Microcinema Flashback - The Three Most Important Words A Writer Needs To Remember... (2001)

Writers block is one of the hardest things to face as a writer. Nothing is more daunting than a blank page. In November of 2001 I offer some advice for writers on how to overcome it.

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The Three Most Important Words A Writer Needs To Remember...
By Pete Bauer

All writers eventually face a common, simple, deadly foe... writer's block. And writer's block usually comes down to one simple problem... we don't know what happens next. We may have an idea of what we want to happen, but not how to get there. So, we sit and stir and fuss and sweat and stare at the blank page trying to figure out why the words stopped coming. And the longer we sit, the more insurmountable the writer's block becomes until it evolves into the writer's second deadly foe... procrastination. Unchecked, days and months may pass with the empty page still waiting for the next injection of creative inspiration. If never overcome, the result is another unfinished project that sits in your desk drawer, reminding you of a great idea that was never fully realized.

In order to keep myself from sliding down that slippery slope, I've tacked three words above my desk. They read ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. I have found these three words to be the most important words as a writer. Because, in reality, the blank page has no preference to what you place on it. It doesn't care. It's just a void that you're trying to fill and you can fill it with anything... absolutely anything.

Most writers will tell you that writing can often be a contradictory experience. When we start, we usually have a good idea of where we want the story to end up. But, once we begin writing, the characters slowly take on a life of their own. They become real people, with wills and attitudes and tastes and needs so when you get into the meat of the writing process, you're not so much writing as you are taking dictation from the characters who are now telling you what should happen next.

It's moments like these which are both the most rewarding and the most frustrating. You feel like you've got the wind at your back as the spirit of inspiration takes you down unplanned paths to exciting places you didn't expect. Then, suddenly, you find yourself wondering where the hell you are and how the hell you're going to get out? It's no longer the issue if this is where the story should lead... the characters have told you as much. Your job is to take it to the next step. To figure out… what happens next? If not careful, these are the moments where writer's block rears its ugly head. You can easily get stuck between your original vision of the story's path and the new one the writing process has created.

And, it's at that moment, that I look on my wall and read the words ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. And it frees me. It wipes the creative slate clean and allows me to let the story travel wherever it needs to go. Because, on the blank page, anything can happen, to anyone, at any time. It may not be the original intent, but it is what's right for the story, what's truthful to the characters, what is necessary for the fruition of the plot.

So, if you're ever faced with trying to figure out… what happens next? Remember, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. What's the most dramatic? What's the most appropriate? What's the most effective? It can be anything. And it's that freedom, that unlimited supply of possibilities, that is the greatest reward we get from this frustrating, inspiring and, ultimately, satisfying process called writing.