When Inspiration Falls Flat: Writing in the face of writer’s block
Let’s be real here — inspiration is fantastic! But many people misattribute it as the fuel that keeps creatives running. Now, don’t get me wrong, sparks of inspiration have its place, and can certainly make the process of creating easier, but it is often finicky and rare. Not every idea strikes you like lightning, and not every idea that does is worth pursuing. The problem with waiting for inspiration to hit before you start writing is that it may leave you waiting forever.
When we are faced with the task of writing without clear inspiration, trying to decide what to write can feel like an impossible task. I have had my fair share of being faced with a deadline (usually related to my undergrad studies) and not having a clue of where to even begin. These kinds of situations can be insanely frustrating and in extreme cases can make people want to quit writing altogether. Thankfully, I have a few tips that I developed in my five years of college that have gotten me through even the most dire of writing circumstances.
1. Set Your Environment.
Some writers have to have background/ambient noise going, a snack ready to munch on, and enough caffeine to kill a horse in order to get their creativity started up; others need absolute silence, maybe a glass of water, and complete separation from anything that could distract them. I personally am a high noise, high caffeine, no-people-around kind of writer. Regardless of what kind of writer you are, one thing is for sure — your writing environment matters. If you aren’t sure what type of writing environment you need, try playing around with different elements in your space. For example, I learned recently that I need a generally creative space to immerse myself in before I can start my own creative writing. It’s not an easy process, but it is worth it, I promise.
2. Write Everything Else
What I mean by this is write literally everything other than what you are supposed to write. For example, I had a short story due for my creative writing class recently and I had NO CLUE what I wanted to write. Sure, I had some works in progress that could have worked, but they didn’t feel right; nothing I had already started felt right. SO I sat down and I started writing down the requirements for the story, i.e. page numbers and word counts, content restrictions, who my audience was, and lastly my time frames. After this I had clear parameters for my idea requirements. From there I looked through past idea notes and started writing down different topics that I had previously found interesting but never pursued. As I did this I was able to take different ideas and explore them a little more before I found one that felt right.
3. Writing Prompts
Sometimes the best way to find something to write about is through already existing writing prompts. The key with this, though, is creating your own spin on the writing prompt. For example, one of my short story ideas came from a writing prompt I saw on social media. It read something along the lines of: a doctor faces a patient that he knows he can’t help. The spin I put on it is: a plague doctor faces a woman that may be affected by the plague or may be possessed. Through this I was able to write a 5,000 word short story that I am currently querying to various horror literary magazines. All this to say, when the worst happens and you have no internal inspiration, you may want to look at topics and ideas that have inspired other writers and creatives.
All in all, writer’s block is something that happens to just about everyone at least once. It’s a phenomenon that can completely paralyze a writer, but it doesn’t have to be. A large part of being a writer is getting through the process of writing, and finding how to start is something that many writers struggle with all the time. There is no shame in not being struck by inspiration and being unsure of where to start, but don’t let it paralyze you and keep you from writing anyways. The best writers are the ones who continue to work on their craft even in the face of difficulty.
