Writing is a wonderful way of life. However, it can also be one of the most frustrating things out there. This is due to a little thing called the Writer’s Block. Every writer has suffered from it at one time or another. My most recent case of the crash stems from my desire to write a script.
I came up with an idea in high school called Attack of the Cremated Zombies. At the time, it was a silly idea that I found hilarious. However, he had no desire to write the story. I wrote a couple of basic ideas in my black composition notebook (what writer doesn’t carry one of these). I graduated from high school and the idea fell to the bottom of my brain.
I did my studies at Western Kentucky University, where I studied Interactive Advertising, Graphic Design and Theater. During the few drama classes I had, I met a gentleman named Alex. He was a film student. We quickly became friends and started making short films together.
About halfway through my senior year, I told him about my idea for Attack of the Cremated Zombies. He found it hilarious! So, I sat down and learned the basics of writing a script. I bought the book “The Hollywood Standard”. I read the thing in one sitting. But, as interesting as the book seemed to me, it did not prepare me for the difficult journey on which I had set out.
Sitting in front of my computer, I wrote 20 pages with no problem. I thought to myself “This is going to be a piece of cake”. Twenty-five pages and things started to get a little more difficult. I got to 50 pages and realized that the story was almost finished.
I wanted it to be a feature film and the story was almost done at 50 pages!
I freaked out at this point and stopped writing for a while. I didn’t know where my story was going and I didn’t know where to add stuff, so I let it sit. After some time out, and a lot of harassment from Alex, I went back to the script and forced myself to write more scripts. This was the first step in overcoming some of the writer’s blocks. I had to force myself to sit down and write. It didn’t need to make sense at the time. I could go back and edit.
Even after taking the script to 80 pages, I still felt the story was missing. He needed to find another way to get over it. The next thing I tried, and am currently trying, is to write other stories. Writing other stories not only allows me to practice writing, but it also challenges my mind to constantly think of new scenarios for other characters and other situations.
This is the current best advice I can give on how to overcome writer’s block.
You have to sit down and force yourself to write.
Even if it’s not the story you want to write. Look for writing prompts. Write stories about real things. That’s my advice, and here’s another snippet from a blog I read a long time ago.
Dedicate the first hour of your day to your passion.
If you ever want to go anywhere in any field of work, you need to get up first thing in the morning and practice. Write a short story or what you dreamed about. If you wake up every day and go straight to work doing something you hate, your life will not improve and your writing will not improve.
I leave you with some of my favorite places to find writing materials.
Writing prompts
Comedywire