Depending on the person, is writer’s block a real thing or something fake regardless of who it is?
What are your thoughts?
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Well, I’ve experienced it, and pretty much every other writer I know has as well, so yeah. I’d say it’s real. I didn’t know there were people who doubted it. Quite honestly, I find it a bit insulting that anyone would think I’m only faking it when it causes me so much grief when it happens.
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Yeah, there are PLENTY of people who say that people who claim to have writer’s block are just lazy and pretending.
Would saying “I have a writer’s slump/I am in a writing slump” be more acceptable in the writing community?
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It honestly depends on what you consider a writers block. That’s why there’s so much discourse over it.
I’m basically 50/50 on it. And by 50/50 I mean I get both sides and just don’t care.
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Yeah, that makes real sense.
It also depends on the person who is getting the writer’s block…right? Did I just repeat what you stated, but in a different way? LOL!
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Ummm it’s more like people who don’t believe writers block exist see what a lot of people call writers block as being in a writing slump. So, when they hear writers block they think the person is in a writing slump but doesn’t want to work towards getting out of it. At least that’s what it seems like to me.
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I suppose it does exist, but it’s no big deal either way. If you don’t know what to write next, then backtrack to see where your story went wrong. Or outline it from where you’re blocked so you know how to move forward.
If you mean blocked as in burned out, then take a break and come back to it when you have more energy. Get more inspiration by reading poetry, watching TV, listening to music, watching YouTube videos or whatever it takes to refill your creative well.
What annoys me is these people who’ve made writer’s block a religion. “I’ve got writer’s block so I haven’t written anything in three years!” Mmm no, sweetheart. If you haven’t written in years, then you simply don’t like to write. Find another hobby.
It also annoys me when people won’t write unless “the muse is upon them.” They have to get into that zone where it all comes easy, like someone else is writing the book for them and they don’t have to do any thinking for themselves. When they can’t get into the zone, they simply quit. How many newspaper editors are going to put up with “Nope, sorry, boss. Can’t write today’s feature story today. I’m blocked; the muse has abandoned me.” Just how long do you think you’re going to last at the New York Times if you cry writer’s block? Okay, you’re blocked. Now get back to work and get the story finished.
Wow, that was a lot more than I meant to say. I guess that’s been bugging me a while! ☜(ˆ▿ˆc)
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Stress can cause or exacerbate it, at least for me.
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You’d have to have some very busy three years, which is possible but unlikely.
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It is real, but you can learn to overcome it.
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I find that having a baby is a good excuse not to write
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Honestly, I doubt it. They seem pretty much the same to me.
I agree with this tho. If you aren’t making an active effort to write anyways and get past the block, it’s not writer’s block. It’s just someone giving up on doing the work of writing. You cease becoming a writer at that point and would be better described as a daydreamer.
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Writer’s block isn’t real. People only think it’s real because it’s an illusion to a bigger problem. Writer’s block, essentially, is about how you have no ideas. From Google: “The condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing.” But the majority of people have ideas—ideas are everywhere and they’re endless. And you know what to write, you just don’t know how to form it into words or don’t want to. Most people use it as an excuse because…
- You’re probably insecure.
A lot of people will say they have writer’s block because they don’t know what to write—they have an idea of what to write, but can’t form words (as said before) but the problem is that they’re not forcing it out of themselves. They’re taking their time. They’re trying to be perfect. They want the scene to be written in a specific way. But this is your first draft, and first drafts are gonna suck and you’re gonna have to change them anyway in later drafts. So if you don’t overthink too much on it, and just put your fingers on the keys and write whatever comes to mind first, you won’t have a problem anymore. Trust me. I’ve done that before. I had a moment where I was overthinking and was insecure about everything I wrote. But then I put on a timer and forced myself to put words down. Then I wrote 500 words in ten minutes—more than I had in a month.
- You probably didn’t outline.
I’ve also come across people who say they have writer’s block just because they don’t know what to write next. I saw it most commonly throughout the Wattpad forums where people couldn’t get passed the second chapter. Look, if you plan your story in any way, shape, or form, you’ll at least know where you’re going. Your lack of ideas comes from your lack of outlining. And even if you still fall short on where to start with your chapter or scene, you can always ask yourself what needs to happen next to propel your characters forward or what happens after the last scene. Like, if a character gets in trouble at school, what happens after they’re sent to the principals office? They get suspended. Okay, then what happens after they’re suspended? They go home and their parents yell at them. Okay, then what happens next? Their parents take them out of school and send them off to a boarding/military school. So on and so forth.
- You probably need some motivation.
Some people find themselves at a loss for words if they aren’t motivated or inspired to write. It can sometimes happen if you don’t feel like writing. But perhaps you can self-motivate yourself if you find something that tickles your writing itch such as a routine to help you get into the mood. For me, it’s taking a shower, putting on ambient background noise/picture on YouTube, and or watching someone write. Or it can be a change of scenery to help you get in the mood. When I was still on my first draft, I’d go to my local cafe and write for an hour and a half and get over 1,000 words in. When I couldn’t do that with previous works, I’d sit outside or go somewhere else.
At the end of the day, though, if you keep saying that you have writer’s block and haven’t written in days, weeks, or months because of it… you probably just need to force yourself to write. You can’t wait forever for your story to be told; they don’t write themselves. 
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Seems like splitting hairs to me.
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I’m no scientist, but I’ve suffered writers block… The longest stretch was ten years.
During that time nothing I wrote looked good, sounded good, or went anywhere.
So IMHO it is definitely a real phenomenon.
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I respectfully disagree…
During my longest writers block, I didn’t “wait for the muse to take me.” I tried, pretty much every day, to write something. I, for some reason unexplainable, couldn’t get anything down on paper or in my computer that looked good. I started so many things that hit dead ends and didn’t go anywhere… I continued to make effort, and it just didn’t come out.
When things finally clicked, I got very prolific, but it took me ten years to get there.
I haven’t had any dry spells that long since 2000? But I also think it’s because things are in place now that I didn’t have when that dry spell was occurring. The biggest blockade back in the mid-nineties was that there was no internet. Additionally, I lacked a network of fellow writers in my physical area and had no one I felt comfortable sharing my thoughts and bouncing ideas off of. I was going solo in more ways than I could think of…
These days I have a network of people both locally and via the internet who can help talk me through things that try to halt my forward progress. People who I can trust to say things to even if they seem silly and underformed. It helps me clarify my thinking and get feedback on whether I’m on the right track.
Back then, I only had one story I was working on… and when I hit the wall on it, I had nothing else to take up the creative space. So I continued to beat my head against that same wall and got frustrated that progress wasn’t happening.
These days I have at least three to five projects in the works at some stage of the writing process. This allows me to step away from the project giving me trouble and focus on something that gives me continued success. This allows me to go back and edit a work that is completed or has been sitting, all the while allowing me decompression to work over the hurdles holding me up on the stalled project.
So for me it was a real thing, and not just a crutch to stop writing or a cry for pity from the community. Because I get anxious when I can’t write, just as much as when I can’t draw… I want those creative outlets.
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It’s a real thing. People just prefer not to acknowledge it because a lot of people who do are just being lazy 
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The sort that’s debated true or not is WHAT it is, not that people won’t have a time when they have no inclination to write or nothing comes to mind.
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Yes it is. I’m sick of people going “writers are just lazy, using excuses, need to outline, blah blah blah.”
Here’s the thing: I write every single day. I can write 4k in a day on my good days. 1k on my worst days. I’m probably the person you’d expect to go “writers block isn’t a thing!” but I’m not.
Writer’s block IS A THING.
I experienced it last week.
I have 3 WIPs on the go: one I’ve got 2 chapters to finish, one I’m 13 chapters in, and one for ONC I stupidly decided to go with. I’m also meant to be rewriting a whole book, but put that on hold for now because I’m drowning in writing.
Last week, I just couldn’t. I have plans, I know what I’m writing, I know what I’m doing. but I just ended up staring at the screen. Nothing was right, nothing was coming out, I was just blocked.
What is it? Writer’s block is the term for a writer who is blocked. Whether that’s because they’re stressed and got too much going on so they physically and mentally cannot write, or whether it’s because they have no idea. It doesnt matter. It’s an umbrella term for writers who seem blocked and cannot write in their minds.
People need to get over this idea that writers have ideas all the time and can just write all the time. Writer’s block is a thing and instead of putting each other down, calling blocked people lazy, how about we acknowledge it and tell each other that it’s okay to be blocked, they might just need a break?
Something I learned last week: it’s okay to take a break. I’m off work long term, so writing had become my job full time (unpaid unfortunately) so I use all day to write. I feel lazy if I dont. But last week I couldn’t. Dont know why, I just couldn’t. Worked out with my husband’s help that I needed a break. I slept most of the week and felt a bit rough. Probably just needed a life break for a few days to sleep, so he gave me that. Still dont know why - could’ve been stress, could’ve been my depression. Whatever.
Now I can write again.
Whatever my reasons, I had writer’s block - and yes, I had an outline, I know my characters blah blah blah.
Creative media (painting, writing, whatever…) come with block. Let’s acknowledge it and help people instead of arguing semantics, huh? (general note, not to OP)
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The best part about that is I am writing lazy at times. I can tell the difference between me not picking up the slack and me not having the ability. They aren’t the same, specifically that the latter adds to the stress in the household. If I am just being lazy, not writing doesn’t spill out into my personal life. Stressed and unable, I’ve got to watch myself.
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