Edited by : Malavika Kishore
Picture this. The setting is ready. You have a cup of coffee resting beside your laptop, the font tuned to Garamond, Cigarettes after Sex playing their soft melodies in the background, and a blank document opened in front of you. You are ready. Your HC content head will no longer look at you with a disappointed, lopsided smile when you pass her in the hallway. You are going to write the article you were supposed to write a week ago. But shit. It happens again. Block. Block. Block. You have an idea, a story to tell, an essay to ramble in, but you can’t start. You pinch your forehead, take a deep breath, and close your eyes. The disappointed, lopsided smile haunts you into a frenzy. So, how do you get over it? Well, you google, “how to get over a writer’s block?” and you stumble upon this article. Hello.
I can’t promise these things work. They just work for me. You can always send me hate mail if they don’t.
- Read: The important point to note here is that, don’t just read anything. Read what you like, slip into a comfortable classic. Don’t dip your toes into unchartered waters, this is not the time for that. Read a book that makes you want to write. That’s the definition, by the way —Of a classic. At least according to me.
Asmi’s Thesaurus:
A Classic novel /noun/ : When you read it, you want to write.
- Write 5 beginnings: The hardest part of writing is deciding where to start. Everyone wants their first line to be doors to Narnia, a magical world which lures people in. You stress and stress, dangling between lines and phrases. My advice? Write all the beginnings you can think of. All the ways you can potentially imagine starting the article, or the story: pen them down. Don’t waste time choosing between 10 beginnings, and then scrapping it when it doesn’t fit. First, write all of them so you can spend more of your energy towards the rest of the article instead of wasting it all on the start.
Asmi’s Thesaurus:
Beginning /noun/: Doors to Narnia, a magical world.
- Google some prompts for a short story: Writer’s block happens because you have too many ideas, or too little. In both cases, the first thing you need to do is, reset your brain, get out of your head. Write a story about finding a letter in an abandoned house that your future self wrote to you, or about robot invasion, or a murder mystery with a twist. Nothing too wordy though. 500 words.
Asmi’s Thesaurus:
A short story /noun/: An idea for a novel you never got the time to write.
- Stare into space and listen to the same song on repeat: For me, I listen to Sofia by Clairo.
On. repeat. Focus on the words: keep singing them, singing them, over and over. And then write. Rookie mistake: you decide to listen to a 100 songs instead of one on repeat. The point is to declutter your brain.
Asmi’s Thesaurus:
Sofia, by Clairo /proper noun/: A song that makes you so happy you almost feel sad.
- Do something that is logical. I like to solve maths, or puzzles. I don’t know if there is science behind this, but I don’t know, there is something about solving a quadratic equation that just makes you want to write.
Asmi’s Thesaurus:
A quadratic equation/noun/: When you solve it, you feel like writing about your sorrows and joys.
Lastly, and this is the punchline of this whole article: you can write a “How to get over a Writer’s Block?” article to overcome your Writer’s Block. That’s what I do. Or I am doing.
That’s all, some tricks and tips. They might not work for you, or they might. The thing to remember is: don’t feel discouraged. Take a deep breath, and revisit your writing tomorrow if nothing works. Let the face of your HerCampus Content Head haunt you one more day. It’s alright. Writing is an outlet. When you put your pen to the paper, you should be able to let go. And you can’t let go of something with a busy mind. So clear your head. Rome wasn’t built in a day. (Totally not yapping to reach my word count.)