small art projects, gardening, clothes making, wood chopping, building, farming or exercising. Whatever it is can either be physically relaxing or tiring but they do leave ample mental room for solving whatever problem it is that's causing your writing lull. The only problem to be found is a possible lack of notepaper about and a physical exhaustion that can prevent you from scribbling down those ideas you have. relaxing physical projects are less likely to cause these problems but then they are the projects to suffer when attention is turned elsewhere. If you're knitting, best take a note of the line and knit number or coming back to it will be difficult.

Earthly projects
There are the more earthly projects to undertake and by that I mean those that are entangled with everyday life. These are cooking, home making, child rearing (yes, some of it can be seen as a project as you're aiming to make something good out of them), animal caring and other such things. There is always an opportunity to clean out the house and thereby your mind, as I'm sure you've all experienced. Such projects don't always take away from writing time as you'd have to do them anyway. They also have the added benefit of leaving you mentally unchallenged, if tired to the point of dropping where you stand in the case of child rearing.


All such projects have to be carefully balanced with you writing time and while conducting such projects it is always best to keep your story in mind. Otherwise your lull might just take over and become permanent. Choose your projects wisely or tackle what life throws at you but keep on writing, even if it is writing short pieces like this.

Importance of rest days during the writing process

It is often said that if you stop writing day to day that you'll likely stop altogether. That isn't the case and it does make it sound as though writing is more chore than pleasure. I'd say it is about fifty-fifty when you get started but if there is a story scratching at your mind, demanding to be written, then you will definitely begin writing again no matter what. Only exhaustion, so-called writer's block and disinterest will ever stop you from writing. A day or two, a week or two, off won't mean you will never write again.

Everyone else can take a holiday and rest so why not a writer. Besides, some good can come from a writer taking a break.

Breaks allow:

• The mind to begin seeing the whole picture rather than the details.
• The mind time to pick out contradictory details.
• Time for extra thought or research.
• Time for a new story to formulate in your mind.
• Time for a new idea on how to solve a tricky problem to formulate.
• Time for your energy to rebuild.
• Time to catch up on the other things in life that need attention.
• Time to explore the world and discover new things to write about.
• Time to gain new experiences which can be used to make your characters more rounded.
• Time to break through the hermit shell and practice your social skills.
• For those of you who work all hours, time to sleep and relax, lower that stress level.
• Time to read what other people have written.
• You to stretch your bones and muscles back into a normal shape and improve your health.

I'd suggest a rest between drafts or when a major problem strikes and you need time to think.  I'd also suggest a break between books for many of the reasons above.

As a side note, don't forget to sleep properly.

For everyone, sleep is important, writers included.

The Harvard Women’s Health Watch suggests six reasons to get enough sleep:

• Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
• Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
• Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
• Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.
• Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
• Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.

Tips for starting out as a writer

Over the years I have spoken to several people who've been interested in becoming authors or who have had a story they wanted to write but weren't sure how to start. To be honest, I can see how writing an entire book can be daunting as I came close to feeling like when I first started scribbling down ideas. The one piece of knowledge that saved me was that I knew all creative activities require immense work and practice to appear as polished and/or beautiful as they do when shown to the public.

So, for those interested in writing but feeling a bit daunted I decided to put down a few starter points on writing a novel in hope of encouraging those prospective writers to take up pen and paper or their laptop and have a go. 

Knowing how to start putting down such complex ideas as usually appears in a full length novel is vital. It is also an essential skill for constructing short stories as although short stories seem to have fewer ideas or details they often have as many, just woven a little tighter. Knowing what to include and what not is a skill increasingly required the shorter the writing length.

(Don't get me started on poetry. I couldn't formulate a decent poem if I were sitting amongst flower filled rolling hills. More often than not my mind refuses formulate such incredibly concise descriptions or details.)

But lets get back on track. Even if you are writing solely for yourself or for a small audience you should know how to set down your ideas so that they are understandable and fun to read.

A starter list for the prospective writer:

• Research whatever necessary: whether your research is on your characters, the setting, ideas already published or the desired style of writing it is essential that you do most of it before you begin writing. Research will help you ground your ideas.

• Formulate in your mind the basic story: dream up the story in full, not just the beginning of it, or you may find yourself with a thing called writer's block half way through. The other problem that can occur is what I call writer's drivel, where you end up writing on and on aimlessly and the vast majority of what is written being unnecessary or pointless. Neither is desired.

• Create a skeleton of your ideas by noting very basic details under chapter headings: this allows you to tie down when events should happen and how they are related. Think carefully on cause and effect, your character's reasoning and intentions, time lines and on what needs to be written out in full versus what needs only to be referenced.

• Start writing: I find it easier to untangle any contradictions by starting my writing from the first chapter and progressing straight through to the end of the book. Only in cases where more though has been required for a particular section have I skipped over it to come back later. If you find it hard to write from the beginning then choose the section most vivid in your mind and write that. This should get you started.

• Research as you go: try to get any topics requiring grounded detail in the descriptions (for example, the scientific principles behind a sci-fi novel) set out correctly in your first draft or two. If the information used as the base of your story is full of contradictions or irregularities then the entire story may be ruined as it just won't be believable (even if the reader is suspending disbelief).

• Once your first draft is written, be prepared to rewrite and edit it at least 4-5 times: only by rewriting and editing is any piece polished into a one readable by the masses. I know of absolutely no one in the present market who's written a single draft best seller. There might be one or two classical authors who've managed it but lets face it, the vast majority of published authors nowadays will not make it to the classical listing in the future. Only the very best will and the selection criteria is far more extreme now than ever before. You can't just be popular and have a way with words. You need themes, social applicability, rounded arguments and reflections on humanity. A good read is not a classic read but a good read is what you should aspire to no matter your audience so keep polishing your work.

• Don't be afraid to change big details: this is far easier to do nowadays, what with computers having word search, so feel entirely free to search through your work and change the placement or details, the wording or a series of phrases, the order of events or anything else that may occur to you. In fact, most editors will do such things and call it substantive editing (copy editing is an in depth edit of grammar, punctuation etc. while proofreading is a light look at these same issues). I find it bet to do several substantive edits, focusing on sections hard to read for whatever reason, and at least two copy edits.

• Get feedback from trusted readers as you go: I suggest writing at least two copies before sending your work out to those willing to give you opinions on topics, style, content, readability etc. Just know that your work is still likely incredibly rough so it will be hard to read and will, hopefully, receive constructive criticism. This criticism will guide you in your editing from there on in and without it you are working partially blind of reader expectations. Don't be too shy to show your work, just find the right readers.

Tips on surviving the judgement:

• Don't judge your initial works (your first draft or your practice works) as worthless or terrible if you are only starting out as a writer. Look at your work as objectively as possible and try to see what needs improving. Seek advice if necessary but again, don't take negative non-constructive feedback as absolute truth. Know that whatever the problem is you can likely fix it by writing another copy and that is where constructive criticism should be welcomed and often acted upon.

• You may not find your talent in one style of writing but you may in another (as mentioned, I'm absolutely atrocious at writing poetry but quite good at essays and prose). Find your style, through trial and error if necessary, and start practicing.

• Know that writing is both a craft and art. Like all such things practice is needed and lots of it before an initial talent can become a skill.

• Much work is required to polish a single piece into one presentable to an audience. If you have presented your work to an agent or publisher before it was ready then don't be hurt by negative feedback as you likely just need to write another copy. You will be told if your work is unpublishable due to plagiarism, liable or its marketability. These can be fixed, depending on what has been initially written.

• If you truly want to write then don't give up. Select the audience, style and level or professionalism for yourself at each stage of your progression. You don't need to aim for being a bestseller to write. And you don't need permission from critics. You simply need to keep practicing, updating your aims as you go.

Reasons to give up on any particular piece (not writing entirely):

• If you can't imagine or work out a beginning, middle and end to your story.

• If your work plagiarises someone else's.

• If your work is likely to get you taken to court for liable.

• If your work is unmarketable when you were aiming for it to be marketable (if you weren't aiming to be published through a house then disregard this point as you please. Self publishers wishing to make a living should still live by it though.).

• If you can't seem to formulate the base details to your satisfaction, even with help (by that I mean the principles behind your imagined world).

Reasons for giving up on writing altogether:

• Your own disinterest.

Best methods to rid yourself of writer's block

• Tea - fire those synapses
• Sleep - rest and rejuvenate
• A day trip - get your mind off it and have some fun/relax
• Reading - look at other people's ideas, styles, themes, worlds and think of what you'd change
• Arguing with someone on a topic of interest
• Day dreaming - write down scenarios or note what emotions drive them
• Dreams - intense dreams or nightmares can provide great plot devices, character motivations
• Observing and taking note of strange incidents
• Researching historical events or alternate lifestyles
• Hang out with your pets - relax and see that there is a great deal you don't know and can discover (if you don't know what I mean or don't have pets then just ask 'why?' at everything)
• Watch a show that makes you argue ineffectually at the television screen - write your response
• Read poetry or jokes - they often reveal a new way of looking at things
• Listen to music with a theme or story behind the lyrics - works in a similar way to poetry or jokes
• Read over what you've written already. Find where the problem started and begin writing again from there.