When it comes to pushing through a block in your writing, sarcasm can sometimes prove to be an effective tool in breaking your thoughts free and allowing words to flow again.
Sometimes words just won’t do as they’re told.
Ever sit at your desk, on the couch, on the floor, or inside your fridge (hey, sometimes creative results call for dangerous measures) and wonder why all the ideas you had during the day refuse to display themselves nicely on a page? I have. (I’m too large to fit in my fridge but I’ve tried climbing a tree with a pad of paper and gone boating with a laptop)
The voice in my head that is supposed to steer me away from harmful activities jumps in when I’m trying to write. It doesn’t seem to know the difference between writing about a tea party with a herd of drunk elephants and actually participating in one. It yells out a warning before I write each sentence: “You don’t know enough about that!” or “You probably don’t have the right words to express that idea properly!” I battled against that voice for years. When I discovered it was silent, I’d rush to get things written before it returned. My writing suffered. I was unhappy.
As I continued to write and learned to distinguish writers block from extreme bouts of laziness, I came across a simple solution to silence that inhibiting voice: sarcasm.
It is in our nature as humans to focus on the negative characteristics of a person, idea, or topic. We remember hurtful words and minor disasters long after we’ve forgotten the nice comments and major delights. It is easier to critique than to praise, to mock than to cheer, and to cut down instead of lift up. Understanding this allowed me to use my inclination to be sarcastic and hurtful as a tool to get my words flowing in spite of any mental block.
But how do I go about it?
I take a topic and spend the first hundred words or so (sometimes more) being as dreadfully sarcastic as I can think to be. When the voice in my head says “you don’t know enough about that!” I respond with “you don’t need to know much about something to be sarcastic and critical” and I keep writing. When the voice says “you don’t have the right words to express that idea!” I respond with “tough luck, you don’t need a big vocabulary to make fun of something” and I keep writing.
It often takes less than a paragraph of snarky blather before I feel a rhythm in my words and the ideas I initially wanted to discuss begin to flow onto the page in front of me. Some of the most heartfelt, honest, and uplifting writing I’ve ever done began with a paragraph or two of absolute rubbish. We all have the ability to say sarcastic, spiteful, and mean things without spending a lot of time thinking about what we’re saying. (If you find that your mood increases and you become more joyful as plans disintegrate and exhaustion mounts, you are a strange beast)
Use that negativity and sarcasm as a tool to break through your writer’s block and continue putting your ideas into words. With a little practice you may even find that attacking an idea before you write in its support can do wonders for your approach to a topic. Are you fearful of what others might think of your work? Just think back to the words you started your piece with. Chances are, nobody will ever attack your idea as viciously as you did when you first used sarcasm to break through the block in your writing.
Just like a panic attack (for many), the mental aspects of writer’s block (for me at least) are much greater than the physical. The more fully I understand the mechanics of what is going on in my head, the better-equipped I am to work within my limitations and continue to create. Sometimes I struggle to write because I’m hungry, tired, or genuinely haven’t done enough research on a topic. But for those times when I am tempted to sit at my desk and mourn the blankness of the screen before me, sarcasm puts me into the writing instead of wondering where I’ll begin. I know it’s considered bad form to respond to the voices in one’s head, but as I am editing a first draft and hit “delete” on the highlighted sarcasm, It’s not uncommon for me to emit an audible “Ha! I win!”
It works for me.
I’d be delighted to know your thoughts on this process and learn more about how you get your creativity jump-started. Perhaps you have a tried-and-true tip? I look forward to our conversation!
photo credit: rebirf
