Every writer experiences writer’s block at one time or another. Even those of us who don’t do a lot of writing have heard the term. It’s an infamous phenomenon, when a writer is paralyzed with the inability to generate content for days, weeks or even months on end. Sometimes we hit blocks in one piece of work, or one style, but not another. Maybe someone can’t make any progress on their novel, but is able to pump out poems just fine. No one really knows what causes these blocks, though a few theories include intimidation at the prospect of finishing a work, feelings of inadequacy, emotional trauma or even a subconscious shutdown of the brain’s creative functions.
Some methods to help break out of writer’s block are individual. Various sources suggest drawing pictures, doing word association or even just leaving a piece alone and coming back to it after a while. The best methods that I’ve found, however, are collaborative. That’s when writing clubs such as Outside the Writer’s Block come in handy.
Outside the Writer’s Block is a student-run group at NC State which meets twice a month. One meeting is for brainstorming, playing writing games and generating content to help writers break out of a slump. The other is for critique, where members can submit works to be looked at by their peers and receive much-needed feedback.
Charlie McGill, a fifth-year studying narratives of science in fiction and history and the vice president of Outside the Writer’s Block, spoke about the club.
“[It’s] a place for people who have interest in writing to come to practice their writing or bounce ideas off of similarly-minded people, and do exercises that help hone writing skill or generate ideas or inspiration,” McGill said.
On Oct. 9, the club met to play a writers’ version of the game Mafia, where each night, the players wrote journal-style entries about their experiences as a villager in the imaginary town. This past Tuesday, Oct. 23, they met again for a critique session, in which attendees were broken up in pairs to read and comment on one another’s work.
Members are encouraged to submit not just fiction, but also essays or other academic writing for critique. Katlyn Edwards, a fourth-year studying English and Japanese and the current president of Outside the Writer’s Block, said she places special importance on critique sessions for character building and professional development.
“I really think that’s just a valuable skill for everyone, and even outside of writing, just how to give someone feedback in such a way that it doesn’t hurt them personally,” Edwards said. “I don’t know how many people in the club actually want to go into a career in relation to writing, so a lot of the skills that I … want to impart on them are things that I want them to apply to their general lives. How to take feedback and give feedback, beat someone up metaphorically without actually beating them up.”
The club is also planning a Q&A session with professional author Keris Stainton and one of their members, Megan Wong, who is a fourth-year studying psychology at NC State and whose debut novel, Island Whispers, was published this past January. The discussion will focus on the publishing process for writers just starting out who are looking to publicize their work.
Outside the Writer’s Block meets every other week on Tuesdays from 7:30-8:30 in Tompkins G112. New members are always welcome, and need not be strictly regular or even particularly enthusiastic. They politely ask, however, that those who submit works for critique be present at meetings in order to receive it.
“You don’t have to be like, ultra-into writing, and want to do it as a career and think you’re excellent, or whatever,” McGill said. “Even if you just do it for fun and think it’s probably kind of crap, it’s alright, just come, it’ll be fun.”
