Writing System to Beat Writer’s Block

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Writing System to Beat Writer’s Block

By Deb Gallardo

Today I have a visual for you. Whether you’re a writer, a blogger or a student with a writing assignment, this graphic will be of value to you if you’re struggling with writer’s block or the “dreaded” blank page.

From Neo Blue Panther’s “Writing, Among Other Things” (Opens in new window)

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I probably don’t need to add my own commentary to this illustration for most of you. Frankly the explanation in the original post offered nothing I didn’t immediately surmise from viewing this clear depiction of a so-called writing system and I don’t want to emulate that. I’m also not certain I agree that this constitutes a “system,” but I know that calling anything “a system” is an almost guarantee of getting noticed. I know I noticed the title in my Blogrush widget right away.

I’m commenting on this specifically for those of you who are not that visual, who have difficulty, say, reading maps but can navigate perfectly with a written list of instructions. (You know who you are.) So if you’re someone who “gets” the graphic, there’s no need to keep reading, except you’ll miss my scintillating writing and pithy insight. (LOL)

Life – You need one if you’re going to be a writer. Without life experience you will have nothing to say. Even if you want to write for children, you must understand their stages of development, their vocabularies, their interests and what makes them tick. You get this insight into children — or adults — by being an active participant in life. It’s not enough to observe life. Anyone can do that in front of a television. You must feel and experience life to write about it.

That said, I should point out that if you are isolated from others, by choice or by circumstance, that you have life experience about that. You can write authentically about how you came to be isolated, what it feels like, if you’re happy with it and why. How do you cope with the loneliness? Do you ever crave human companionship? If so, what do you do about it? If not, why not?

You see, regardless of our circumstances, even if we think we haven’t lived very interesting lives, the truth is this: unless we’re emotional eunuchs, we all think and feel and experience life all day every day. I always said I had an uneventful childhood, but as I look back on it, I realize that it’s all in how I view it.

Try to examine your life through someone else’s eyes. What would they see? Are you hiding something so they can’t see everything? There’s an area you might focus your own thoughts on, so analyze it (unless it’s so painful you can’t go there), journal about it, and otherwise probe its depths until you are able to call up the emotions and situations of conflict or tension. Without those two elements, there is no story.

Imagination – You need one if you’re going to be a writer. While it’s possible to train yourself to be more imaginative, the scope of this article precludes any in depth explanation. Suffice it to say that imagination is creative thinking. In a way it’s that over-used, over-tired phrase “thinking outside the box.”

To illustrate how to train your imagination, let’s try this exercise.

The boy ran down the dirt road toward the STOP sign
to catch the school bus, madly waving his arms.

In order to make this sentence more imaginative, all we have to do is substitute other elements in it.

Remember your WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW from fifth grade writing class? Here’s where you use that information.

Who “ The boy”

What “ ran down the dirt road”

When daytime, any year since “school buses” and “stop signs” were invented, and into the future

Where in a rural area (“dirt road”)

Why “ to catch the school bus”

How “ madly waving his arms”

Now use your imagination to substitute surprising elements for those listed here. To prime your imagination’s “pump,” here are some possibilities for changes.

Who – change “the boy’s” gender, age, or species (think animal, robot or alien) or make the “who” into an inanimate object (space ship, giant boulder, paper airplane, anthropomorphic Christmas Tree, etc.)

What – (too many possibilities to list them all) change “ran” to bounced, soared, sauntered, teleported, wheeled (as in wheelchair), biked, popped wheelies, stumbled, cartwheeled, lurched, and so on. Other new elements may help with brainstorming this.

When – nighttime, twilight, dawn; in ancient times (BC), any century from the past (AD), in the near future or in the distant future.

Where – anyplace on this planet (pick a continent you know, then pick a biosphere you’re familiar with or can research), in space, on another planet, in a non-corporeal realm, or in a fantasy world of your own invention with its own physical laws and, perhaps, magic or paranormal laws as well.

Why – this will have to be determined after brainstorming other elements. (Example: The giant boulder rolled inexorably toward Indiana Jones “after he took the artifact and set off the trap.” Phrase in quotes is the “why.”)

How – depends on the “what,” the “where” and the “why.” (In the example above, “inexorably” is the one-word “how.”)

I think you get the idea here. It’s a kind of domino effect, depending on which elements you’ve substituted. If you were to merely change “the boy” to the girl and “ran down the dirt road” to jumped rope all the way to the bus stop, you wouldn’t have changed the story opening substantially, – not that I consider a statement like this an effective story opening, mind you! The wilder the changes, the more dramatically you alter your sentence.

Reading/Studying – You need to do this if you want to be a writer. (I added “studying” for those who want to write for other media.) If you are not already a voracious reader, it’s doubtful you love the printed word enough to write for print. If screenwriting is your aspiration, you are hopefully a voracious consumer of visual media, whether television or film.

It should go without saying, but a writer must study the market and know what is already out there and what is lacking. And even if you are a screenwriter, reading is a great way to get inspired. Likewise, if you’re writing for print, studying the visual media will provide you with inspiration.

In addition, whatever your genre, read or study outside of that narrowness. If you write modern comedy films, study the great, classic dramas. If you write fiction, read widely in non-fiction. If you write science fiction, study a romance novel or watch a romantic comedy on TV. If you write live action films, study a children’s TV series or read award-winning picture books.

Break out of your own little world and expand your horizons. It may give you a whole new lease on life and years’ worth of story ideas.

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