Minds on.

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

This is the did you know icon. Did You Know?

A quick Google search of “writer’s block” brings up over seven million hits in less than a second! Is it ironic that so many people write about writer’s block?

Writer’s Notebook

This image of a painting by Leonid Pasternak shows a 20 - 30 year old white man with his eyes closed and holding his forehead with a frustrated expression on his face. He has papers in front of him and a pen in his right hand. He is surrounded by assorted books.

Leonid Pasternak called his painting The Passion of Creation. What would you call it?
Wikipedia

Take a moment to examine the painting above by Leonid Pasternak. What do you see? Grab your Writer’s Notebook and start the timer below. Write down as many words and phrases to describe the picture as you can. It doesn’t matter if they are “accurate” because there’s no way to be wrong in this activity. Don’t stop writing until the alarm sounds.

If you're working on a tablet, click here to open the following interactive in its own window instead of using the embedded version below.

Throughout this course you will keep an electronic and/or paper notebook on you at all times (even by your bedside!). It will be helpful for ensuring you don’t forget a great idea, turn-of-phrase, character name, etc. It will also illustrate your growth as a writer!


Now take a look at what you wrote. Can you see any patterns? Were your words mostly nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs? Did they have a common theme or motif? A big part of avoiding writer’s block is letting your imagination flow freely. At other times, it is more like forcing yourself to commit. Either way, writing something is better than nothing because, as Shakespeare's King Lear reminds us, “nothing will come from nothing.”

A word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun).

A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as “hear, become, or happen.”

A word naming an attribute of a noun, such as “sweet, red, or sharp.”

A word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (e.g., “gently, quite, then, or there”).

This is the enrichment icon. Enrichment

Having writer’s block is nothing to be embarrassed about. Whether you’re starting your writing career or have already achieved fame, it happens to everyone. Want proof? Check out the following TedTalk.

Action.

Breaking the Block

Sometimes you need a different perspective to overcome writer’s block. To help you with that, read the following article.

This is an image of a red and grey brick wall with a large crack running across the centre. A small hole is visible showing that there is something behind the wall.

Sometimes all you need is a crack to see the idea beneath.

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Writer’s Notebook

After you’ve read the article, break out your Writer’s Notebook and come up with 10 interview questions you would ask the author of the article you read. By developing these fictional questions, you are not only engaging in the reading, but also practicing a prompt exercise.

Prompting Prompts

While ‘It was a dark and stormy night...’ might be a bit cliché, it does show the power of a prompt. Writing prompts are a great way to get your writing flowing. As seen from the list of sources below, they can come from almost anywhere. Mouse over the 'Images' option to see an exemplar.

This is an image of a large colonial style house set in the distance. All around it, lightning flashes from the dark storm in the sky above.

It was a dark and stormy night...

  • Images
  • Videos
  • Sounds
  • Questions
  • Dialogue
  • Names
  • Places
  • Situations
  • Memories
  • Tastes
  • Colours
  • Dreams
  • Sensations
  • Scenarios  

This is an image of a close up of a child’s hands holding a red, plump strawberry.

A simple image can evoke a passionate prompt.

The toddler’s tiny hands were still sticky from the strawberry residue and sticks of yellow straw were stuck to the bottom of her dirty shoes. Her mother had forgotten her hat at home and the sun painted streaks of gold through the top strands of her hair.

Writer’s Notebook

In your Writer’s Notebook, generate one prompt and its response for each of the bullet points above (make sure it is not related to the abandoned house). Your responses to each of the prompts you create should be similar in length and detail to the one in the strawberry example above. You can try this exercise with or without the timer.

Consolidation

Before continuing, let’s review some of the strategies you’ve learned so that you can avoid Writer’s Block:

Like the Seven Norms of Collaboration, these strategies work best when used together.

This is the discussion icon. Sharing Strategies

As a part of our Writer’s Community, it’s important that we help each other succeed. To do that, research Writer’s Block and develop your Top 5 Tips . For each tip, write a 4-5 sentence, specific, detailed explanation as to why you believe it is effective in generating ideas for writing.

Here are some resources to get you started:

Resources

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  1. 7 Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block is a great blog post for inspiring your creativity.
  2. Prompting Ideas is a great blog post for getting the most out of your ideas.
  3. 25 Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block is a great website to help you to start writing again.
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