Fighting Writers Block

So, you want to write? Me too. What I find and am currently finding as I write this is that it can be really hard to transfer all the wonderful ideas from your head and put pen to paper. I have had many ideas for short stories, articles, and plotlines but never managed to pursue them. What can I do, how can I create a world of intrigue and mystery when the real mystery is getting it out of my head in the first place? While writing this article I seek the answer, the whole purpose of this is to release what goes on in my head and see what appears on the page. What you see before you is a finalised draft that used to be maybe two or three times as large as it is now.

How to Fight the Block

1. It helps to focus on one part of the article or story at a time. If it's an article, maybe split it into subheadings with stories, chapters.
2. Write a few bullet points on what (if its a story for example) I want chapter one to be about. Chapter 1: Boy meets friends at school. Classhaspet hamster called Gregor. Teacher hates Gregor.
3. Once you have some bullet points you can start writing chapter one. Let everything flow out of you. Write everything that comes into your head. Your brain will thank you later. Don't reject any ideas until you have written all you can!
4. Once you have written everything you can, making sure you have covered the bullet points you can start to dig through your writing. You will have loads of ideas in front of you now. Choose the parts you think work best.
5. Like a dictionary jigsaw, you can now put together your first section of text. Move the pieces of text that you don't use to the bottom of the page.
6. Proofread your new masterpiece! If you love it then you can delete the extra notes at the bottom of the page. If it needs tweaking, hey look! There are some extra sentences at the bottom of the page!!
7. Your brain is always active; if when working on other parts of the article or story you have another idea then you can always retrace your steps and don't be afraid to make changes you think will really give your piece the WOW factor!

Writing can be a great way of self-expression. While there are some people who act, sing, or paint, writing can be just as expressive. Writing music, scripts, articles or stories all have one thing in common and that's that you can put all your ideas in one space and it can become a thing of beauty. If you take somebody like Ed Sheeran you can see that he is a singer and a song writer. He has written songs for many different artists; Justin Beiber, Major Lazer, One Direction and Olly Murs just to name a few. Now, you're probably wondering why I am going from writer's block to emotion in writing. Simply, if you overthink about what you're trying to write down you will never actually manage to get pen to paper. That's why I suggest writing EVERYTHING that comes to mind. There is a quote by Ed that I came across when I was learning to write songs. He says,

“I think songwriting is a form of therapy… I think any time I’ve ever got down or ever felt low the one thing that picks me up from that is writing a song about it because at least you’ve got a positive experience out of a bad experience.”

This is why we can't let writer's block stop us. To write is to express a new found freedom!

I started using my own advice and well... this article appeared! For the last few years, I have always wanted to get creative and write something and this article was a gateway for me to teach myself how to get my ideas from my head to screen! Hopefully this will be useful for people out there looking in. I won't claim to be a professional but this is my first step. Let it be a step forward for you too!! Peace out.