Writers Block
Writers BlockA glitch in the creative process, in which a writer thinks he can't write.
Sometimes this manifests itself over the scope of a particular work; the writer finds himself stuck only on that work. Sometimes, the writer believes that he is written out and cannot write anything.
Scott Meredith, a literary agent, called such a work stoppage a "slump." He said that writers "talk themselves into their slumps" and, if they force themselves to write anyway, they can do so. "Writing ability isn't a shallow pan of water," he wrote. "It doesn't evaporate suddenly, and it doesn't dry out or get used up."
When it happens to me, it takes the form of "Well, this thing I'm working on has a problem, but I can't put my finger on it. I daren't write any more on it until I've identified and solved the problem, but I can't identify it, and so I can't solve it. What is it?" Sometimes I just get bored looking at the thing. Sometimes I start making random variations in the hope that I will eliminate the problem by sheer luck. (That's dangerous!) Sometimes I give up on the work altogether -- temporarily or permanently. Sometimes I figure it out and fix it, and the problem is solved.
AynRand called it "the squirms." "The solution," she said, "is always to think over every aspect of the scene and every connection to anything relevant in the rest of the book. Think until your mind almost goes to pieces; think until you are blank with exhaustion. Then, the next day, think again -- until you find the solution."
There is a huge mythology about writers block, lots of alleged quick fixes, lots of stories about writers who allegedly never have it, or who don't have it anymore, or who never get out of it. Then again, some writers don't have it often enough. :-)
Is there such a thing as ProgrammersBlock?
-- EdwardKiser
I think there is, but maybe some differences from WritersBlock. Programming is like writing in some ways (expressing ideas in a clear/concise/understandable way) but unique in some ways too (problem-solving is a big part of Programming). If you are stuck with a difficult problem where all the solutions you can think of seem bad, you might have ProgrammersBlock. Until you can come up with an idea that doesn't have the drawbacks of all the current ideas, it might seem hard/impossible/undesirable to write any code at all. When standard problem-solving or algorithm-design techniques don't yield results, you may need to ignore the problem for a while so your subconscious can work on it (go get pizza). Or, you can force your way through the block by picking one of the bad solutions and implementing it even though you know it's bad. Just DoTheSimplestThingThatCouldPossiblyWork. -- WylieGarvin
[P.S. What would XP do? If a pair is stalled on a task for a certain period of time, like a day, would you swap them out and give the task to a new pair of minds?]
[Would they attempt a SpikeSolution?]
WilliamStafford? suggests that writer's block comes from holding oneself to a higher standard than can be met. It's best to lower one's standards because being blocked is not a path to better writing.
Is this the "O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet" attitude?
I find it helps to remind myself that nobody will see my rough drafts (some kind of baggage from my childhood...)
Whever I had writers block in college (early 80's), I just started writing whatever came to mind on the subject -- rough ideas as outline points, rough text as paragraphs of text, even if they don't seem to tie together to make any particular point. You see, working with a word processing program, as I was, I knew that I could always delete or refactor anything I wrote, so there was little penalty for writing bad text.
I think this is what writers call a StreamOfConsciousness exercise--when they need to overcome WritersBlock, they force themselves to write continuously, whatever is in their head. They don't stop to try and make it good. It might be bad text at first, but (at least for writers with natural talent) after a while the good stuff will start to flow. -- WylieGarvin
After doing that for a few pages, at most, I could usually figure out some unifying theme I could work with. Then I refactored the text, deleted everything that didn't contribute (or cut-paste it to another file), and I'd be cookn'. -- JeffGrigg ...graduate of California State University of Disneyland. (OK, Fullerton, if you must know. ;-)
There's an interesting book called OnWritersBlock? by VictoriaNelson? (1993) ISBN 0395647282 ISBN 0395647274 It's an update of an earlier book called "Writers Block And How To Use It" (1985)
Contents:
Interesting similarity/counterpoint for PlayHurt - GeoffSobering
See also FearOfWriting, FowlerWritingMethod
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