1.02 Exposing Your Muse

What happens when you have to write something for class, but you can't think of anything to get you started? You might check your pen to see if it's out of ink, or you may sharpen your pencil five times. Nothing is happening. You have writer's block.

Students usually have writer's block because they have chosen an uninteresting topic, they don't understand their topic, or they are feeling stressed and are under too much pressure. Does that sound familiar?

Many people offer good advice like going on a walk, listening to music, painting a picture, or even taking a nap. Unfortunately, some of those suggestions aren't options when you are in class. However, there are some tactics you can try in order to overcome writer's block.

 

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To overcome a mental block, try to free write. First, think of any subject and take notes, list, or cluster. You should feel more relaxed because you write down ideas and phrases as they occur to you. You are freeing yourself from sentence and paragraph structure.

If freewriting doesn't work, you can simply ask questions. Ask yourself questions about the topic. You may discover a new topic of interest.

 

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Another technique is called mimicking the author. This allows you to imitate the writing style that the author uses.

Look at the examples below.

George Orwell wrote in 1984, "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." To imitate him, a student wouldn't say the same thing; however, the student would follow the same grammatical style that the author chose.

"It was a dark, stormy morning in Tuscaloosa, and the people were walking without umbrellas."

Imitating the style of an author allows you to write without having to think too deeply.

 

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