It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!
So, what is today's topic? Beating Writer's Block!
As a Creative Writing student, the idea of writer's block can be horrifying. The concept itself has the potential to greatly impact the way we perceive the outcome of a specific module, because if we have writer's block then we have the potential to have stunted ourselves and our potential heavily.
So, how do I manage to evade writer's block?
1. Read - I find that reading helps me keep writer's block at bay. Being immersed in the world of another writer, published or not, allows me enough space from my assignments to collect my thoughts. Sometimes, what I require, is not a writing prompt but a sentence, or a phrase, or an image. Therefore, exposing myself to a variety of written stimuli has the potential to provide me with the muse I may require in order to further my piece.
2. Re-evaluate what I already have - Should I get stuck midway through creating a piece of writing, and struggle to work out what I am to do next, I go over everything I have produced in reference to said piece in a bid to find plot threads I could pull on to move the story onward etc. It is very helpful when doing coursework.
3. Music - Look into music that fits the general theme of the piece and see if something gets my creative juices flowing again. One of the main aspects of writing which my screenwriting lecturer once offered us was to examine the concept of our piece and probe it to find out what the theme of the piece is - what is the core message you would like your readers to gain from the piece that you are creating? For example, in my screenwriting piece it was "live in the now" as it told the story of friends mourning over their friend who passed away because hypoglycemic of shock after a night of drinking. She did not let her Type One Diabetes keep herself from enjoying her life. However, her irresponsible behaviour evoked an early death on her part. Once I had the theme recorded, I began looking for music I could use that discussed a similar topic and got song suggestions from "Live Like There's No Tomorrow" by Selena Gomez to "This Life" by Tim Halperin to covers of "Ikanaide"! It gave me a vast sea of lyrics and images I could use for muses within my screenplay!
Thank you for reading!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley
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