Sometimes I sit before my computer, determined to write fiction, yet accomplish nothing. The blank page just terrifies me into a paralysis. At most, I may blink at the screen and the cursor will blink back. In the white space around the cursor, I will see my features reflected, contorted now into a face of frustration. At times like these, I often give up, succumb to the tyranny of the blank page. But who can really fault me for folding? The task is daunting, almost herculean in what it asks of you: Fill up this endless expanse with your imagination, word by gruesome word.
Until recently, I believed my sworn enemy--the blank page--would win many more battles against me; that is, until I learned that novelist Jonathan Safran Foer has taken proactive action against it. He actually asks his favorite (and famous) writers for the next page in their writing journal or notebook, the one they are about to write on. Foer then frames the blank page and hangs it on his wall, to go along with the work of others, such as: Paul Auster and Joyce Carol Oates. I am thinking about starting a similar collection for inspiration. To literally reframe the situation as one of infinite possibility is incredibly affirming. I anticipate such a collection would motivate me more than say, a wall wallpapered with rejection slips, since I have always preferred the carrot to the stick.
What about you? What do you do for your writing inspiration?
Framing blank pages is a pretty interesting idea, almost like desensitizing therapy for patients with severe phobias. A room full of frames is its own kind of terrifying, but to each their own.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm stuck, I lean pretty heavily on iTunes. If I'm working on a screenplay or short story, I'll make a playlist that reflects the character I'm trying to focus on. After a few minutes, their voice and personality surface, and their words and actions flow much more smoothly. But if I'm blocked when trying to write a poem, game over. Better to mess around editing old stuff than forcing out something new that I know I'll hate.
Definitely interested to see how other people find inspiration and battle the blanks.