4 ms·

I have problems with writer's block, but my problem seems quite different from what's described here. Usually, I'm fine with the creative aspects -- I know wha

by mgalka 11y ago

I have problems with writer's block, but my problem seems quite different from what's described here. Usually, I'm fine with the creative aspects -- I know what ideas I want to communicate. What troubles me is finding the words to say it. And the more time I spend thinking about it, the more difficult it becomes. Sometimes, I can spend an hour working at a paragraph, and still can't get comfortable with the wording. Does anyone else have this problem?

visakanv 11y ago
Certainly! I experience this periodically, usually (perhaps always) when I'm approaching new topics or ideas that I'm not familiar with. I wouldn't say it's writer's block altogether, I think it's just the "stretch" of trying to communicate something you haven't effectively communicated before. The analogy I would use here is– it's like a standup comedian trying out new jokes. He knows that it's funny, but the audience isn't laughing– because there's something about the delivery that he isn't getting right. My advice for people struggling with these things is to do multiple drafts. Try to write it down, then start over altogether from scratch. Explain it to other people. After a while, you'll start "catching" the right turns of phrases and sentence structure and so on.
- wcaleb 11y ago
  Yes, and I think lowering the "stakes" of the paragraph is important. Sometimes switching to longhand on a legal pad helps me, because then I know that I'm not working on the final, final version, and I can allow the paragraph to be, temporarily at least, imperfect.
  - visakanv 11y ago
    > then I know that I'm not working on the final, final version, and I can allow the paragraph to be, temporarily at least, imperfect. Absolutely. This is so important. The writing and editing process should be decoupled– trying to do both at once typically leads to frustrating contortions.
    - mgalka 11y ago
      Really good suggestions. Thanks!
huxley 11y ago
Lots do. We lose the ability to look at our work objectively after spending a long time struggling with it, if you can put your writing aside for a period of time (some people say a few days others a week) stuff that you thought looked like dreck can turn out to be promising or occasionally perfect.
kough 11y ago
Yeah, frequently. Force yourself to write something and get it out there. Applies to programming too: how many times have you put off actually coding a project because you're still tweaking the design? If you're me, too many times. Just write and get something committed -- you can always tweak later. There was just a discussion of this here: if it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11262448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11262448). (I still struggle with this, not preaching down at you from a high mountain. Very far from that in fact.)
- mgalka 11y ago
  Agree w the programming analogy. It's easy to get caught up spending lots of time on design detail, only to trash the whole feature later on. Seems harder w writing for some reason. But worth trying. Thanks for the thought.
mathgenius 11y ago
You need to separate the content creation from the editing of the content. It sounds like you are confusing these two separate roles. It's absolutely essential that you turn off the "nagging" editor voice when you are first creating the text. Then come back later and switch to editor mode.

by mgalka 11y ago

visakanv 11y ago

Certainly! I experience this periodically, usually (perhaps always) when I'm approaching new topics or ideas that I'm not familiar with. I wouldn't say it's writer's block altogether, I think it's just the "stretch" of trying to communicate something you haven't effectively communicated before. The analogy I would use here is– it's like a standup comedian trying out new jokes. He knows that it's funny, but the audience isn't laughing– because there's something about the delivery that he isn't getting right. My advice for people struggling with these things is to do multiple drafts. Try to write it down, then start over altogether from scratch. Explain it to other people. After a while, you'll start "catching" the right turns of phrases and sentence structure and so on.

wcaleb 11y ago
Yes, and I think lowering the "stakes" of the paragraph is important. Sometimes switching to longhand on a legal pad helps me, because then I know that I'm not working on the final, final version, and I can allow the paragraph to be, temporarily at least, imperfect.
- visakanv 11y ago
  > then I know that I'm not working on the final, final version, and I can allow the paragraph to be, temporarily at least, imperfect. Absolutely. This is so important. The writing and editing process should be decoupled– trying to do both at once typically leads to frustrating contortions.
  - mgalka 11y ago
    Really good suggestions. Thanks!

huxley 11y ago

Lots do. We lose the ability to look at our work objectively after spending a long time struggling with it, if you can put your writing aside for a period of time (some people say a few days others a week) stuff that you thought looked like dreck can turn out to be promising or occasionally perfect.

kough 11y ago

Yeah, frequently. Force yourself to write something and get it out there. Applies to programming too: how many times have you put off actually coding a project because you're still tweaking the design? If you're me, too many times. Just write and get something committed -- you can always tweak later. There was just a discussion of this here: if it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11262448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11262448). (I still struggle with this, not preaching down at you from a high mountain. Very far from that in fact.)

mgalka 11y ago
Agree w the programming analogy. It's easy to get caught up spending lots of time on design detail, only to trash the whole feature later on. Seems harder w writing for some reason. But worth trying. Thanks for the thought.

mathgenius 11y ago

You need to separate the content creation from the editing of the content. It sounds like you are confusing these two separate roles. It's absolutely essential that you turn off the "nagging" editor voice when you are first creating the text. Then come back later and switch to editor mode.