by Liz Sinclair

Created on: July 16, 2009

Writer's block, temporarily losing the ability to write, is usually a short-lived phenomenon. Most writers have experienced this condition at one time or another in their careers. Stendhal, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Samuel Coleridge and many other famous writers all suffered from it. Modern authors such as Zadie Smith (White Teeth) and Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) have talked openly about feeling unable to write a new book after penning a best-selling novel. Writer Henry Roth published his first novel in 1934, and his second, sixty years later, in 1994. So, if you're feeling blocked, and unable to write, you're in good company!

Many writers, notably Julia Cameron, author of The Artists' Way, a book geared at helping writers and artists get 'unstuck', insist that writer's block has an emotional or psychological basis, and is not a reflection of the creativity of the writer or the quality of his or her work.

True creative blocks will often resolve themselves if a writer leaves the work and returns to it later, or reviews his or her research and notes to find a new perspective, or draws a 'mind map;' a diagram used to represent words, ideas, characters, plot lines or other elements that are clustered around and visually linked to a central idea or theme. Another trick for resolving creative blocks is to outline story plot points by writing them down on cards, and shuffling or rearranging the cards to gain a new perspective on the overall story. This works just as well for non-fiction as it does for fiction, and is particularly helpful for dramatic writing. Yet another blocked writer's trick is to draw complex descriptions of his or her characters, detailing psychological makeup, personal histories, etc. to gain insight into how such characters might be motivated to act in the story.

However, most cases of writer's block are caused by life itself, specifically stresses, worries or fears that the writer is experiencing at the time. Writers can suffer from fears of success, or failure, from financial pressures, from grief, illness, depression, anxiety and a host of other conditions. Considering that a writer's creativity is part of their psychological identity, it is not surprising that what affects people as individuals, also affects them as writers. Psychologists, doctors, healers or spiritual guides may have a role to play in helping alleviate more serious conditions, but for writers whose blocks come from everyday stressors, inexperience with the writing process

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