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Phil Stark is a screenwriter, author, and licensed marriage and family therapist. His credits include South Park, That ‘70s Show, and Dude, Where’s My Car? The following blog is an excerpt from his book, How to Be a Screenwriter, which is “part craft guide, part survival manual, and part therapy session.”
Writer’s block is a general term, but here we use it to refer specifically to the
resistance we experience when we sit down to write and can’t. We turn on the creative
faucet and nothing comes out. Writing is something we’ve enjoyed before, something
we’ve made our profession or hoped for profession, something we’ve gotten pretty good
at, and yet here we are sitting down to do it and we can’t. We might want to be
anywhere else but sitting in front of this computer, but still feel compelled to sit here and
struggle. Writer’s block happens to all writers at some point, so try not to spend too
much time feeling bad about yourself. Writer’s block is a natural phenomenon that you
can learn to accept and overcome.
I experienced writer’s block as a writer, and I also work with writers experiencing
writer’s block in my role as a therapist. By the time I start working with them, these
writer clients might be experiencing feelings of frustration and concern that lead them to wish they could fast forward through the writing process to the end result, that satisfying feeling of having written. Writers don’t start out feeling like that. Those first experiences writing screenplays at the start of the journey as a screenwriter can be inspiring and exhilarating. The process of harnessing inspiration, capturing it in words, and the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the process are deeply satisfying. We often get positive feedback that makes us feel good about ourselves. We might savor looking back on the trials and tribulations along the way to being able to hold a screenplay in our hands and marvel at the fact that we created something tangible out of thin air. These feelings are often the reasons we keep doing it.
But somehow that changes over time. Why does that change? How does
repeating the process of writing something, the cycle of ideation, execution,
assessment, and relief, lead to a slow degradation of the inspiration and pleasure we
start out with? I don’t know, but I do know that the result of this experience can be
writer’s block. And it’s something we might also call burnout. Writer’s block is a
phenomenon we experience, and when we add up the accumulated effects of wrestling
with writer’s block over time it can evolve into burnout.
Burnout is a form of resistance. Resistance is the feeling we get when we don’t
want to do something, particularly when we feel like we have to do it. This kind of
resistance is often viewed as something for us to fight through, something to overcome,
and we think that by breaking through this resistance we will ultimately be rewarded with
success and feelings of accomplishment. Think of the marathon runner who reaches a
point where they want to quit, but pushes themselves to keep going and finish the race.
The most natural response to resistance is to fight it. To redouble our efforts and force
ourselves to write something, anything. We simply try harder, and if that doesn’t work,
we try harder still. We also might change our routine, trying writing at night instead of in
the morning or vice versa. We might go write at a cafe instead of home or office or vice
versa. We might try drinking alcohol or using cannabis instead of writing sober or vice
versa. Oftentimes these approaches do not help, because we are still trying to do the
same thing, which is to confront the writer’s block head on, trying to break through the
wall of resistance with alternative strategies and increased effort.
I once worked with a screenwriter who was experiencing some serious burnout.
He was stuck in the middle of a draft of a screenplay and hating every minute of it. The
act of writing was painful, but even more painful was the time spent away from the script
when all he could think about was how much he didn't want to sit back down at the
computer and keep trying to write his way through the resistance. The only respite came
when he picked up a pencil and started to doodle. This client had always liked drawing,
and kept a sketch pad near his desk, and the way he talked about how he felt when he
was drawing sounded positive. He enjoyed it, it made him feel good, and he felt like he
was good at it. I wondered if maybe he needed to put away the screenplay and focus on
the drawing. “But I’m a screenwriter!” lamented the client. “Yes, but clearly your
screenwriting fields are fallow” I replied. And this is where the concept of Creative Crop
Rotation came up.
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the
same area across growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one
set of nutrients, along with the probability of developing resistant pests and weeds.
Creative Crop Rotation is the idea that in the pursuit of one type of creative endeavor
our creative fields can grow fallow, and by rotating through different creative endeavors
we can keep the creative fields fertile. The difficulty is in giving ourselves the freedom to
grow different crops. But I’m a screenwriter! That’s my only crop! It’s easy to see
ourselves only in the role our career defines us as, but it’s the freedom of pursuits
outside these definitions that can keep us fresh.
So this client put away his screenplay for a week and spent that time rotating
through other creative outlets. He drew. He doodled. He sketched. He also exercised.
He walked. He stretched. He cooked. He cleaned. He took naps. And as he did all these
things he wasn’t thinking about that damn screenplay he was having so much trouble
with. By stopping his fight against the resistance he allowed his creative fields to refresh
themselves. And sure enough, one day as he was doodling and not thinking about his
screenplay, he had an idea about the screenplay. He put down his sketchpad and picked up the keyboard and found himself writing without resistance. The writing flowed, it felt natural, and in a week he got the work done that he had spent a month struggling with.
Think about this when you’re dealing with writer’s block and burnout. When you feel like your creative work has hit the wall of resistance. Yes, you can try to fight through it at first, and it might work, but if it becomes a protracted struggle with no end in sight, put the work away and pick up something else. It doesn’t matter if you can’t draw. It could be anything. Any other activity that you feel good doing. Something that takes focus and attention, and shifts the focus away from your area of burnout. Something different than what you’ve been struggling to do. It’s passive, which might feel like you’re avoiding the problem, but also active, because by using this approach you are ultimately addressing the problem.
This can be difficult if you’re on a deadline. It can be impractical if you’re working on a paying job where you can’t just say you’re taking a break. Still, the general approach is the same. Stop trying to fight through it. Stop trying to fight at all. If your writing routine is to get up in the morning, have your coffee, and then sit down at the computer, don’t do it. Get up in the morning and go for a walk. Drive somewhere new for breakfast. Go visit a friend. Go grocery shopping and cook yourself lunch. Do something besides trying to overcome writer’s block, because the irony is that this is the best way to overcome writer’s block.
How to Be a Screenwriter is available on Amazon.