# Ways to get rid of writer's block?



## hagridindminor (Nov 5, 2015)

Whether you're a writer, composer,painter ect, what are some ways to get over writers block? Everyone wants their work to be good, the problem is many are often in a state of mind that isn't on par with the material. If you are midway through a dark composition but you're feeling calm and relaxed, or you're working on happy loud piece but youre feeling dull and apathic, what are you supposed to do?Perhaps some people do have the ability to write something good even though they arn't feeling it, but others might find their work a bit dishonest or pretentious. What is the solution?


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Well since your question is in reference to creativity in general (not just music), I'll mention I recently watched Fellini's film _8 1/2_. Fellini was suffering from writers block during the making of the picture and managed to use the experience in the movie, ultimately creating arguably his greatest work.

I think sometimes it is a good approach to be flexible and see where the work "wants to go" so to speak. Sometimes a "problem" can be successfully incorporated into the work.

"The picture I make is never exactly the one I started out to make, but that is of no importance. I am very flexible on set. The script provides the starting point, as well as offering security. After the first weeks, the picture takes on a life of its own. The film grows as you are making it, like a relationship with a person." -Federico Fellini


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

The solution is to go on working. If you don't 'feel it' in yourself, try to put yourself into the dispassionate world of art and from that place create a piece that is satisfying for what it is meant to be or do.

Actually, even if you *do* 'feel it' in yourself, that's probably a good place to create _*from*_.

The fact that people never agree about the emotional effects of works of art shows that the author's state of mind is not the crucial thing; the finished work and its structure *is*.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

You just write a sonata for Chinese woodblock.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

I'm something of a writer and I think "writer's block" is a convenient way of saying being lazy. I don't know how well this translates into composition but if it does you just put down whatever your having trouble on and work on something else. That's my best advice to you.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

The premise that one must "feel it" to compose sounds dubious to me. I see no reason why being calm and relaxed would inhibit composing a work that is expressively dark. In fact, it might help. The myth that composers pour out their souls as if they are channeling irresistible and deeply personal emotional forces that must be obeyed is a staple of bad fiction and Hollywood scripts. Composing is an act of imagination and the expressive qualities belong to the work, not necessarily to the composer. 

The couple stories of composer's block I know seem to happen in the face of a bewildering formal problem. Prokofiev, in composing one of his greatest works, the Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, for example, was stumped for a way to continue after having sketched most of the first three movements. He just couldn't think of a way to tie up all of the thematic threads in a satisfying finale. Long, long after he put it aside, he found a solution — a remarkable one that is far from obvious. I doubt it had anything to do with being in the wrong mood for eight years.


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

I can relate to this topic, although probably from a somewhat different perspective. My job requires me to write scientific research manuscripts suitable for publication in academic journals. My colleagues and I have to consider constantly how the editors and (usually anonymous) reviewers will regard our work. Lots depends on the quality of our written work - our manuscripts. This writing process often results in writer's block, i.e. "It needs to be perfect"-syndrome. My approach has always been to write something - anything - and be prepared to rewrite afterwards as needed. "It needs to be perfect", but not on the first draft.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2015)

EdwardBast said:


> The couple stories of composer's block I know seem to happen in the face of a bewildering formal problem.


Yeah. Whatever the truth about "writer's block, there certainly are bewildering formal problems, though. Yeah. Those things are real. Yikes.

I recently got stuck in a novel at around 200 pages, which is where a previous formal decision left me high and dry. That is, the pattern I'd determined on to carry me through to the end of the book, didn't. I wasn't done. I was sure of it. So I spent a hellish weekend fretting and then resolutely not thinking about anything to do with it. And then the solution came to me, as a new "formal decision," and I was able to then produce some of the prettiest writing in the whole book. And this after thinking there was no way to finish the thing at all.

It's certainly true what Fugue Meister said. If you're blocked, fuggidaboudit. Do something else. Blocking comes from you creating a wall that you can't get over or break through. There is no wall. There's just you. Doing something else lets your mind continue to work on the problem on its own, unconsciously, without feeling any pressure. Hopefully you don't have to wait eight years, but even if you do, "oh well." You're not writing for Kivimees boss, at least.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

What helps me with writing is, if I'm stuck w/o ideas, I just write anyway. Write lines, poems, tiny stories, anything that comes to mind. Free write for a few minutes, without trying to go in any specific direction.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

One good piece of advice I've gleaned from writing guides is to leave the writing 'pointing downwards' - finish before you've really finished the idea you were working on - leave it in the middle of a sentence (or whatever), so that when you start again you can complete the sentence, then the paragraph, and hey, you're writing.


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

Take a break for a while until the inspiration returns.


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## Steatopygous (Jul 5, 2015)

I am a professional writer. My answer can be summed up in one word: deadlines. 
When that deadline looms, you simply have to write. It may not be as good as you would have liked, but just sit down and get on with it.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Your username comes pretty close to being "hagridden in da moor". Is that relevant? 

My writing was non-fiction, so the hangups were mostly in presentation rather than subject matter. Fellini and _some guy_ have suggestions that seem useful. My solution was to grab a clipboard and go out on the shop floor to stare at the machines and talk to people for awhile. No, I am not claiming relevance.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Kivimees said:


> I can relate to this topic, although probably from a somewhat different perspective. My job requires me to write scientific research manuscripts suitable for publication in academic journals. My colleagues and I have to consider constantly how the editors and (usually anonymous) reviewers will regard our work. Lots depends on the quality of our written work - our manuscripts. This writing process often results in writer's block, i.e. "It needs to be perfect"-syndrome. My approach has always been to write something - anything - and be prepared to rewrite afterwards as needed. "It needs to be perfect", but not on the first draft.


My software development mantra _"Plan on doing it over, you will anyway"_


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Lots of good advice. I'll just impart, *Keep Clam*, keeping the demons at bay. :devil:


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

If the above suggestions fail you could always try Oblique Strategies by Brian Eno.

There is an online version here.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Vaneyes said:


> Lots of good advice. I'll just impart, *Keep Clam*, keeping the demons at bay. :devil:


Hah! The typos are probably not the problem.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Why do nowadays emerge so many new & amazing musical compositions in Eastern Europe? Because these composers do concentrate and devote their work to the Lord, their God, something that was forbidden during the Soviet era. I do not want to advise their example as a kind of magic potion, but just study in detail the way their creativity works, without getting locked in writer's blocks.


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