Doesn’t he mean “writer’s block?” No, that’s not a typo, but a variation of sorts. I came up with the sibling term one sleepless night, sitting tortured before a blank Microsoft Word Document on my computer screen, at a point where “block” just wasn’t going to cut it. Holed-up novelists may work in anguish for months before they find the words to begin the next chapter of their book, but at least they have a chapter; I, a mere high school student, couldn’t get one godforsaken word down. So if you’re anything like me, you know that starting an essay can be as much if not more of a challenge than the actual writing process. A debilitating case of Not-Knowing-What-to-Write-About-itis, or “writer’s shock” for short, would attack me in two separate occasions: when I simply hated the selected text (usually “dull” or “too girly”) or when its brilliance or even just its historical reputation in literature had me doubting I had anything worth saying (often summed up with a “whoa, doggy” or “yowza”). I expect that if you share this problem, you probably fall into one category or the other.
Distaste for a given reading is usually not emotionally-based, but more often stems from an inability to relate to the characters or events in the novel existing in a setting, time period or culture vastly dissimilar (or comparatively lacking) to our own. I remember thinking in high school, “How can my teacher expect me to respond to this? I’m a punk kid from the suburbs and he wants me to discuss my views of 15th century Victorian tea-parties?” If you find that you just can’t connect to the reading for any reason, try changing your outlook from analyzing the superficialities of a story to looking at everything in that story as part of a larger structure. For instance, the majority of characters are obviously supposed to be real in a story, but is important to be conscious in your interpretation that they are in actuality not at real at all. Even in non-fiction, a character may function as a tool for the author to make a point or as a metaphor for something below the surface. If you can start to see things in this way, you may be able to find new interest in the story. After all, history does indeed repeat itself and you are really not so different from anyone else—anything can be boiled down to the basics and made relatable. In that respect, there is a variety of ways to construe what you read and if you remember this, you can relate to anything and discuss it with genuine curiosity in your paper.
On the other hand, you may find a piece of writing to be compelling, but worry that it might be too complex or sophisticated for you to write an adequate response. The number of directions in which you can move with your thesis may overwhelm you before you even touch pen to paper, halting you right in your tracks. While you may agonize that you have nothing to say or no strong direction in which to move, this sense is deceptive: you are constantly reacting to what you read, relating it to your own beliefs, ideas and experiences, whether it’s something you find interesting or boring and whether you want to or not. These subconscious factors steer your writing in particular directions and make your writing yours. So relax. You always have ideas. You just have to learn the best ways to get these ideas out into the light. (On a side note, it's great to try to come up with original ideas in your writing; but if you can’t, don’t worry about it. You're still a student, so don’t feel like you have to write an entire book on it. Remember that your papers are meant to be exercises, not groundbreaking articles. It's OK to just fulfill the prompt.)
The most important thing to remember when facing writer's shock is to not underestimate your own mind. Next time, I will move into the actual writing process and discuss some techniques I use to get started and get my ideas out, including time management and free-writing. Thanks for reading and tune in next week!-James
