TEAR DOWN THE WALL!!

Pardon the Pink Floyd pun.

I consider myself an "inkling", an up-and-coming writer, still in the development stages of his career. I'm still undiscovered, but I have enough original ideas to make Hollywood's head spin. I stated in a previous article, centered around my distaste for most of Hollywood's remakes, that "Hollywood has it in their heads... [that] they can cash in on half-assed remakes". This does not make for good business. Not to toot my own horn, or even come off as one of the "self-proclaimed ninnies" I referred to in that article, but I really think I can breathe fresh air into these studios.

My only enemy in this right now is myself.

I am the only thing keeping this dream from happening. Not only do I have to contend with the occasional writer's-block, but I have every-day concerns that need constant attention (not that I'm complaining). I'm very grateful to have a full-time job that pays as well as it does in this economy. I fully understand and embrace its importance. I also have a wife whom I love so much, and I'm so happy to be with her and spend time with her. I have family and friends with whom I'd like to hang out with and have fun! Now, I don't want anyone getting the impression that I'm resentful or "blaming" anything on anyone, because not only is that not the case, but it's ridiculous! How can I resent my blessings!?

What I resent is that, sometimes, when I do have the time to sit down and work on one of my projects, I just suddenly don't feel like it, or I'm not interested. What the hell!?! That's just cruel. So I've had to develop various methods of beating back the block and fashioning dynamite to blow that wall to smithereens. I'll go ahead and share some insights I've had. Hopefully this will help any other aspiring writers who feel stuck way too often.

1. Music

Always when I write, I look for a "soundtrack" to assemble that's based on the characters, ideals and mood of the story I'm working on. This usually consists of anywhere between 10 and 20 songs that I always have playing in the background as I work. This really helps set the mood for the project, especially when I sit back and put images from the story to the music as it plays. Just imagine that you're watching the movie to your story, and the music is the soundtrack playing. What would happen based on the music? Listen for the crescendos, the rise and fall of the song, the breakthroughs and the breakdowns. Does the song get suddenly epic at one point? Listen for these cues in the music and put visuals to the song to get yourself pumped up. I normally find that when I have a block, it's because I'm bored with the story or characters. Playing a scene set to my music through my head usually gets me really excited again. Music, to put it simply, is KEY to any story.

2. Daydream

This goes back to the music bit - sit back and start imagining the story playing out in your head. Try to let it flow freely, unconstrained with your previous ideas for the progression of the story. This will open up new avenues and new action or business for the characters to partake in. Sometimes it's hard to daydream with your eyes closed, I've found, so go outside and stare up at the sky. Just stare past everything. Don't focus on anything, unless it brings you inspiration. If you're a writer, chances are you have a very imagination, and you should be able to capture some kind of breakthrough just by letting your thoughts go. It's a very Jedi way of getting shit done.

3. Fresh Ideas

Sometimes, when daydreaming, you can suddenly think of new ideas. Something that has nothing to do with your current project. Sometimes this sudden burst comes from nowhere, and you weren't even daydreaming at all. You just go "oh my god, that'd be awesome!" If you're stuck on your current project, give yourself a few moments to try and develop this new thing into something workable. Work out the protagonist and problem, the antagonist and their goals. Just remember that you have that other project back there waiting for you. All I know is that sometimes a new, different project can be the thing that saves the old project's life. Once you're done seeing if the new thing can work, go back to the old project and you may find yourself thinking of new ideas for this work (just make sure you take enough notes for the new project so you know what the hell you were talking about when you do finally get back to it), thanks to the creative juices flowing in you. Sometimes all it takes is a slight push down the road of creativity.

4. Distractions

Now, be careful. I'm ADD enough to know that it's really easy to leave an old project behind, forgotten about, just because you've found something new and exciting. Working on a new project may be great, but don't forget what made you so excited and inspired by the old one. Losing that could actually hurt, personally, a lot. I also have a lot of unfinished projects, which each take up a small hole in my spirit. It's really tough staying focused on one project for me sometimes, and I find that sometimes I just have too much going on, too many projects or too many aspects of one piece of work happening all at once and it's overwhelming. Or, the distractions may be external, something having nothing to do with your writing. The TV distracts me. Video games? Forget about writing! Company? Or the usual people that are around you? Hell, even the music soundtrack that I've created for the project can be distracting at times. Just be careful what you work on and what you surround yourself with while you work.

5. Location

Now here's where your location comes in. Sometimes your workspace is constantly surrounded by possible distractions - I know mine is. My desk is in the living room right next to the TV and Xbox; the living room where my wife sits with me. Sometimes I'm doomed before I even start working. Your workspace is immensely important. But the same surroundings just start to become too much at times, I know. Try moving somewhere else for now. Write in the bedroom, the dining room, the bathroom even for Pete's sake (I get very creative in the bathroom, no pun intended). I used to go to the library and write a lot, it was really helpful. But the place that did it for me one time, I can't even decide where this came from, I had this urge to just sit outside. It was going on midnight and below 70 degrees. Didn't stop me, I thought to myself "screw TV, screw Xbox, I'm going outside where nothing can bother me." I picked up the laptop and sat outside on the porch underneath a tree and the stars. It was nice out too, not too cold for me and very quiet. The change in location just instantly did it for me, I was writing like a maniac. I can't believe how helpful that was to me. I moved maybe eight feet from where I usually write and it made all the difference.

6. Break

Yeah, sometimes I'll just be sitting there stuck at the end of a sentence, and I'll be trying so hard to continue, to just get it done...but to no avail. I'm just plain done. When it comes to this point, I know what must be done, but I feel like I'm jumping ship, abandoning my post for selfish reasons! I just don't know when to walk away sometimes. But that's just it...you gotta know when it's time to stop. It may feel like you're on the brink of some great nugget of knowledge and inspiration, but it's just not coming...time to stop. Put it up for now (save your work!) and get up out of that seat. It may hurt, but hopefully it's like a band-aid and it'll fade over the next few minutes as you find something else to do at the time. What I've found helps is, ironically, cleaning. It's high-energy and gets your blood flowing. Vacuum, scrub counters, clean windows, wash dishes. Hell, even start making dinner if it's late enough. Pack your lunch for the next day. If you're feeling less productive, watch some TV or a movie. I find I get a lot of inspiration to do great things when I watch great movies. I always get a feeling of "GOD I wanna do something made of awesomesauce like that!" Then I'm ripe and ready to go!

7. Food

The mind cannot function without fuel (so don't drink a whole lot while you write - alcohol robs the brain of oxygen). Sometimes a quick snack or even a meal will do wonders. Combine that with the previous suggestion, taking a break, and you'll be set to go. Get a good carb snack with some fruits too. Natural sugar to get your brain zipping. You may want to counter that with something that'll help even out the low that'll come from that...but that's up to you. Just don't eat so much that you start getting comatose from having to digest so much. But a little food never hurt anyone, and it can help jump-start your lagging brain.

8. Output/Input

I've found that sometimes I need a second opinion. I'll ask my wife what she thinks, or my best friend or even some fellow writers (just be careful who you ask, make sure you trust them, or at least feel they're far insuperior to you to ever write an epic story like yours, hahaha). I was working on a screenplay one time and had all of my friends over to read it, like they would after casting a film. Each of my friends played a certain character or set of characters and we just read it out. It really helped me determine if there was good flow and believable dialog. Not to mention any spelling/grammar/format mistakes I may have overlooked. Armed with this new knowledge, I was able to attack my project with a fresh fervor.

9. Re-Reading

Similar to the previous suggestion, sometimes you just need to re-read what you have so far. I find this especially helpful after revisiting a significantly older project. Before even seeing where I am now, I'll just read everything I have so far, starting from the beginning. This will help not only remind myself everything that's happened so far (in case I had forgotten to include something later), but also jump-start me into continuing where I left off. Even if I've been working on the project for a while and I'm just stuck - if "time spent apart" isn't the issue here - re-reading the work can provide great insight into what needs to happen next. Maybe we haven't seen certain characters in a while and we need an update. Perhaps a certain piece of business needs to occur before the story can move forward. In any case, if all else fails, I recommend re-reading the story from the start. It's also a great tool for weeding out spelling/grammar/format mistakes as well.

10. Starting Over

Of course, there's always one major downfall to re-reading your work. Sometimes you may be going through it and, if you're as critical as I, be thinking "oh, this is utter SHIT!" Yes, the all-consuming madness of falling out of love with your work. This is necessary and a very useful ability, though. Because if you just love your work too much, you'll miss crucial short-comings that will end up KILLING the story. If you can read through your work and recognize that it's just total crap (not saying it always will or should be), good for you! Wipe it out and start fresh! I always keep backups of my failed versions so I can always refer back to them for parts that I liked, or information that I used. Don't ever just plain throw something away unless you're completely done with that project. Even then, you might glean something fresh out of it. One man's garbage can indeed be the SAME man's treasure! I can't say how many times I've restarted a project of mine simply out of dissatisfaction for its progress and content. I've come a long way because of it. Now, this isn't to say that your work is always going to be crap, but more often than not it could use some tweaking before it's the masterpiece you want everyone to see it as. Starting over fresh can be a Godsend to your work. And, to be honest, if you've gone down this list and tried everything I've suggested and you're STILL at a block? This is what you need.

Happy writing, and the best of successes to you!