Who hasn’t felt their mind pull a blank card at the thought of writing something? Everyone has. While it may seem that overcoming a writer’s block, in Don’s words, “isn’t just hard, it’s impossible”, it’s actually quite easy! Read on for tips on how to prevent your mind from going en blanco.
1. Listen to a song
Imagine: You’re sitting at your desk, burning the midnight oil, as you throw away your sixth empty paper because you can’t think of a topic unique enough to write on. You’re about to yell and curse when your tired ears pick up a soft music note undulating from somewhere outside. Realising it’s Ali Sethi and Shae Gill’s Pasoori, you have an epiphany, a eureka moment, as an image of its music video forms in your mind. That’s it! You’re going to write an essay on Pakistani culture. That’s the flare, the uniqueness you were looking for.
Music has an oddly fascinating way of bringing out a person’s inner Mozart. Combine that with good writing skills, and you get a Charles Dickens! Moreover, Pennsylvania State University conducted a study regarding music’s connection to creativity, and concluded that music does indeed give you a ‘good feeling’ which in turn, gives rise to increased creativity.
2. Read a book
Learning from fellow writers doesn’t hurt. Rather, it can actually accelerate a struggling writer’s learning journey by allowing them to see things from other vantage points. Hence, by reading how one simple scene of a rainy day can be described in multiple ways, you can learn how to spin your own distinctive description. In more creative words, you, as a writer – and the tailor – of your story, possess yarns of magical thread in the form of your writing skills, and it’s up to you to decide how you’d like to sew your own masterpiece.
3. Don’t be afraid of being a newbie
Most of the time people face a writer’s block because they feel a lot of pressure and hence desire to be perfectionists. In their attempt to write nothing but the best, they actually write nothing at all. Thus, it’s imperative that we embrace our novice-hood and feel no shame in making mistakes and learning from them.
4. Start in the middle
A lot of people (including me) like to skip large chunks of Pakistani movies and prefer to watch only the most nail-biting and hair-wrenching part. Similarly, it’s actually a great idea to just start writing from the middle of the story. You can later add the introduction and conclusion and then adjust them. This tactic proves extremely useful especially when you have the entire climax planned, but you’re stumped when you try to brainstorm the beginning and ending. Thereby, don’t hesitate to begin your story by writing down the climax first!
5. Relax
This is by far the handiest tip here. Science has proven that even a mere cat nap can do wonders to improve a person’s performance. Alternatively, if you don’t want to sleep, then just sit back, drink some chai and stuff your mouth with some cake rusk. Food is another factor which can play a pivotal role in elevating a person’s mood and subsequently in boosting productivity. Nobody likes to work on an empty stomach, right?
In a nutshell, a writer’s block isn’t Wajih Taseer in Cheekh, (and even he got defeated) so if you play your cards right and follow these tips, you can easily triumph over this obstacle and produce award-winning literary pieces!
