Edgar Scott, Author

Eliminating Writer's Block

Hang out in any of the chat rooms with aspiring writers, you will see a number of posts about what to do when you are stuck.  What do you do when you don’t know what to type?  What do you do to avoid the dreaded writer’s block?

Giving yourself the gift of writing badly eliminates writers block!

When we find ourselves confronted with writer’s block, when we just don't know how we are going to get our characters to where we want them to be, what we are really doing, is self- censoring. We are trying to be perfect. 

But isn't this what we are all striving for, to write the perfect novel? Gee, I hope not. The perfect novel? Is there really such a thing? There are good novels, and novels where I'm impressed by what the author has done, but perfect? The skeptic in me says, "no."

Perfect novels are boring!

What would be the perfect novel? Perhaps a novel that everyone likes. I'm smiling as I write this, because I remember the day I met someone who didn't like chocolate. To me, that's impossible. And I had to ask twice, but they were serious. So, by the yard stick of popularity, you can't write a perfect novel. 

A technically perfect novel would be boring to read, more like a textbook. Something so perfect it will put you to sleep. 

The other problem with perfection is that it's really hard to attain, so much so, that you won't know when you get there. As such, if you are trying to be flawless, you will never finish your novel. This is how people spend twenty-years writing the same book. They are always looking to improve it. In reality they have to accept what it is and move on, write something new and exciting. 

Stop torturing yourself with trying to be perfect.

Why should I write badly?

If you do allow yourself the freedom to embrace your inner child, you will be eternally spared from writer’s block. As soon as you find yourself stuck, just start writing as badly as possible and the words will start to flow. 

The second benefit is that I am often astounded by the wisdom of the fool that I have let loose upon the paper or screen. The most effective parts of my writing were done when I stopped censoring and just let the idea out, even though it didn't seem to fit at the time. 

If you're still hesitant to write a truly terrible treatise

Just because you wrote it doesn't mean that anyone can read it. As long as you don't paste it into social media or publish it in your blog, you can always come back later. Get the writing done now, let it sit, come back later and see if what you thought was nonsense was actually brilliant; it might be. If it's awful, you can use the delete key, or better yet, take what you have and write something better.

The absurd and idiotic ideas of nonsense and tomfoolery may be the most interesting things that you have to say. It would be a shame if you didn't let yourself write them down, and judge them some other time, to see if they are worthy of sharing with the world. In the absurdities will be found the nuggets of inspiration and wisdom that you are looking for. 

Give yourself the gift of the wisdom of your inner fool, don't be afraid to write badly.

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About the Author:  Scott’s latest novel, 418: I Am a Teapot, involves an immersive internet in a future dystopia where Scott blends beautiful dark images to illuminate an inspiring journey to freedom through re-humanization.  Scott derived inspiration from years of managing networks, data, and people. From inside the industry, he has watched the internet virtualized, commoditized and cut every cost. "Scott then projects computer virtualization to the human brain creating a programmable labor force so cheap it replaces machines.

418: I Am a Teapot is reminiscent of Orwell's 1984 or Huxley's Brave New World in how technology is used to control. Virtually unpaid workers are unaware of jobs they do in exchange for imaginary distractions, disappointing euphoria, and empty indulgences of the immersive internet.  Scott shows how society would collapse, neighborhoods crumple, as the working class is replaced by the unpaid "staff" class.