Art is work and writer’s block is a myth
It’s obviously a fairly incendiary title for a blog post, but one that I feel is for the most part true. My thoughts on this were sparked by a blog post by Brad Guigar over on Webcomics.com called Writer’s Block: It’s a Myth where Brad muses in a straightforward way that writer’s block is not an excuse for an artist’s inability to create something.
Some ideas are good, some are mediocre and others are brilliant. But they’re all nearly equal. Why? Because art — all art — isn’t ideas.
Art is the execution of an idea.
Look back on any time you’ve experienced what others call writer’s block. I’ll guarantee you that you had ideas in your head, but yet you were unable to move forward. You were unable to move forward because you lacked confidence in any of your ideas.
I’m in nearly full agreement with Brad on this issue. Any time I’ve had “writer’s block” in the past, it hasn’t been for a lack of ideas. Ideas are easy. It’s in selecting the right idea and moving forward that stills your hand and chills your spine. There’s a certain level of fear inherent there, I think. What if I pick the wrong idea? What if the entire concept falls flat because I chose poorly? What if? What if? And the cascade of “what if” scenarios form into a wall of trepidation that we commonly refer to as “writer’s block”. One commenter on the Webcomics.com discussion really nailed it on the head. Writer’s block is really a problem of perfectionism.
Consider a sculptor. He’s worked hours on completing a sculpture of a person. He gets 95% of the way through and gets to the face. And he doesn’t know what to do with it. The problem here isn’t an external blockage of creative flow. It’s the fact that that sculptor knows whatever he does to that face will affect the quality of the rest of the sculpture. If he makes a mistake, he might feel compelled to ditch the entire thing and start over. Perfectionism is causing him to lose confidence in his abilities.
In reality, when faced with those situations, we need to push through and just get it done. If you’re writing, put words on the page. Painting? Put some color on that canvas. Sculpting? Chisel out those last details in any way you can. It may not be your best work, but it will get done. Then you assess the completed work, and either start over from scratch, or call it good and move on to the next project.
NaNoWriMo is a perfect example of this. Write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Don’t worry about how well it comes together, don’t nitpick over details or obsess about the tone and pacing. Just write. Write like you’re on a deadline, because you are. And someday, when you become the amazing author you hope to be, you will be under an actual deadline. You don’t have time for mythical beasts such as “writer’s block” to get in your way, because you have a work to complete and an editor that wants it done now.
We as a society love to think of art as INSPIRATION and BEAUTY and PASSION and HEART. And don’t get me wrong, it absolutely is. But there are those that think any artist should be able to throw paint on a canvas and have art simply appear from the midst of chaos. Unfortunately, creative efforts are seldom like that at all. Let us not forget the old motto, which holds true today just as well as it did when Thomas Edison said it back in the early 20th century: “Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration.” There’s a flash of GENIUS, a spark of INNOVATION, and then nothing but WORK and TOIL and PAIN and EFFORT until your piece is completed.
Art is work and writer’s block is a myth.
The idea here isn’t to suggest that all artists that claim to have experienced some sort of creative block are lazy or weak-willed. Absolutely not. What I’m suggesting is that collectively we within the artistic community need to work diligently to pound the concept of creative block into submission. If it isn’t a myth to you already, you need to make it a myth. It needs to be the stuff of legend, locked away in an ancient tome to be discovered by archeologists centuries from now who pore over the script and interpret all of the myriad ways in which our society chose to build up imaginary barriers to our ability to create magnificent works of artistic appeal.
Don’t make writer’s block the bogeyman that comes to steal your precious artistic talent. It isn’t there, it doesn’t exist. There is only you and your art, and nothing can stop you from creating something unique, powerful, emotional, and beautiful except for you. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It simply has to be. It isn’t going to be the last thing you ever create, so don’t act like the world rests on it being absolutely flawless.
Just. Create.
My awesome family at Mahoney State Park this past summer. From L to R: me; my oldest son, Caleb; baby Harlyn peeking out from behind mommy's shoulder; my wife, Amanda; my son Alex.
Doh! I thought the dust had settled yesterday…it seems that you’re not ready to put down the lightsaber!
If you’ll permit me, I just want to reiterate from our Twitter discussion yesterday that I don’t see creation as requiring anyone’s approval, and does not need to benefit anything other than the creator’s satisfaction.
To say that creation is explicitly a tangible representation of the creator’s craftiness is to discredit the creator their unique skill and talent.
I still say that writer’s block is every bit a real hurdle as a broken saxophone reed, and must be overcome by whatever means the writer can devise before carrying on.
“I don’t see creation as requiring anyone’s approval, and does not need to benefit anything other than the creator’s satisfaction.”
You’re absolutely right! I agree with this. Did I say something counter to this on Twitter yesterday? I hope not. Of course, I don’t even remember what I had for lunch yesterday.
I guess my real point is that writer’s block SHOULD be a myth. Today, some people treat it almost as an excuse for why they aren’t able to create something. It’s practically a crutch.
I believe artists have everything they need at their disposal to create without boundaries, and they shouldn’t saddle themselves with external concepts like “writer’s block”. Create something. Anything. If it doesn’t turn out perfect, WHO CARES? Create again. And again. And again. You have to force yourself to create and continue creating and don’t let the specter of flawlessness stop you from being able to make something beautiful.
I see what you’re getting at, and the “should be” makes all the difference. I agree that writer’s block is NOT a valid excuse for lack of creation, because any string of random letters can be considered creation under my own terms as stated above.
I have to disagree with the claim that writer’s block is a myth. You are paralleling writer’s block with perfectionism, laziness, and will power, I believe this is a fundamental misunderstanding of what writer’s block is. Writer’s block is the inability to produce new work, the key word being NEW.
Writer’s block can be summed up to a physiological / psychological condition. Many environment factors can contribute to the initial block: stress, health, trauma, etc. What stands is that an artist finds them self unable to produce outside of what they know. They can still produce, but they have no vision outside of what they already know.
Now I will agree after the block is initially in place artist’s can do nothing but further hinder their progress through traits such as laziness, will power, perfectionism, etc. Some artists need that top down design where they know what they’re attempting to achieve. However it will not stop some people from calling in sick citing writer’s block as their inability to work. They can still work, but they may not be able to envision anything new.
Body builders find the same kind of plateaus, where they find no matter how hard they work, their bodies do not build in strength, mass, or endurance. They have to find how to overcome it.
You mention methods to beat writer’s block. Fresh perspective, re-work something old, attempt a random approach and see what comes up. I find my blocks are best beaten by getting away from the problem to clear my mind, then forcing myself to think differently than I typically do. Each artist is subject to their own methods. Sadly, some simply choose to give in, and stop fighting the block all together, but I digress.
Writer’s block is not a myth, it exists, and it is a valid hindrance on the creative process. However, like calling in sick, you can only be sick for so long, and it is expected that you return to your work after you’ve overcome your illness. I pity the artists that contract cancerous writer’s block, which they don’t treat, ultimately ending their careers.
@Aniako – I’m not talking about writer’s block being a dearth of new ideas. I’m talking primarily about the type of “writer’s block” that artists sometimes blame for being unable to continue or complete an existing work. Coming up with new ideas is something completely different. And as Brad mentions in the linked article, ideas are easy. I have easily a hundred story ideas in a notebook I carry around with me. Ideas should never be an impediment to any dedicated artist.
What often IS an impediment is being able to finish a particular work to the artist’s satisfaction. That’s where our theory comes in that we artists actually often conjure up the specter of “writer’s block” when we’re too afraid to make progress and risk destroying the work.
That’s my thinking anyways. Though I’m loving the alternative viewpoints people are bringing into the discussion, both here and on Twitter.
Right, I feel you’re explaining people mistaking perfectionism for writer’s block. Writer’s block typically takes place before a project is engaged in any fashion. The inability to finish work already started, as you have stated, is due to the artist’s insatiable need for perfection, or the artist’s lack of self discipline. Typically creative works in progress are began with a top down design in mind, a vision, which doesn’t permit writer’s block since there is a goal set
Actually, I believe most artists will claim “writer’s block” is most often encountered during the course of a project rather than before, but I definitely see where you’re going. You’re arguing the same thing Kefkataran is on Twitter. That essentially writer’s block usually occurs before an artist has started anything and is failing to come up with a valid idea to approach.
My major problem with this viewpoint is that I truly and honestly believe that no artist with a real passion and focus on their art can ever be devoid of ideas.
I know tons of artists: writers, painters, sketchers, sculptors, cartoonists, musicians, crafters — and the ones that are truly devoted completely to their art move from one project to the next and are always itching to start the next one after that. I’ve honestly never known a single creative person that didn’t have more ideas ready to launch.
An artist without ideas? That’s a foreign concept to me. Like an object without any mass. Or a gamer without a 360.
And yet you don’t call the Red Rings of Death a myth…