Panic and Writing
So occasionally I get into a panic.
The voices in my head, the ones usually screaming at the top of their lungs, doing battle with each other, egging me on, behaving like spoiled children… those voices turn into mere murmurs. Or worse — fall silent.
The movie rolling in my brain suffers a tear in the film and stops, flopping around like a dying fish, and slips out of the projector.
The soundtrack turns into a bad rendition of a record being played too slow before it eventually stops.
That’s when the panic really starts.
Usually when I get stuck, sometimes before that, making me get stuck.
We all get that way, when nothing seems to happen, when your mind refuses to cooperate.
What to do, what to do?
What CAN you do?
I usually stress myself out, read what I’ve written a million times and get myself into an even worse panic. I look at other stuff I’ve written and nothing seems good enough. But that just makes it worse, not better.
I have arguments with my muse. Whoever HE is. (It’s a guy, and he likes to sulk) My muse sometimes turns beliggerent and will not cooperate, and I’ll call it out for a showdown. Of course the damned critter resents that and promptly goes off to sulk worse than before. Nothing will be forthcoming.
Oh we’re all just having a heap of fun, at this point.
I sit, stare at the page where I left off, and I draw a blank.
I realize I wrote myself into a corner and I don’t care what happens next.
Well. I do care, but not the way I should.
I’ve just scrapped a good 5000 words I’ve written. They are sitting in another file, because I don’t like them anymore. I don’t like the characters anymore. I stopped caring about them, because they aren’t doing what I want them to do. I let them go off on a tangent — and now I’m paying for it.
The tangent doesn’t work. It slowed everything down and finally made me stop.
So now I made a surgical incision and removed the tumor.
It hurt.
Bad.
I don’t like scrapping parts of a story. I really don’t. I save them elsewhere. I may never use those words, but I won’t throw them out, either.
However, now I’m at the point where the writing still flowed, where I had somewhere to go, and I can let my mind wander once more. I can get to the good stuff.
Sometimes that’s what it takes. Look back at where you’re at, find out where you still like your story and where you start not liking it — and cut it out. Start over. Come up with a new idea, make the plot go your way again.
It’s no cure for Writer’s Block, you can’t always cut out things, because they may not be the cause of the block. But what it boils down to is this: Find out what’s bugging you about a story and try another angle. Even if it means you have to sacrifice something you liked initially.
My panic has changed into a sense of “I can do this” now.
And I can. I believe that.
And if I can, so can you. 
And you know… sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery. If you have your writing spot, and the words just don’t come… move to the kitchen table. The living room table. The dining table. Your lap. The bed. The floor. Outside. Hang upside down from the lampshade, for all I care, whatever floats your boat. Move anywhere, but the place you usually write.
If you have a desktop (like me), move the desktop, or if that’s not an option – you remember that pen and paper stuff? It still works. Yeah, you’ll have to type it up afterward, but if you’re not writing at the computer — what’s it matter? I’d rather write something twice, than not at all.
Oh sometimes I take my pen and pad and head to a cafe to write. Or the pub.
That has the additional benefit of being able to observe people in their natural environment.
Make notes. What do they wear? How do they wear it? What’s common, what’s not? Hairstyles, hair colors, hair consistency. Take a note of the carpet, the furniture, the lighting. The drinks being ordered. Have a chat with the barkeep, he’ll tell you what’s popular and what’s not.
Listen in on conversations. If there are words you don’t understand, because it’s new slang you’re not used to, either ask (revealing you listened lol) or note them down and look them up.
Before you know it the character you were stuck on has new habits, or a new favorite drink. Or he has a new phrase he likes.
It gets the creative juices going, and lets face it, when you’re stuck — anything is fair game.
That’s what I do.
What do you do?
