Working when staring out of the window

“… A writer is working when he's staring out of the window.” ~Burton Rascoe

I have heard many people say that they are only a writer when writing. This I can tell you is an incorrect notion. For you see, someone who is a writer is therefore also a storyteller of some description and rather a dizzy daydreamer. Therefore their mind never shuts down and is always on the go even in sleep. A writer is someone who can look at a tree and wonder about the life of the person who planted it was like and can understand what the tree it’s self sees and hears, or when they spray a can of deodorant they hear the sea beating the cliff or see the pixies casting their magic dust in blessing. A writer is someone who can look at the world around them and with out even trying they can find their story.

There are many parts to writing, such as the structure of the story or the style in which it is written, punctuation, the length of the piece and the words used, but a writer cannot write until they have their material. This is the first pitfall you shall face and although it can be easy to overcome, if you do not succeed then the whole piece could falter.

Fortunately there are many ways of avoiding this failure and insuring success when writing. At some point in all writers’ lives they come upon a moment when their mind goes black, and although they may wish to write they cannot as they can think of nothing to write about. This is called writers block and is easy to over come.

Here are some ways of over coming writers block and finding your story:

1) First things first, if you cannot think of anything straight away, don’t strain yourself. Take a break and come back to it in five of so minutes.

2) Don’t get stressed, if you are stressed then your writing will sound pressured and unless this is the effect you are looking for, that’s not good. Take some time to yourself, doing relaxation exercises or something to relieve any pressure. Writing is supposed to be fun that evolves a bit of work, not work without fun.

3) Do something out of the ordinary. Writers block comes from a lack of ideas, attempting to spark by going somewhere new or doing something different can be a useful way to overcome writers block.

4) If ideas aren’t the problem but keeping them in your head is, either write down a basic plot outline of the story or record it on a ditour phone.

5) Write or type or read out loud a complete short story by one's favourite author. By the end of ten to twenty pages, the mind is properly engaged to again be creative.

6) Look out of the window whilst brainstorming at the beginning of the writing, this can help you by providing you with a starting point.

7) Reading, watching movies or plays, or similar activities that might bring inspiration will help you to get the juices flowing again and therefore allowing you to get on and write.

8) Stuck on dialogue. Can seem to think straight, how would so ‘n’ so say this. Don’t worry- “Talk to a monkey”. Explain what you’re really trying to say to a stuffed animal or pet and the words will come naturally, so just write them down.

9) Listen to music. Try something instrumental and rhythmic that you’ve never heard before. Feel the texture of the music. How does it make you feel? What where you thinking about as it was playing. Gather all of these ideas and then stop fiddling with the radio until your draft is done.

10) Write five words, literally. Put five completely random words on a piece of paper. Write five more words. Try a sentence. Could be about anything. A block ends when you start making words on a page.

I hope these tips have been useful and happy writing.

Reviews

[clarie]

#5, read outloud a favorite author - it's jealousy thing, makes you think you can do this too
#7 watching movies - also a jealousy thing, you see the images in head, and think you can do this too

good list, it always helps to look at lists, yours, mine, ours, to get it going in your head.

[Roxy's Writes Rocks th..]

Very wise my friend, I agree with all you say here. I have pushed away from college courses on how to write. My mentor is Natalie Goldberg whom breaks all the stereotypical barriers. If you have not read Writing to The Bones it is a must read for all. I so agree about the day dreamer in each of us. I watched a Capote movie, not the one that one the awards. He says as writer we have a gift, a gift to go to places and experience all the emotions and feelings one would have if they actually were at that Island, Carnival etc... We must take advantage of this gift. It is our duty to use it for good.

I liked this- Thanks Roxy

[Kevin Andros]

Really liked the first paragraph! Gives a lot of help to young writers! I'm glad to have you in my group! ~KA~

[Icarian]

This article is really helpful and I liked how you gave your thoughts of what a writer is, in the first paragraph.

[Andrew Dunham]

Writer's block... even the words themselves sound scary. I usually just wait until I "feel" like writing something. But if I have a schedule to keep, then I will definitely try some of these techniques. I have no monkey to talk to. I like your description of the dreamyness of a writer's consciousness. Isn't it the case that all artists throughout time have been attempting to reach into the oneness of infinity and try to draw out some small piece of it, attempting to hold it up in the cold light of this dimension and say.."Wait, this means something, I can't quite recall, but it's just great..."

[Taja B.]

I found this very useful. This is a very good article that provides very good advice, in order to help get rid of your writer's block. Plus, I agree that a writer is always working because a writer does a lot of thinking in order to gather inspiration for a story and/or poem.

Nice job. I really enjoyed this.:)