Many writers allude to listening to their muse. But what do you do when the muse goes silent? Just consider that she’s still around somewhere - just has a case of laryngitis - and write on without her.
Previously, in What is Creativity, I speculated on the creativity of Beethoven, Shakespeare, and Michelangelo. How did Beethoven start a piece, how did Shakespeare develop Hamlet’s Soliloquy, and how did Michelangelo keep on-topic? However, there’s a fourth question - how do you know when to quit?
Many times when you’re beset by writer’s block, your brick wall may be self-imposed.
- You can’t think of a single thing to write about today.
- You have a topic, but are clueless as to how to develop it.
- You can’t keep your topic on-topic.
- Your content isn’t as long as you’d like it to be
Where do you start?
Did Beethoven sit down and write a symphony from beginning to end or did he start with just a few haunting notes that permeated his mind? Were they the treble notes or the bass? Did they begin the piece or did they end up somewhere in the middle… or even at the end?
How Beethoven started isn’t really important. What is important is that just a few notes may have resulted in wonderful creations that have lasted for centuries.
Many times, a major impediment to writing isn’t coming up with a topic; it’s coming up with the title. Yet, just because the title heads your piece doesn’t mean you have to choose it before you start writing the content.
Pick a subject you’d like to write about and write down your first thought on the subject, no matter how short, ill constructed, or trivial it seems to you at the time. You have just started your symphony.
Developing your topic
Hamlet’s Soliloquy starts with the famous “To be or not to be”, but are those the words that inspired Shakespeare or was it maybe these bold words- “To sleep, perchance to dream; Ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come…”
*Although little is documented about the life of Shakespeare, one documented fact is that his only son, Hamnet died at the age of 11 in 1595. Is it a coincidence that Hamlet was written four to five years later? Was Shakespeare perhaps contemplating his own mortality or wondering about the afterlife of his son?
Again, what is important is not what inspired Shakespeare. What is important is that he used his thoughts, perhaps random thoughts about his own life, to create a masterpiece.
Consider your topic and put your first thought on paper (or screen). Keep writing, letting your thoughts take you where they will. It’s surprising the amount of content you can generate when you write naturally, as your thoughts flow. Don’t worry about punctuation, grammar, or spelling. Don’t even worry about organization. You can edit and organize later. For right now, just write.
Be flexible
You’re on a roll now. Your thoughts are flowing fast and if the muse didn’t have laryngitis, she couldn’t get a word in edgewise anyways. Suddenly, you realize that your surfboarding article has taken a tangent into brain surgery! Now if that’s not enough to stop a train of thought, nothing is! But– wait a minute, or on second thought, don’t wait; keep writing!
You can outline a book or an article, from preface to epilogue, but sometimes a story takes on a life of its own. (That pesky muse must have found a lozenge!) Although your present thoughts may seem totally unrelated to your topic, they may be useful when you’ve finished. After all, don’t surfboarders sometimes get head injuries that require neurosurgery? Aha! This wrong-way turn onto a one-way street could be an extension of your topic— Surfboarding Injuries and Accidents.
Okay, this may all seem a bit far-fetched, but remember this: *Michelangelo is remembered for saying that the work of sculpting was simply a matter of chipping away the marble that was not meant to be a part of the statue. Could be that when (and if) his chisel slipped and gave David that extra curl, Michelangelo believed that the wayward chip of marble wasn’t meant to be there in the first place.
My point– don’t be afraid to let your chisel slip from time to time and don’t throw out the block of marble when it does. Could be that an “extra curl” is just what your content needs. Keep writing until the tide goes out.
Know when to quit.
At some point, you will have said all you have to say. It’s time to organize, edit, and choose a title if you need one. After you’ve finished, you may look at your content in complete dismay, believing it’s too short. (Maybe you should have kept those 500 words on brain surgery?)
Go back through one more time and look for spots where you can add those important keyword phrases. Find what is unclear and clarify it. Chop out what isn’t necessary; those ‘golden’ words that already are beginning to tarnish.
*In Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, he says, “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here.” How wrong he was! In 272 words, he developed a concept that has lasted well beyond four score and seven years.
Yet, contrary to legend, Lincoln didn’t write the Gettysburg address on the back of an envelope while traveling by train en route to Gettysburg. There are five known drafts of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, each about as long as the others. He honed his content to say precisely what he wanted to leave with his audience.
If it’s sweet, it doesn’t matter how short it is. So with that, I’ll end this long treatise in hopes that I’ve given you some good tips on how to smash through writer’s block.
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