Writer's block

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A writer's block (also writer's block or Writer's block ) is a psychological phenomenon in the occurrence of an author is permanently or temporarily unable to write to the location. It can be seen as a special case of the creativity blockade. Writers , journalists and students who write homework and examination papers suffer from this in particular .

Manifestations

In particular, writer's block can have the following manifestations:

  • It is difficult to find the beginning of the text.
  • The text is planned, but it is not possible to write it.
  • The writing process is interrupted - often several times - and often canceled entirely.
  • To the author, what has been written so far does not seem good enough.
  • The ideas and / or the formulations are missing.
  • Writing is perceived as painful. Often physical symptoms such as malaise or nervousness occur even when thinking about completing the work or looking at the screen, and avoidance actions such as tidying up, cleaning, etc. are carried out.
  • Passages from foreign texts are not reproduced in their own words, but are quoted literally. This makes your own text too extensive and breaks. Both of these often lead to termination.

Similar blockages can also occur in other areas of communication, for example in the fine arts (character blockade) or in songwriting. The counterpart to writer's block is the compulsion to write ( hypergraphy ). Both phenomena can also occur with one and the same author, with writer's block being suffered by anyone, while the often pathological writing compulsions occur much less frequently.

causes

In counseling sessions with blocked writers, the following causes could be identified:

  • An internal rebellion against this requirement.
  • Missing or insufficient concepts.
  • The claim to have to write an error-free, perfect text immediately.
  • Complex structure of the texts to be written, consisting of several "narrative strands" and therefore difficult to understand.
  • "Too much" of material to be written down or a disorder of the same.
  • An inadequate or wrong idea of ​​a prospective reader, especially the fear of an extremely critical reader, for example the professor who will be assessing a term paper or thesis.
  • Fear of failure and embarrassment in front of others.
  • Flaherty names psychological problems, particularly depression or bipolar disorders, as a further cause.
  • Neurologically, writer's block is associated with a malfunction of the cerebral lobe.

Overcoming writer's block

In contrast to the pathological and incurable compulsion to write , writer's block is generally easy to overcome. Experienced writers usually manage this without outside help. In serious cases, students can contact the advice centers set up at many universities. The specialists working there (psychologists and trained writing consultants) first work out a (preliminary) diagnosis together with the client and explore the details of the respective disorder: How long has it occurred? For example, already with school essays or only during your studies? Recently or with previous housework? With which types of text? More in planning or more in formulating? What is easy and what is difficult when writing? Could psychological problems also play a role? If it turns out that inadequate writing strategies are in the foreground, the counselors - again together with the students - develop alternative strategies. If you have serious psychological problems, it is advisable to seek medical and psychotherapeutic support.

Writer's block in literature and film

Writer's block (and overcoming it) is a popular topic in fictional literature and in film, which shows that writer's block itself can also be used for inspiration. The writer Stephen King, for example, brings his own experiences to bear in several novels.

Authors Known to Have Severe Writer's Block:

Writer's block in novels:

Writer's block as a topic in the film:

See also

Literature (chronological)

  • Dennis Upper: The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of “writer's block” In: Journal of applied behavior analysis. Volume 7, number 3, 1974, p. 497, PMID 16795475 , PMC 1311997 (free full text).
  • Mike Rose: Writer's block: The cognitive dimension . Carbondale 1984: Southern Illinois University Press ( PDF )
  • Gabriela Ruhmann: Writing problems-writing advice . In: Jürgen Baurmann, Rüdiger Weingarten (ed.): Writing. Processes, procedures and products . Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1995, ISBN 3-531-12627-X , pp. 85-106.
  • Gabriela Ruhmann: Excursus: Writer's block and how to overcome it . In: Karl-Dieter Bünting, Axel Bitterlich, Ulrike Pospiech: Writing during studies. A training program . Cornelsen Scriptor, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-589-20997-6 , pp. 108-119.
  • Otto Kruse : Don't be afraid of the blank sheet. Without writer's block through studies. Campus, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1993, ISBN 3-593-34938-8 ( Campus - Studium 1074 series), (5th edition, ibid 1997, ISBN 3-593-35693-7 % CITAVIPICKER £ 3-593-35693-7 £ title based on this ISBN in Take over Citavi project £% ( Campus concrete 16)).
  • Alice W. Flaherty: The Midnight Sickness. Why writers have to write. Writing compulsion, writing intoxication, writer's block and the creative brain . From the American by Käthe H. Fleckenstein. Authors' House, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-932909-39-9 .
  • Gisbert Keseling: The loneliness of the writer. How writer's block develops and can be successfully processed . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-531-14169-4 .
  • Helga Esselborn-Krumbiegel: Tips and tricks for writer's block . UTB, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-8252-4318-0 .
  • Kristina Folz, Detlef J. Brauner, Hans-Ulrich Vollmer: Studi-SOS Bachelor thesis. First aid for scientific work. Verlag Wissenschaft & Praxis 2015, ISBN 978-3-89673-690-1 .
  • Emma Huber: Inner dialogue and text production. A contribution to overcoming the writing inhibitions of students when writing their academic theses. Lang, Frankfurt 2015, ISBN 978-3-631-65570-2 .
  • Daniel Fitzke: Solve writer's block for 30 minutes . GABAL Verlag, Offenbach 2018, ISBN 978-3-86936-881-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see in detail Rose 1984
  2. ↑ see in detail Perrin 1999
  3. ↑ see Keseling 2004 in detail
  4. ↑ see Ruhmann 1995, p. 87 and Keseling 2004, p. 113
  5. ↑ see Ruhmann 1995, p. 87, Keseling 2004, p. 70 f.
  6. ↑ see Keseling 1997, p. 225 and Keseling 2004, p. 40 ff. And p. 77
  7. ↑ see Ruhmann 1995, p. 87 and Huber 2015, p. 115 ff.
  8. ↑ see Keseling 2004, p. 37 ff. 108
  9. ↑ see Ruhmann 1995, p. 87, Ruhmann 1996, p. 110, Keseling 2004, p. 122
  10. ↑ see Ruhmann 1995, p. 91 and Keseling 2004, p. 96 ff.
  11. ↑ Musikwissen.com: Overcoming songwriting blocks and beating writer's block. In: Music Knowledge. Musikwissen, August 1, 2018, accessed on February 15, 2019 (German).
  12. ↑ see Flaherty 2004, p. 108
  13. ↑ see Flaherty 2004, p. 107 ff.
  14. ↑ see Rückert 1994, p. 26 and Huber 2015, p. 120
  15. ↑ see Keseling 2004, p. 70 ff.
  16. ↑ see Folz / Brauner / Vollmer 2015, pp. 129f.
  17. ↑ see Perrin 1999
  18. ↑ see Ruhmann 1995, p. 87
  19. ↑ see Keseling 2004, p. 108 ff.
  20. ↑ Antos 1982, p. 33 and Huber 2015, p. 121
  21. ↑ see Flaherty 2004, p. 158 ff.
  22. ↑ see Flaherty 2004, p. 163
  23. ↑ Flaherty 2004, pp. 27 ff.
  24. ↑ see Kruse 1993, p. 19 ff .; Perrin 1999; Ruhmann 1996, p. 108 ff .; Keseling 2004, pp. 54-131
  25. ↑ see Huber 2015, pp. 139–141; P. 237 f.
  26. ↑ Hindquarters misfortune. In: Der Spiegel. November 8, 1982. Retrieved May 24, 2018 .
  27. ^ Franz Kafka: Diaries 1910–1923. Darmstadt n.d., p. 361.

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