Apr 2, 2011 / The Craft of Writing

Cure for writers block?

Interesting article in the New Yorker about writers block and techniques (some) screenwriters use:

Michels also told the writer to get an egg timer. Following Michels’s instructions, every day he set it for one minute, knelt in front of his computer in a posture of prayer, and begged the universe to help him write the worst sentence ever written. When the timer dinged, he would start typing. He told Michels that the exercise was stupid, pointless, and embarrassing, and it didn’t work. Michels told him to keep doing it.

…six weeks later, he had a hundred-and-sixty-five-page script. Six months after that, the script was shot, and when the movie came out the writer won an Academy Award.

Read the full article: A cure for blocked (screen)writers

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  1. How exciting!! I just posted about the same thing yesterday. It was titled Hello Creativity… my own creativity has a vairety of directions, often many directions at once. LOL. But writing has been my focus lately… as I haven’t quite been triumphant with the postaday, or postaweek for that matter. But my post yesterday shares my own list of cures to coax our creativity… or writers block.
    I also love the book The Writer’s Idea Book…

    http://simplyshoup.com/2011/04/01/hello-creativity/

    Aja

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  3. I’ve been a fan of Jungian psychology for years. The New Yorker always does an excellent job with personality features. You do not have all the time in the universe to write something. If you focus on whether the writing is good or bad, then you aren’t focused on actually writing.

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  4. I NEVER have writers block!
    I carry around a small notebook and I jot stuff in it constantly. keywords, phrases, ideas… all of these become “works in progress” blog material at some point.

    I have about 50 of these “posts in progress” at any one time and they give me time to expand and refine them, I can scan though my list and see which of them takes my fancy, once I’ve picked one, the thoughts and words just flow like a leaky tap because the topic already has my interest.

    Even if you work on these posts “bit-by-bit” you will find that one thought sparks another.

    Also: DO read like-minded blogs, If you read something that sparks a new topic in your line of thought, then write all about it AND link back to the original blog and give them credit.

    Not only is that good blog etiquette and a compliment to the other blogger but it also encourages others to do the same and link back to your blog if something you wrote inspired them.

    This is my system and usually what happens is that I have SO much material that my only problem is which one will I post first!

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  5. My husband already thinks that I am a dotty old bag, so if I knelt before my laptop in prayer I think that he would have me committed.
    So far I have only had one day of ‘can’t think of anything to write’ as I now go to Plinky for some sort of idea then I change it to what I want it to be. Now I have a long list.
    BUT.. if I really can’t think then I may well try this idea, (in secret)

    love P

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  6. That is hilarious. I think I’m going to try it just for fun to see what comes out. I love the idea of begging to be bad. Bad can be a gift and is way better than blank.

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  7. Adorei essa história, se for verdade e deu sorte, talvez eu até poderia pensar em imita-lo!!!!!
    Mas a verdade é que as vezes dá vontade de praticar umas loucuras!!!!
    abraços a todos!
    Mina!

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  8. Not sure how the “universe” is going to help anyone, but I’m sure the exercise of trying to write the worst sentence ever sparked some creativity. Sometimes I think you have to just sit down and write whatever, whether it’s good, bad or ugly. Eventually the ol’ brain gets chugging and you’re back on the road again. It’s the discipline, I guess. (Which I definitely need more of!)

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