Today J.W. Donley talks about how limits can give you the freedom you need to write. I know, personally, that I work better within guide rails. When I have too many options, I get stuck trying to create my own limitations.
Writer’s block sucks. As a writer, there is nothing more stressful than staring at the blank page and then the sense of self defeat when the page is still blank after hours and hours of mental strain.
Some writers claim that writer’s block does not exist. And I get that sentiment. You can always write something. Just start putting down pointless words until something useful pops out. While this is great to get going at times, I don’t find that sort of writing to be the most helpful. It usually leaves me with more of a mess than workable prose. But, if that’s your vibe, you do you.
And if you feel the same way or would like to explore another option, I have a different idea when it comes to the blank page.
What intimidates me most is the absolute scope of what I could write. So many options that I just shut down as my brain bounces from idea to idea without developing any of them enough to really get ink to paper.
How do you control your brain and help direct it down a workable path?
What works best for me is the limitation of scope.
I love limitations when it comes to starting a writing project. They help to scale down the universe to something manageable. Or at least manageable enough to squeeze out a story.
I’ve used prompts since the very beginning of my writing endeavors, but I really didn’t take them seriously until after I participated in the NYC Midnight Short Story contest a couple years back. The way their contest works is they assign you a random character, genre, and object each from a small list. For instance, I think I got a security guard with a stapler in a heist story. I had never written a heist story before, but after a quick bit of research I picked up the major tropes and then I was off to the races. The story ended up being my first professional sale. I’m still in slight shock that this story was my first pro sale. What made this story work is that I was able to limit the scope of possibilities enough to quiet my brain and get down a full story idea in a short amount of time.
Some might worry that limitations like this can water down your own creative voice, but I do not support that at all. My story was very much a J.W. Donley story after it was finished. It was of course a horror story in the end, but it was also still a heist. And I didn’t end up using a stapler, but I did put in a typewriter. It just worked! It was much shorter than what I usually end up with, and thus easier to find a market for.
Now, after you have that first draft and have a full story, you can let go of the limitations if you wish. Feel free to mold the story in any direction, let the universe speak to you and cajole new spice into the prose. But, do not let go of the reins of rules and limitations until you have that complete idea finished.
So, the next time you get stuck, find some way to limit your choices. Be it tarot cards to toy with your subconscious, randomized Wikipedia articles, or a good book of writing prompts, find something that works for you.
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J.W. Donley—HWA and HOWL Society member—lives with his family in the Pacific Northwest where the Cascade Mountains meet the Salish Sea. J.W. is the author of the novelette Cats of the Pacific Northwest and the brand new 100 Unusual Prompts for Writers of Horror, Weird, and Bizarro Fiction with contributions from John Langan, Carlton Mellick III, Shane Hawk, and many more. His short stories have appeared in anthologies from Dim Shores, HOWL Society Press, PIT, Chuckanut Editions, and on Creepy, a Horror Podcast.
