Q: How can I overcome "writer's block" and start some ideas going for a piece of writing?
A: The problem you are experiencing is as old as writing itself. Unfortunately, there is no real solution but here are a few ideas that may prove benificial:
1) If you are writing for a response to something you've read, make sure you completely understand the piece your reading. You should read it at least three times. Once rather quickly, making a few notes in the margins as reactions to special passages. The second time through, really get into the heart of the piece, making specific notes on a pad of paper, deconstruct the piece and see what the words are really saying. Pay special attention to whom is actually speaking (is it the author or someone else? Is the author agreeing or disagreeing with what is being said? Etc.) And read at least once more to put it all into perspective, physically make an outline, a "brief" out line of the entire peice (perhaps one side of a piece of notebook paper)
Reading properly can make writing so much easier and more enjoyable. I would say that 90% of my tutee's problems lie not in their writing but their reading.
2) If your reading is good or at least not the problem, the first step to the writing process is freewriting. This is a very instrumental writing tool that allows you to get your ideas on the paper with out worrying about grammer and rules of english. Just start writing, in any way you please. Do not waste time with spelling or punctuation that does not come naturally. It is important to keep your mind focussed on the ideas that are coming out not the rules. Keep the pencil moving even if you are literally writing "I don't have anything to say. I can't think of anything to say. What else can I say?..." Do you see what I mean?
3) After you've spent 15-25 minutes freewriting, and you're sure you have gotten most of your thoughts on the page, now go back and take a look at what you've got. Start pulling the ideas out of the freewrite and putting them on a new piece of paper (not yet in a particular order) but get them out where you can see them. Leave the "I don't know what to writes" in the freewrite and pull out the good stuff.
4) Now, hopefully you have enough material in front of you to get an outline started. Start organizing those ideas into an order of some sort. This is where your writing style will shine through. The order is very important as the paper must "flow". Not to get too "teachery" on you but you should have something close to the following to have a piece of writing that is somewhat the standard: Introduction, thesis, support of the thesis, conclusion. There are several variations on this method. Do what works best for you.
5) Now that you have an outline, try to get rough draft started. Once you have a rough draft with sentences and paragraphs put it away and do something else for an hour or two. Come back to it with a fresh mind that will not see all of the exact same things you saw when you put it together originally. This fresh insight almost alwayts proves benificial especially with spelling and grammer.
6) Now you make the appropriate changes and you have a second draft. At this point you may be happy with the piece or perhaps you aren't. But you can probably see what I'll say next; put it away and caome back to it with a fresh mind (maybe a day or so). As you can see, giving yourself plenty of time is critical if you want to produce good work so plan ahead.
7) Lastly, if you are having problems on, for example, essay exams where time is not on your side, make sure you completely understand the question, on a seperate sheet of paper or off to the side of the test, produce an outline of your answer, and then proceed to write it out as best you can.
I hope this helps. The three most important steps are quality reading, quality revisions, and most importantly quality time.
Happy writing!!
-- LiberalArte three most important steps are quality reading, quality revisions, and most importantly quality time.
