This is a response to a question from
Goodreads ...
Every writer, no matter how well organized he or she might
be, experiences writer’s block at one time or another. I think it’s safe to say
that the experience is painful for all of us. Sometimes it can be so difficult to
deal with that a writer loses confidence and becomes overwhelmed with
self-doubt.
For me there are two very distinct forms of writer’s block.
The first is the most common. A writer becomes stuck because
he or she has lost their way in a chapter or scene and have no idea what comes
next. If there’s one thing I’m certain of, one thing that all good writers
share, it’s that they never start writing the first page of a story until they
know exactly how that story is going to end. This seems to be true for people who
write in all forms: novels, screenplays, or theatrical plays. To take it a step
further, I don’t know any really good writers who don’t do the same thing when
beginning a chapter or scene. If a writer doesn’t begin working on a chapter
with an end in mind, then what’s the point of that chapter? Let’s face it,
there’s no such thing as “filler” in writing fiction. So is that chapter really
necessary or not? Is it moving the story forward? Tell me how!
By way of example, I believe this premise is true regardless
of the task. Can you imagine constructing a building without a set of plans?
What about a musician composing a longer work? Or an attorney presenting a case
to a jury? Or even better, a sculptor? Can you imagine any of these people
“going with the flow” or “feeling their way through it?” Eventually, if the
sculptor doesn’t have anything in mind when he or she gets started, they’re probably
going to run out of stone!
One of the best examples of avoiding writer’s block by
knowing where you’re going is a film, one of the best romantic comedies ever made,
Sleepless in Seattle. It makes no difference whether this genre
interests you or not, just as it makes no difference if your only focus is in
writing novels. We’re talking about the process of story now. The screenplay Sleepless
in Seattle was written by Jeff Arch, Nora Ephron, and David S. Ward. If you
watch the film, and you’ll need to watch it twice to see my point, you’ll
realize that the end of the story was crystal clear in all three writers’ minds
before they ever wrote the first word. Now watch Hitchcock’s Rear Window
twice. What you’ll see and learn will blow your mind!
 |
| Rear Window |
The advantage of knowing where you’re going in a story,
beyond the avoidance of writer’s block, is that it gives the writer the ability
to “seed” the story’s climax all the way through the work. What we’re talking
about is knowing where you’re headed and setting up that ending from page one. If
the writer did it well, the story is really going to pop, and will be so much tighter,
so much more powerful than it would have been otherwise.
Sorry for the length of this post, but I would love to talk
about that second form of writer’s block because this is the one I experience
more often, and in the end, in a strange way, almost seems magical.
 | ||
| "I don't have writer's block!" |
With this second form of writer’s block, I as the writer, know
exactly where the story is going. I’ve worked out an outline and chapter list
that I’m really jazzed about. Those first hundred pages are tough, but they’re always
tough for everybody. So I’m past all that and feeling pretty good about things
until one dark day the light goes off and everything shuts down! I’m lost. I’m
filled with doubt. I’m working on a chapter, but can’t seem to get it right,
and hour after hour I’m rewriting the same page! I check my notes, and everything
about the way forward seems good. Still, it feels like I’m stuck in the mud.
What gives?
This is where the magic comes in. And I’m not sure if this
happens to other writers, but I’m working on my ninth novel and it’s happened
to me every time.
I’m stuck, not because of the way forward. Instead, I’m circling
the drain because of something I overlooked that’s behind me! The problem isn’t
in the chapter I’m trying to write. It’s in the chapter I finished two days
ago! There’s a problem with it! And even though I didn’t see it, somehow I
could sense it, feel it. Somehow I KNEW!
I go back and reread the last few chapters. After thinking
it over, I make the fix, and move on. The writer’s block has come and gone!
For a while anyway!
Cheers to all! Hope you love the new book!
Robert Ellis
