By SOLEIL PAZ
Staff Writer
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As a writer and an artist, I find that one of the scariest concepts for me is looking at a blank page and not knowing how to fill it. There’s something about the white space in general that bothers me and naturally makes me want to cover it with something—even the walls of my room are completely plastered with mementos and paraphernalia. But to see that kind of emptiness and have nothing to put in it? Terrifying.
My major and current career path as a graphic designer depends solely on my ability to do just that: fill a space. But to me, designing comes easier than writing because there’s always something visual to go off of, no matter how simple the design is. There are no rules. You can stop drawing and say a piece is finished any time you like, then afterwards call it principle. But with writing, you have to start a thought, see it through, and communicate it in such a way that is easy and/or thought-provoking for your readers.
I see writing more as an elusive type of inspiration that comes and goes as it pleases. I only ever write when I have a purpose, whether it be for a research paper, article, or simply because the things I’m feeling are too fervent to be kept in my head. I even find myself looking forward to that time of the week when our executive editor emails me about the next issue of The Chronicle, because it gives me an excuse to get something out there.
Lately, I’ve been stagnant. I’ve been trying to squeeze out what few drops of writing I can get, but everything sounds wrong. It’s embarrassing. I am ashamed of every single word I try to write down, and the thing is it’s a familiar feeling. Introducing my old friend: the writer’s block.
I don’t know how long I stared at that blinking line of a word cursor before I actually started typing this article. I knew I had to start eventually, I just needed to get rid of that block, right? I can’t allow myself to be defeated by the illusion of incompetence.
Whenever I start any kind of new project, I go in armed with two nuggets of wisdom. First, creativity means nothing if you don’t create. And second, everything you create is precious because you created it. The first motivates me to start, the second motivates me to finish. That being said, the ideas alone are not enough to get me going. Inspirational quotes are not really going to help a writer get over a block. Writers see a good quote and think, “Wow, I wish I could come up with stuff like that.”
So I have another way of dealing with writer’s block that is honestly my secret recipe for success, or at least my way of finally getting a story from point A to point B. Pay attention now, because this is profound. Are you ready?
Write nonsense.
I’m serious, though. Just write without thinking. Write gibberish, write with reckless abandon, write the most incoherent short story known to mankind simply because you can. Please believe me when I say there is a method to this madness.
I can’t say exactly when I adopted this process as a way of jumpstarting my brain. All I can say is that I find the exercise to be extremely therapeutic—it allows you to get things down on paper without the more composed side of your conscience filtering out whatever it thinks is bad. The exercise essentially eliminates the critic inside your head so that you can get down to brass tacks and move on with your life. Write now and edit later.
Try it one day. Jot down whatever comes to mind without fear. You will be surprised at what your brain can come up with when you really let it go. For example, the last time I was really at a loss for ideas, I wrote a short story about a cat named Bartholomew who wanted to fly.
And now our readership has gotten perhaps too much of a glimpse of what goes on inside my head. Splendid.
You get the point. A block isn’t like the battle with the dragon, nor is creating a crusade. Starting a new project is just a wall that we must scale. Sometimes all we need is simply a little nudge out the door, or something to get us on the right track.
I think it’s safe to say that my own block was finally defeated when I typed out those first few words, “Writer’s block: ramblings of a supposed adult…”
