I don't believe in it because I don't believe in any sort of external Muse. Now, this bugs me because it suggests that anyone who believes that writer's block is a reality, must believe that it's the result of some supernatural force beyond the writer's control. Not at all. I've experienced creative block, so I know that it does happen and it can be difficult to get out of, but who said anything about it being the result of some external force? I don't like the "Muse" term at all, but even those who use it generally use it as a metaphor. We know perfectly well that it's a creative part of our own minds. What happens with a "block" is that the creative part of our minds sort of shuts down, for whatever reasons (stress, performance anxiety, overwork -- the list could be enormous). It's very much internal, but that doesn't mean we can control it like flipping a switch. No more than a person who's depressed can just say, "Okay, I'm happy now" and make it true. They can choose to do things that they know will help lift their mood and make themselves feel better, yes. But it usually takes a bit of time. They can't just will it away on the spot. Similarly, we who get blocked can do things that we know may help draw out our creative natures again. Hence the original discussion. You will note that none of us said, "Oh, that's the Muse. Maybe if you sacrifice a goat ..." :-)

Hence the original discussion. You will note that none of us said, "Oh, that's the Muse. Maybe if you sacrifice a goat ..." Not for writing, but in Kuwait I swear the only way to get internet out was to sacrifice to the internet gods Which helped for writing because since the net was down you got a chance to process what you were working on :)

That's true, blackmare. I make jokes about the Muse, but that's just the name I've given to the creative part of my consciousness. Stephen King calls his "the boys in the basement." Sometimes the part of myself I attribute to the Muse has ideas that wake me up in the middle of the night and must be written and sometimes it becomes rather stingy with the inspiration. And I think lots of us have experienced the phenomenon where we felt the characters were "talking" to us, which is just a shorthand way of seeing where the story should go through the filter of that character's point of view.

Can this be applied to any other hobby or pursuit? I feel like cooking, but I'm unable to cook? Maybe we're defining them as two seperate things? Comparing it to cooking seems like a physical inability, as in: "I just can't cook today." I like to cook on occasion, but I'm far from considering myself a chef, or an artist, in the kitchen. If I really cared about how my food tasted (other than being edible), then I might feel blocked and not know how to add that creative touch to my food. It would be a mental block, not a physical one. Same with writing. I can physically write all I want. But because I want my writing to have a more creative touch, I take more time and pay more attention to what I'm doing. It's a creative endeavor. I could be satisfied with what I have (like I often am with my food, so long as it tastes okay) but I want my writing to be better than that. I don't want my writing to just be 'okay'. That's when I get blocked. When I want my writing to have a creative flourish and I can't get it to do that. I could write: "House woke up. He put on his slippers. His leg hurt" until the day is done, but no one wants to read that. I get blocked sometimes when I'm trying to figure out how to make that interesting. And I think the thing NaNoWriMo does well is that it says, "Don't worry about your story sucking. Just write." That way something's on the page when you open it again in December and decide to edit. That's encouraging because you see that you have something down, and that you can do it. Although there are still days when I can't figure out where to go next. As I've said before, I'm at this spot in another fandom where I've written my characters into a corner and I can't figure out how to get them back out plausibly. I'd consider that to be writer's block, but maybe you have another definition? (Not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely curious.)

You guys are reminding me of my drawing instructor, who used to grouse: "I can see the picture in my head, but when I try to draw it, it all dribbles out of my elbow somewhere and doesn't make it to the pencil." Is it that sort of idea, where you have a nagging feeling in the back of your head of how the story should be going, how it should be flowing and creative and interesting and beautifully-written, but when it comes down to the actual mechanics of typing out one word after another, something gets lost in the translation? I'm not a writer, but I was an art major, so I have little creative projects I dabble in here and there, and for me, that's where the "block" comes in: the physical act of taking what currently exists only in my mind's eye and somehow causing it to show up in real-life too. I can imagine all day long about creative projects, but it's that "making imagination reality" part that gives me fits.

I can only speak for myself, but I've had times when I haven't felt like writing, and times when I've been unable to write, and they're definitely two different things. In the second case, I know exactly what I want to write, I can put words on paper, they can form perfectly functional sentences, but there's no rhythm to the language, no eureka moments. And when the words and ideas finally break through, it really is as if there had been a block, because the flow is completely different. Also, while the yips might be exacerbated by self-doubt (a feedback loop of golfing destruction), they are actually a physiological reaction (involuntary muscles twitches), whether you think they have a psychological or neurological basis. Wilson wouldn't dismiss a twitch!

I believe I agree with March301 and Mer Duff. To me, writer's block is like taking a test and not being able to locate an answer in memory - sure, I want to answer the question, but damned if I know what the answer is. Luckily, fan fiction isn't a test, so I can walk away and work it out later. And sometimes, the answer will hit at random, at a totally inappropriate moment (like say, when I'm supposed to be studying for stats :whistle: ). For me, there are usually two phases, and a block is more likely to hit at the second phase. I basically have an idea of the story and can write all of that out - but then I look for the hook, basically a theme, a joke, a point that makes it a story worth telling, and not just the most recent random pile of words that fell out of my head. That second phase is harder than the first, every time. Oddly, while I outline every paper I write almost to the line, I've never been able to finish a story I've outlined. It's almost like I've figured out too much ahead of time and I stop wondering what happens next and lose interest. :lol: Not something that would be a problem if I was a "real" writer, but definitely not helpful in a hobby.

I'm not sure where this should go, but in the interest of folks writing fanfics that deal with House's pain problems, the NYTimes just started a three-week series on chronic pain. Part one is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/health/06brod.html?ref=health And while I'm at it, I'll bring up the topic of fic dealing with House's pain. We've seen on the show that some days can be good, some days can be bad as it relates to House's pain problem. When he's distracted, the pain isn't as emphasized, one reason why he's always looking for puzzles. But some authors will underplay it, and some overplay it. (One in particular who has an obsession about how somehow House's pain is so bad he can't even wear a sock -- which of course we've never seen, never mind the fact that House has never referred to his foot hurting.) Anyway, thoughts related to fic and pain?

House's pain confuses me because it changes according to the current needs of the plot the show. Is he an addict, is he in pain, can he walk up stairs, can he walk fifteen steps without his cane or does he need it constantly. Is it the muscle death that causes his limp or the pain? And because it changes so much on the show I think this is a tricky one for a ff writer.

All but one of the fics I've written make some reference to the pain, but only in one is it a major plot point. It may be as simple as a reference to limping (yes, I'm guilty of overusing the L word; gotta work on that) or the cane or the Vicodin. I tend to treat it in a sort of in-passing way most of the time and ignore the inconsistent *cough*season4*cough* treatment of it in canon. The whole "House turns into Superman on ketamine" arc I dismissed as the PTB being on crack. Hibernia is right; just because he was pain-free, House was not going to turn into the World's Oldest XTreme Athlete with that missing muscle. And if I may resurrect the writer's block issue: I write (and edit) for a living and do get "blocked," but in my job I can't afford to *not* write. What comes out when I'm feeling uninspired is decent, and I still collect a paycheck for it, but not brilliant. I do my best writing when I'm "giving birth" to something -- an article, a fanfic, a song -- that takes over my brain and just has to come out. I'd never heard the term "plot bunnies" until I discovered the Housefic-verse, but yes, I get Jimmy Carter attack-bunnies that invade my brain and won't let go. I'm tapped out on attack bunnies at the moment but have found that prompts and challenges help. I'm working on a fic for house_las and another for the House_Cameron Secret Santa fic swap. I'm finding it helps to have a bunny deposited in my lap looking at me with those cerulean orbs (teasing! I've never used that phrase in a fic, ever!) saying "Write me!" Neither of these would have happened if not for the promptspiration.

Jimmy Carter attack-bunnies Thank you. I always thought that was JFK.

Ah, our Sheep must be a wee lamb. JFK died in 1963 (I was in kindergarten). The Jimmy Carter attack-bunny scare happened in 1979. But JFK's brother Teddy was challenging Jimmuh for the presidency at the time. I recall a great editorial cartoon that had a bumfuzzled Jimmuh mumbling to his Secret Service boys about the attack rabbit, with Ted sitting in a nearby tree with a bunny suit and a s**t eating grin. Topic: I've read all 88 pages of this thread (The Other Place trained me well) and realized I've been guilty of multiple fanfic cliche sins. Although I like to think I've kept them in moderation: "Cammy trumps Stacy"/"Cammy's not Stacy" I've used exactly once. I do use "Jimmy" in moderation, realizing that House only uses it in playful/chop-busting mode. And "wombat" I used three times in one fic, but it *was* a deliberately humorous fic.