Dear writers,
Imagine you're writing. And then you stop. You don't know what to do.
You feel as if there's nothing more you can think of. You feel bad.
Your regimen might require that you keep on writing for another 30 minutes.
And yet, words don't come out. Ideas stop flowing.
There's a very easy way to overcome this. And most people don't do it, because it requires more work.
And the solution is: DO YOUR RESEARCH.
If you don't know what to write... learn what to write.
Read a story. An article. Watch a TV show. Pick up ideas, note them, and use them.
It's really easy.
Ultimately, Writer's Block Stems From Lack of Planning
The process for writing anything is simple.
You research.
Literally everything you can. News articles, TV shows, books, movies, hearsay, whatever.
Keep notes of everything.
This phase is the most demanding overall. When I write copy, a simple sales page can take me as much several weeks.
As a rule of thumb, you want to have at least 10-20 times as much information collected as you think you'll need.
You outline.
Start with the Big Idea. What's the text about?
Break that into parts. Each element of your Big Idea.
What are the elements?
What's happening between them?
What emotions do you want the reader to experience at each point?
Once you have all of those in place, set them into a coherent order.
Then repeat the process until you have everything planned out from start to finish.
And remember:
“Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal.”
--Igor Stravinsky
You write.
Write, write, write. Don't stop.
Fill out the outline with emotions.
Fill it out with details.
You already have a detailed plan of what goes where, so write, write, write.
And DO NOT EDIT. If you're writing without punctuation, capitalizing, whatever, that's best.
Just put all of your ideas, and all of your elements in place. Make it a story.
Use speech recognition software (Google Voice Typing in Google Docs, or Dragon NaturallySpeaking are best).
This speeds you up.
20-30k words in a day isn't hard, once you have a plan, and just sit down and take action on it.
EDIT RUTHLESSLY
If you're doing your own editing, this is the part that takes the most effort.
First edit light. Make sure the ideas and concepts are in place. Make sure your events are in proper order.
Then edit harder. Go into paragraph structures. Ensure things flow well.
Then go deeper. Start removing sentences which add nothing to the goal of your text.
Whether it's plot, educating people, or the sale.
Cut it out.
Then repeat again. Go even deeper. And deeper.
Until every single word moves your reader through.
To the next word.
To the next sentence.
To the next chapter.
To the next book.
Editing is the part of writing which matters most.
Anyone can write. Few can edit.
For a start in basic editing, use HemingwayApp.
Writer's Block Doesn't Exist...
If you do your research, and plan your writing properly...
You'll find writing to be effortless, while your artistry can flourish in the worlds and stories you create.
Or as some say, Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss Poor Performance.
And that's where the core of great writing comes from.
If you found this useful, and would like to see more content like this, Upvote, Follow, Resteem.
Sincerely,
Phil
The Copytist
You sound like my english teacher, but it's ok.. she was good too.
Thanks @surgo this benefits me a lot!
Good to now :)
Thanks!
Thank you for this article. You have just inspired someone who wants to write take action. Thanks!
Thanks! I've followed you - hope to see some great content :D
Hey Phil, thanks for putting this up. Not sure that writing will be "effortless" with research, but it's certainly easier to write when you know what you're talking about. I like this view point of just putting in the work. At the end of the day, there are very few problems that extended "deep work" can't solve. Keep on writin'!
Well, writing is effortless. Research isn't.
At this point in time, 80-90% of the work I do is research, with only 10-20% of it being actually writing and editing.
Compared to writing and looking things up on the fly, and then correcting the content, I'm saving literal hours on a daily basis.
I'd bet we're arguing semantics here more than anything. I mean, I like writing a lot, it's easy and fun, but it also has an energy cost for me so can't be truly "effortless". Totally agree that research is work that's worth it, even the (vast majority) stuff you don't use. Dig it!
I'm not sure we're arguing semantics. I use speech recognition, so writing is literally as easy as just talking to my computer. I'd call that effortless.
Then I do editing using HemingwayApp (if I'm not writing for a client), or outsource to an editor.
Typing is a chore.
Fair enough, you've got an easier way of doing it than I do! :)