While attending a book signing for Pierce Brown’s third installment in the Red Rising Trilogy this week, an audience member asked him about a topic that often plagues creatives: Writer’s Block.
Brown’s admitted he experienced severe writer’s block while writing the book we were all there to celebrate. His solution was a practical, simple, and one that I believe merits respect. Far more eloquently than I’m able to recreate it here, Brown said this: At some point, you have to stop [weighing the options] and make a decision.
It’s easy for us to obsess over finding the perfect answer, the rainstorm in our drought, and wait for a magic-filled epiphany. But sometimes, the best thing you can do for the sake of your craft is make a decision and move forward.
And here is the beauty of the art we call ours: We can change it. If the solution to your plot hole or character development doesn’t fit, you can rework it. To write is to rewrite. Again and again. Because no one, not even the best writers, get everything right the first time. We’re exploring our world, our imaginations, and the worst thing writer’s block does is hinder this momentum. So don’t let it.
Commit to a decision, a solution. And if it’s not right for your piece, that’s all right. You get to try again, each time more informed than the last.
MS Editors 