What to Do about Zombies, and Writer’s Block, Even Though They Don’t Exist
Yesterday, while in the car, my daughter asked me what she should do if she ever sees a zombie. I said, “Zombies don’t exist” and kept driving.
“But what should I do,” she asked, “if I ever see one?”
I was trying to hear something on the radio, something important that happened that I wanted to understand, and said again, “Zombies don’t exist.”
“No,” she said, “what should I do if I ever see one?”
Finally, I gave in. I told her that if she ever saw a zombie she should get away as fast as possible, because zombies like to eat brains. I also said that zombies are pretty dumb so she could probably escape by climbing a tree or hiding in a ditch.
This morning, I sat down to write about writer’s block. I wrote: I don’t like the term “writer’s block.” I wanted to say because I don’t believe it exists or because I think it’s lazy, but the words just didn’t come. I was blocked.
I hate being wrong.
The good thing is, if writer’s block exists, we can do something about it. A lot of things, in fact.
Here’s a quick list:
Mine your memory.
Close your eyes and drop in. Take a breath. Take another. Open your eyes, and write the phrase “I remember.” Write the very first thing that comes to mind. Then, keep on writing until you stop at something you want to say more about.
You might begin with “I remember my childhood,” then get to something specific, like “I remember the time I choked on a piece of steak.”
Once you’re there you can go deeper into your memory. Consider, for example, what the room looked like, who was there with you, who gave you the Heimlich.
Fiction writers: Do this with your characters. If you get to your desk and experience a block, perform this exercise as your character. Listen to them. Give your characters space to tell you about their lives.
Go for a walk, or a drive, or a trip across the world.
Creativity can stagnate inside the same four walls, so instead of sitting at your desk waiting for something to change, leave the house. If you have twenty minutes, walk around the block. If you have a day, take a short journey, if you have a few weeks, and the means, book a flight or two. And make sure you take a journal to write down all of the ideas that come your way. Because they will.
Move your body.
The more you move, the more blood (and oxygen!) can flow into your brain, this is why going for a simple walk can stimulate the brain into producing great ideas.
Make use of technology.
I get a lot of story ideas when I’m walking. They usually come in the form of first sentences. I type those sentences into my notes app with a few words describing the story. Then, I type those first sentences into Word documents and save them in a folder called Drafts. If I’m ever blocked I can open up any of those works in progress, pick up the needle and get to work.
Do a little pre-writing.
Pre-writing is a term I learned through teaching English composition to college students. So much of drafting is pre-writing that we can forget that this is a task in and of itself. I’ve created a pre-writing class that goes pretty deep. It’s a great resource for both fiction and non-fiction writers to get moving toward the stories they want to tell.
Modules include:
Tapping into Vulnerability: This class is designed to help you identify the places where you are the most vulnerable, acknowledge them, and write about them. This will either give you a subject for an essay or story, or the necessary clearing you need to access the work you want to do.
Finding Our Symbols: This class is designed to help you trace through your (or your characters’) histories to identify the meaningful objects in your life.
Retracing Our Steps: This class is designed to help you drop back through time to locate your symbols in time and space.
Connecting the Pieces: This class is designed to help you build a story database – a literal spreadsheet that holds the stories you discovered through this process – which will become a resource to tap each time the zombies (I mean writer’s block) finds you.
