A White Blank Page And A Swelling Rage

Yes, that title was a Mumford and Sons reference.

No, I’m not a hipster (fight me about it).

From Imagination to the Blank Page. At first sight the distance seems small, yet what a long voyage it is, and how injurious sometimes for the ships that undertake it. – CP Cavafy

A sad truth is that many writers are frozen by the belief that nothing they write will be better than what’s in their head.

They have visions of magic pluming through the air, armies coming together in bone-crunching grit, or their protagonist finally getting that first kiss— or, because they’re a writer, having their protagonist be denied their first kiss (mwahahaha!). They create these phenomenal ideas, yes, but won’t commit to writing the story they’re so fond of telling you they have.

Why?

Simple: fear of the Blank Page.

I’ve talked to aspiring poets, short story writers, and novelists who all share this self-paralysis at seeing the wide empty void of a blank notepad or Word document. It’s understandable, but infuriating. How can you share your story with others if you don’t actually, you know, make a story to share?

Some people will try to cheat this. They say they are gathering their thoughts, or are in “beta,” but they just never quite seem to get around to pulling the trigger on putting pen to paper. The results of such inaction are often embarrassing if not outright disastrous.

Imagine one of your “writer friends” describing the following scene: “The army of the good guys is led by this really badass guy who has this really cool magic sword (well, not magic magic but, like, birthright magic) and anyway he’s leading this army to the enemy base and they’re just, like, soooooo outnumbered by the bad guys and the badass guy rallies everyone and then he leads a last ditch charge.”

Would you ever, in all your years on this earth, guess they were describing the battle of the Black Gate from Tolkien’s Return of The King? (if so, congratulations! You passed the test and we can be friends).

The fact is we all start with the nebulous ideas like the “writer friend” mentioned above. The cruel reality is that if you don’t write anything down you won’t be able to mold that vague mess into what you want it to be. You need to conquer the fear of creating a perfect work of art on your first go and commit to writing something that needs some work.

Writers will cite all manner of things to try and excuse themselves from this process, whether it be a lack of a muse, inspiration or, (my personal favorite) Writer’s Block.

Let’s clear the air, dear reader: Writer’s Block is Bullshit. It does not exist. It is a self-made prison where fearful people send good ideas to die.

Don’t believe me? Take my nephew for example. He was in the sixth grade at the time and working on a creative writing project for his English class. While we were having a family dinner he spoke of how frustrated he was because he “was having writer’s block and maybe he just couldn’t write!” Laughter ensued, naturally, because (poor fool) he’s related to me— of course he can spew a tale! Once we realized he was serious we all took turns asking him questions about the story he was working on: Who is it about? Where is it set? He knew the answers right off the top of his head. What does this person do? He knew that too. He could rattle off dialogue, setting descriptors, the works. So then we told him to write down what he’d just told us. It was like a lightbulb went off. The kid started writing like mad and ended up breezing through his assignment and getting a B+ (I personally thought it deserved an A but he only started writing it the night before it was due after all, and one really can’t account for personal taste)

What you write will never be as good as what you have in your head because as soon as you write it the words are no longer an abstract emotion or scene.

That’s right folks, it will never be as good. But, with a little work, it can be better.

My nephew crapped out a five page spy thriller in about five minutes and got a B+. If he had put some more work into it he would have gotten that A. He overcame his so-called “writer’s block” and made something. You can be more determined than a 6th grader, right? Putting a few keystrokes or dashes of the pen to a blank canvas can turn even your wildest fever dream into something tangible, something that can be experienced.

Even better it’s something that you can revisit again and again as you polish your rough-hewn words into that living masterpiece you’d once envisioned.     

So how do you defeat the Monster? How do you beat the fear of the Blank Page?

You start.