Let’s address the two words that send shivers up all writers’ spine every time and they are writer’s block. This is something that all writers face at some point in their lives, and it is more common than you’d think. So, let’s take a look at a few ways you can break yourself out of it.
What exactly is writer’s block?
A writer’s block is a product of just not having clear goals and motivations for your characters. Everyone has a different definition for writer’s block, but most of the time, it is when you have no idea where to take your story.
Professional writers seldom face writer’s block because they are disciplined and are focused on character development. Coming from a place of character development, you will never have writer’s block if you are disciplined. Sometimes people refer to writer’s block when they just cannot sit down to start working. You’ll come across rainy day writers who can only write on a rainy day when the setting is perfect. However, this only happens twice a year which is not good for productivity. Most will not consider this a writer’s block more so as a lack of focus and discipline.
A writer’s block is when you can’t actually take your story forward and are stuck in the narrative and keep rewriting five pages. It’s when you can’t figure out where to take your character from a certain screenplay structure.
Overcoming Writer’s Block
Many people face writer’s block because they do not have enough preparation to carry their story forward. When you don’t have a clear goal or motivation for your character, you struggle to move forward. With a clear character goal, you can throw a million obstacles in the character’s way and they will impede his/her progress. If you don’t have a clear goal, you will struggle to throw things in your character’s way and create conflict because he/she is not going anywhere.
Sometimes people think that writer’s block is when you don’t know what the next plot point should be. You will not know what to throw in there to keep people interested. So, if you have a journey that’s naturally progressing then the obstacles come easier. The biggest piece of advice writers can take from screenplay lessons is that you should find out what that character goal is and use it to develop your character as well as your plot.
Another thing that is preached during screenplay lessons is that you should think simpler. The thing is that you don’t have to make your script complicated to make it worthy of production. Most of the time, writers try to show that they are, in fact, good at writing, so they add complexities to their screenplay structures. Look at your favourite movies, they have the simplest goals. So, don’t feel the need to make your scripts and screenplay outlines complicated. Keep it simple and goal-oriented. The most successful movies are so simple yet you have writers who are complicating it. In a majority of such cases, they do it because they don’t know any better and need to learn about it.
Conclusion
If you suffer from writer’s block frequently, then you should take a look at your writing process. Often, people write a particular scene or have an idea and decide that that will be the screenplay outline. They either work backwards or forwards to get to that place which doesn’t work out well for them. So, until you tie yourself to a goal that takes you to that scene, it is not really going to work the way you want to.
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