HALP ME IVE GOT A TOTAL CREATIVE BLOCK

[grey helm]

I seem to have the biggest blcok and total frustration, i feel ripe to write and write and write and keep writing. At uni on my course BA (Hons fine art) i just cant seem to get past the stage im at with my work but its effecting my whole life. I am a cliche artist its not somthing that starts or ends and its causeing the biggest sense of frustration ive ever had.
I love my poetry i do but to be honest you are the only people who ever read it, i feel blah because i love posting and i just cant get anything out even though i feel totally at a stage where i know some of my best works and words could form in gynsatic displays of my melancholic tone. But its simply not happening.

How do you guys deal with these moments cos its driveing me mad its one those blocks that simply isnt shifting and its in all areas of my art not just writing. HELPHELPHELP.

love you all x Craig aka Grey Helm.

[Azrienoch]

In the words of Mark Twain,

If you invent two or three people and turn them loose in your manuscript, something is bound to happen to them -- you can't help it; and then it will take you the rest of the book to get them out of the natural consequences of that occurrence, and so first thing you know, there's your book all finished up and never cost you an idea.

If that's not helpful, then here's what I do for a writer's block; call someone up and ask them to name a few topics in general. Write those down, and then develop a plot or an outline for each of them. Then I start writing each of those things in full. If, by that time, I haven't had any new ideas on things that I actually want to write about, I sit down read a book, watch a movie, listen to music, and, if I can, try to hold a conversation. If you really want to get outrageous, try doing something passive with your arms and legs.
My theory behind this is that an idea is foundational, and a building is built on top of that foundation (this is the story or essay content). Sometimes, when you don't have enough discipline, a lot of crap is built on the building, and it keeps you from building further (this is the point of writer's block). By doing all these somewhat stimulating things at once, you are overloading the crap areas of the building, and those parts will eventually collapse, leaving the original building.

Hope that helps!

[EarthWard]

Even the creative blocks are tools of great inspiration.
Without them we would never be inspired.

[Willowhawk]

I've been having the same problem. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Jeb]

Hey grey helm,

When I get a creative block I switch mediums. I haven't written a word of poetry in months but have been churning out digital graphic art on a pretty steady basis. I don't know if this approach will work for you or not. Try writing a story instead of poetry. Try photography or painting or sculpture. These may help you free what trying to get out, but through a different door.

Another thing that might help is using keys to unlock steps in your work. For example, sometimes I use "story cards". They're picture cards with a single person/place/thing on it. You play them like cards one at a time on the table and construct a kind of chain story from them. Sometimes they unfold in ways that help stimulate me more than I can do by myself.

Best of luck to you and I look forward to reading more of your poetry (as you know, I'm a big fan!).

Take care,

Jeb

[Ruthie]

I play a game with myself. Look around you, what is the first word you see? Can you think of something that rhymes with it? Here, like this:
earth
birth
dearth
mirth
girth
then:
The Earth
gives birth
and dearth
comes mirth
from Her girth.

That jump starts me for sure, every time. I just keep doing that till I get rolling again. I hope some of these suggestions will help you. The others have already made excellent suggestions!

[Caritas]

Greetings, Craig aka Grey Helm!

As my favorite writing instructor once said - sit down at the damned table and write a page every day, a poem every day. Who cares if it is rotten or a grocery list or nonsense? Avoiding it will make it worse. The very act will begin to loosen up whatever heebie-jeebies have taken root in your head.

Now, having taken the imminently practical path here to begin with - I also say that there is nothing like falling in love for stimulating the poet in all of us. So - if you are in love, try falling in love again with your loved one! If you are not - perhaps you need a dream to pour that out to....

What inspires you? What makes you gasp in wonder? Expose yourself to that more often, too.

Now - having managed to sound like a teenager again, I am dragging my tired old bones off to bed!

Good luck! Be blessed! Caritas

[grey helm]

Hehehe, i loved your suggestion Caritas it amused me and made sense, i have been for a while now makein myself write somthing every morning. I arrive in my studio in uni sit in silence and write a poem while i sip my coffee and have a ciggarette. I have aquired quite a collection of both profoundly interesting even revelational poems and also files full of what i deem to be useless and plainly uninteresting.

As for been in love well my love life is certainly something to be debated and errmm whether i can truthfully answer that is also to be debated i believe i am not in love but i would very much like to be, maybe on the other hand i like my solitude i feel inspired by my loneliness.

Thanks for all the great ideas though it seems to slowly be lifting, i feel in a way fate has offered me something special, someone whose words kind of make sense in a sorrowfull way. enough said.

xxx