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The one consistently reliable way to overcome "writer's block" is to lower your standards. I mean really lower them. Already low, you say? GO LOWER. E.g: what I'm writing now can't even be called First Draft. It's a Zero Draft. You know what, let's call it Negative Draft. (1/?)
I don't regularly do a Zero/Negative Draft. Some books seem to come easier and you get a solid first draft the first go round. As my books have gotten bigger, bolder, more complicated, I find I more often have to be okay w/ gaining critical momentum by writing complete drivel.
Sometimes I go back to an old Zero Draft and am gobsmacked by how unrecognizable it is. See, a Zero Draft takes away the idea that this is even a thing. It's not a thing. It's not even a clay shape. It's just dirt that might become clay. See, no pressure, just making dirt here.
No one will ever see this. It's like a cross between shoddy fanfiction of my own previous work and a glorified, overlong outline. My beloved characters are like puppets walking through a cardboard stage. "X and Y went to the place. Blah, blah, said X. Blah, said Y." This goes on.
It is the worst. And sometimes, it is the ONLY WAY. "Writer's block" is often fear. Fear of failing, of your artistic vision turning out to be crap. The only way through is being okay with crap. Spending hours and hours on crap.
What gets me through this part is faith in the process. I've written enough to know that if I keep this up, somehow, months or years from now, amazing, incredible things take shape and the glorious finished book will bear no resemblance to this turd. For now? LOWER STANDARDS 💩
