Letter 18: May 5, 2008
In 2003, I posed myself the research question "What is the phenomenon that we call writer's block?" And I've been working on that puzzle ever since, in project after project. Five years later I don't have a definite single answer. But I do have a whole lot of easy answers.
This came into my mind because it's been a week when I've heard definition after definition. On Tuesday, a successful writer told me that block doesn't exist and that it's a name for procrastination. An acceptable point of view. Elsewhere (at www.theworkingscreenwriter.com, since you ask) I found screenwriter Jim Vines's opinion that block is "nothing more than a form of total, absolute and complete laziness." An understandable point of view. An email reminded me of Alice Flaherty's view (in her thorough and fascinating book The Midnight Disease) that block is a biochemical outcome of depression. A reasonable point of view.
And that's just three things I happened to hear this week: there are other definitions that I didn't.
And they can't all be right. Or, if you like, they can all be right. Either way it means the same thing - "writer's block" is not a particularly useful thing to talk about.
Why do we talk about it? Here's just one suggestion. Being a writer isn't easy, and the easiest way to be a writer is to be a blocked writer. Because then you get to be a writer, but you don't actually have to do anything.
Fine if you want to introduce yourself at parties as a writer. Not fine if you want to be remembered for what you wrote.
And my point is: writer's block is not something you need to fear, or fix. Procrastination, laziness, depression: those are three things worth fixing.
We're not finished. Let's go deeper.
I don't believe that procrastination and laziness exist, either. I believe that almost everyone does those things, and therefore they are not mistakes or diseases or evils. To say that block doesn't exist and that it "is" one of those is to define a non-entity as another non-entity.
Then what is writer's block? In short, after more than five years of work on that question, I don't care. The reason I don't care is that I don't believe there is a useful answer. Block is a social construct, a conversational convenience.
To fix it, we need to fix the underlying problem - whatever it is for you- not what others tell you it is.
Something you can try today: assuming you experience block sometimes, then ask yourself this. If there was no such thing as writer's block, but you were still having the same symptoms you're having, what name would you give to the cause of them - to the real thing in your life that's the cause? If your answer is laziness, dig deeper again. If there was no such thing as laziness, but you were still behaving exactly the way you are, what real thing in your life would be the reason? Close your eyes and focus until you know. And that's what you need to fix.
David
David Jung McGarva
+1 (818) 707 1871
Write me: david at todayiwrite dot com
To get this newsletter every week, enter your email address below.
Privacy policy: I'll send you nothing but the weekly letter, and I'll never voluntarily share your address with anyone.