/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.3408859]

Do you believe writer's block actually exists?

I don't know, kinda share the opinions of this comic.

[Anonymous No.3408879]

Of course it exists. Do you think good ideas grow on trees?

[Anonymous No.3408889]

>>3408879

That response makes no sense.

[Anonymous No.3408964]

>>3408889
It makes sense regardless of you understand it or not

[Anonymous No.3408974]

It does not.

Every time I hear someone say they have writers block I instantly translate it to "I have nothing interesting to say about anything."

[Anonymous No.3409135]

>>3408889
It does make sense, you're just 12.

>>3408974
I think writers block is more when you have something to say, just lack the insight to say it well. In my opinion, the only way to get over writers block is to keep writing, and work out whatever the problem is.

[Anonymous No.3409140]

It definitely exists. How else do you account for those people who've proven to have interesting concepts and ideas, but have difficulty at times, even when making a sincere effort to formulate new material?

[Anonymous No.3409147]

exists but not actually

[Anonymous No.3409152]

>>3409135
>I think writers block is more when you have something to say, just lack the insight to say it well.

I think that's bullshit. Occasionally, I'll have a word on the tip of my tongue, and just can't think of it, and it can be weird and annoying and frustrating. But that never fucking happens with fully-formulated ideas. That's just ridiculous.

Also, the initial drafting process isn't about "saying it well" that's what revision and editing is for.

[Anonymous No.3409177]

Sure.

The problem is in this self-awareness of this term. If you are using writer's block as an excuse, you don't have a writer's block, you are just not that much of a writer.

The problem with "Writer's block" is in the name of it. If you are the "writer" that is reffered there, then should simply say "I'm blocked". That exists, that is true. Writer's block is not outside of you like the guy in the comic sees it. It is YOU, you when you are blocked. The problem and the solution is already in yourself from the beggining.

To be blocked is to sabotage yourself, it is when your intention and sentiment as a writer faces resistance within yourself, it is a form of dissonance, part of you don't want to do it, is afraid, facing a harsh truth, forced by outside conditions and so on.

The reason writer's block is used as an excuse so much is that very few people actually want to write, they have other priorities, other intentions, they see writing as one more hobby or they want to have a book published, but they don't want to write it. That is, writing becomes a chore, something you have to do "in order to..." It becomes like washing dishes, when it is more like gardening, I'd say.

Writer's block is not just lacking inspiration, or procrastination or something like that. It occurs to writers when they go through a form of introspection that stiffens their process.

Pic is Barton Fink. It's about writer's block, and product of the Coens' block while writing Miller's Crossing.

[Anonymous No.3409179]

>>3409177 here

PS: and this is what I think you should do with your writer's block: write about it. Work on it.

[Anonymous No.3409190]

tbh OP i almost never get writer's block in that sense, it's more of a recognition of a lack of ideas to put down and that's usually rectified by going outside and watching nature or peoples interactions or something then again i write poetry so >implications abound

as >>3409177 got at introspection sometimes stymies my progress but i just buckle down and plow through because the idea is so much better when its on the page and workable in a kinda kinetic way, where you can mold the form and figure of the words and the structure until its juuust right

[Anonymous No.3409195]

>>3409152

I disagree on both counts. Sometimes you have a really mixed head and can't articulate things you are nevertheless thinking about. anon didn't say anything about fully formulated ideas.

I think saying it as well as you can is absolutely critical in the initial drafting process; you don't want to have to deal with a bunch of brain vomit on paper that you have to clean up and make presentable.

[Anonymous No.3409201]

i used to think i had writers block. now i realize i just have a pathologically weak attention span and willpower

[Anonymous No.3409208]

>>3409195
>Sometimes you have a really mixed head and can't articulate things you are nevertheless thinking about.

That's never happened to me. I think you might want to see a doctor about that.

[Anonymous No.3409217]

>>3409195
>want to say something
>don't know what
>but you defiantly want to say it
>and it would be so cool if only you knew what you wanted to say

Sounds sort of like those "I'm really smart but bad at taking tests" excuses.

[Anonymous No.3409219]

>>3409208

i hope one day to be as perfect as you

[Anonymous No.3409224]

>>3409201
Weak attention span is attention's strenght dilluted.
Weak willpower is willpower's strenght being wasted with the wrong things.

Think about this before you push yourself.

[Anonymous No.3409236]

>>3409219
Yeah, being able to articulate thoughts into a coherent language is something reserved only for the greatest examples of humanity.

[the only living jedi in new york No.3409239]

I think writer's block is your inner critic getting ahead of your writing skills. You think of something, and you can tell it's shitty/not as good as what you're hoping you'll eventually be able to write, so you don't write it, and you don't yet have enough expertise to write the way you actually want to write, so you end up staring at a blank screen and thinking you have some mysterious condition.

I don't buy the concept that it's a poverty of stimulus or inspiration. 95% of what you'll write will be shit either way, and what reads like "inspired" work is usually the result of an author who's been polishing turds for thousands of hours.

[Anonymous No.3409500]

Professional writers don't suffer from writer's block.