Writer’s Block

Wikipedia describes writer’s block as a non-medical condition in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown.. Other sources say that it is due to perfectionism or fear.

I see it as more of a necessary pause, an opportunity to distill thoughts and purpose, to let the story and the characters speak their truth before committing them to the page.

I’m currently working on a novel, the third in a series. I have visited the site of the historical event, I have read books on it. I had even outlined my main character’s journey. But when I started writing, it just didn’t feel right.

It hit me that my main character was a fourteen-year-old child. To write her experiences in real time would make it a kind of coming-of-age story. It didn’t flow. I have lived too long, too much, to go back to the emotions of a child. I felt stuck.

It took time for my character(s) to mature and for me to be able to write their story… not with the voice(s) of childhood, but of adults who lived that experience not once, but throughout the years as it shaped their character, their dreams, their perspective and their relationships.

The novel is far from finished. The characters are continuing to speak and I am continuing to research, to learn from, and wait.