Unlocking Songwriter's Block
What is Writer’s Block?
Author Ernest Hemingway, whose life included time on the front lines as a war correspondent, big game hunting and running with the bulls. Hemingway once said that the scariest thing he ever faced was ‘a blank sheet of paper.’ According to psychologist and writing professor Mike Rose, writer's block is “an inability to begin or continue writing for reasons other than a lack of basic skill or commitment.” Dr. Patricia Huston defined writer’s block even more succinctly as “a distinctly uncomfortable inability to write.” You want to write, but you get stuck and can’t start or continue, and it becomes increasingly torturous to even try.
Is Writer’s Block Real?
According to author Susan Reynolds, writer’s block is a myth. We can thank early 19th Century English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was terrified that he would fail to produce work equal to his talent. In those days, writers believed that their art was a gift from God or some individual muse who capriciously gave or withheld their blessings. If inspiration was in short supply, you might have to sell your soul to the devil. This led to the myth of the ‘tortured artist’ who could only create great art - in whatever the field - when they were suffering.
The actual research on writer’s block is mixed. Some studies indicate that people in artistic professions may have higher rates of mental illness and substance use disorders than the general population. However, according to Harvard psychiatrist Albert Rothenberg, “Almost all have had methodological and conceptual inadequacies: absent or poor controls, investigator bias, unreliable testing tools. None have demonstrated validity with respect to actual creative performance.”
To be sure, artists throughout history have suffered - and, like Hemingway, even died - from mental illness. Neuroses, anxiety, depression, alcoholism, addiction, psychoses, and even suicide are common plagues. But according to Rothenberg, the number of artists with mental illness is "dwarfed by the very large number of highly creative people both in modern times and throughout history without evidence of disorder.”
The idea that you have to go through periods of despair, bereft of creative juice couldn’t be farther from the truth. Other mood-creativity research demonstrates that mental illness, like substance abuse, actually decreases creativity. People are most creative when they are in a positive mood.
Why Writer’s Block Occurs: It’s All In Your Head (Mostly)
Before you can overcome writer's block, you're going to have to understand what's causing yours. Most of the time, it’s going to be your brain. The science of understanding the incredibly complex human brain is still evolving. Language comes from different parts of the brain. Broca’s area, in the left frontal lobe, helps us produce speech. Wernicke's area, in the parietal and temporal lobes, in the sensory part of the brain, helps us find the right word. But other parts of the brain are responsible for other critical songwriting skills. The anterior cingulate cortex in the right prefrontal cortex is activated when we make associations between unrelated ideas. And when we’re ‘brainstorming’, sub-regions related to rules, planning, and control get in on the action.
Both environmental stressors and internal factors can cause writer's block. Often, it is rooted in psychological issues (like rigid belief systems) or emotional disturbances (like anxiety or depression). According to Rose, cognitive difficulties related to faulty or conflicting compositional assumptions, rules, processes, strategies or criteria can interfere with creativity. These psychological and cognitive barriers begin to develop when we first learn how to write in kindergarten or even younger.
Thinking Is Hard And Your Brain Is Lazy
Weighing about a pound and a half, your brain burns 20% to 25% of your daily calories. Simply put, thinking is hard work. Your brain tries to conserve as much energy as possible, creating processes to prevent you from thinking so hard. We spend much of our adult lives on autopilot, not thinking unless we really have to. It’s one of the reasons that so many Americans spend so much time in mindless pursuits like watching TV. (From 20 hours per week for the very young to over 50 hours per week for the very old.)
Songwriting is a particularly arduous form of thinking. Novelists can write thousands or even hundreds of thousands of words, over hundreds (in a few cases, thousands) of pages. Some (like George R. R. Martin or J. K. Rowling) take several volumes to tell a story. But songwriters have 200 to 300 words (mere paragraphs for most writers) and are further limited by the song form. Prosody (in songwriting, the art of marrying music and lyrics) is part of the process. Songwriting requires spending a tremendous amount of energy on cognitive activity that your brain is trying to avoid. Frankly, your brain would rather use it’s limited resources on something more practical, like finding food or having sex.
Creative Thinking Problems
Songwriter’s block can be the result of creative problems as well. According to the creativity model created by psychologist J. P. Guilford in the 1950s, the two essential components of creativity are divergent and convergent thinking.
Divergent thinking refers to the volume, flexibility, and uniqueness of ideas as well as the ability to systematize, organize and elaborate them. There are two types of divergent thinking problems. You might have difficulty making the creative associations needed to generate many varied and unique solutions to a songwriting problem. Those problems can be caused by ‘functional fixation’ (something we start to develop around age seven). Functional fixation occurs when you see things in terms of their intended functions instead of other more creative possibilities. Or you might not be able to express your creative ideas. Starting the editing process too soon can also interfere with divergent thinking.
Convergent thinking is the process of editing after divergent thinking has been completed. The most common problem in the convergent stage of the creative process is identifying what to keep and what to leave out. This includes trouble figuring out the main idea of the song, trying to squeeze in too many ideas or failing to edit out the merely good.
Cognitive problems like rigid or conflicting rules, incorrect or misleading assumptions about composing, poor or inappropriate planning, rules or strategies, and poorly understood evaluative criteria can all interfere with both types of thinking.
Other Creative Problems
Lack of knowledge about the craft of songwriting is another problem that can interfere with your ability to realize your creative vision. You might have a great idea and know what you want to say, but not know how to communicate it artistically. Or omit critical elements that listeners expect and lose them in the process.
Dwindling passion can reduce your motivation to write as well. Most songwriters start by writing about personal experiences as a way of coping with or expressing powerful emotions. If you need emotional drama to motivate your writing, you might struggle to generate ideas when things are going well. You might simply lose interest or get bored with a song or a project. (This is especially true when the emotional issues you were writing about have been resolved).
Stress is Disabling
To be sure, life can interfere with the creative process. Environmental events like poverty, persecution or trauma, and internal factors like mental or physical illness are hard challenges to overcome. Even the simple demands of daily living can get in the way of your songwriting. Stress affects your ability to think, especially creatively. Your brain is built to conserve energy, and even more so when stress becomes overwhelming. It shuts down the higher functioning prefrontal cortex and activates the limbic system. That puts you in fight-freeze-flight survival mode, great for escaping danger, but not for creative thinking.
In survival mode, the parts of your brain responsible for the complex cognitive tasks needed for songwriting go off-line. You simply can’t make the creative connections required for great (or even mediocre) art when you’re stressed out.
Negative Thinking
Your brain plays other tricks on you as well. Buddhists call our conscious mind ‘monkey mind,’ because our constant stream of inner dialogue bedevils our every waking moment. The overwhelming majority of that thinking is, by default, negative. And after stress, most writer’s block comes from variations on the theme of negative thinking.
A fair amount of our negative self-talk is the result of messages that came to us as children. Our well-meaning caretakers were either trying to protect us or had issues of their own. We internalized those critical messages long before our brains were capable of filtering out inaccurate, unhelpful or downright damaging information. These negative beliefs about ourselves and the world became operating principles that most of us rarely question. Unfortunately, our beliefs produce negative self-talk that limits us in many unhelpful ways, especially creatively.
Ultimately, negative thinking creates fear, and it's easy to make fear worse. There are many different kinds of fears that can impede your creativity: fear of criticism, fear of judgment, fear of rejection, even fear of success. We’re going to look at two of the most common, perfectionism and Imposter Syndrome.
Fear 1: Perfectionism
Perfectionism is not the same as having high standards. It is the fear that you won’t reach unreasonably high, unattainable expectations combined with feelings of worthlessness that come from anything less than perfection. It is the irrational belief that mistakes are unacceptable and that you are defective if you make one.
If you spend hours agonizing over a word or a phrase, give up on songs completely over minor imperfections, and feel horrible about yourself for failing to achieve your unrealistic expectations, you might be suffering from perfectionism. Perfectionism is the internal voice that says:
“I should be better than this. I’ve been working on this forever and it still isn’t good enough. It just has to perfect. I can’t play it out. If anybody hears how bad it is, I’ll never be able to live it down.”
Fear 2: Imposter Syndrome
Related to perfectionism is Imposter Syndrome, the fear that you’re not good enough. It stems from the irrational belief that your success is not yours and that you’ll be revealed a complete fraud. If you don’t believe in yourself or your talent, you're probably suffering from Imposter Syndrome.
Even if you've had some success, you might react like Herman Melville, who never wrote another novel after Moby Dick. Imposter Syndrome tells you that your best work is behind you and you'll never create anything good again. Self-talk of people with Imposter Syndrome includes statements like:
“I don’t belong here. My songs are complete rubbish. I was just lucky. If anyone knew how little talent I have, I could never show my face again.’
Overcoming Negative Thinking
Fortunately, you can overcome your irrational beliefs, perfectionism, Imposter Syndrome and other negative self-talk. You don’t have to live by those self-defeating beliefs or the fears that come with them. Pay attention and notice your automatic, negative thoughts (ANTS). Challenge the inner voice that tells you that you have to be perfect or that you’re not good enough. Finally, replace your ANTS with their 'antidotes' - more positive, helpful thoughts and beliefs.
Overcoming Songwriter’s Block
There are specific techniques to help you overcome the environmental, psychological, cognitive, and creative barriers to your writing. (We’ll describe 18 of them in Part 2.) Once you know why you get stuck, you can pick the ones that will work best for you. When you apply them, your songwriter’s block will come down like the Berlin Wall, one brick at a time. In the meantime, read on for a simple ‘soup to nuts’ seven-step process to eliminate songwriter’s block.
Seven Steps to Eliminate Writer’s Block
1. Preparation
To paraphrase an old saying, he who fails to prepare, prepares to fail. Let's look at seven areas of focus to prepare for songwriting success.
Things:
Set up your workspace. The professional way to approach songwriting is to have a dedicated time and place for writing. It could be as simple as a corner of your basement or bedroom. You can also convert a spare room into a studio or rent office or studio space.- Get the right gear. You probably already have some of the tools of the trade: your instrument and something to write on. You can hand-write in a simple notebook, or record complete songs on your laptop or smartphone. If you already have a computer, it won't cost much to build a low-budget, high-quality, compact home studio. For under $500, you can buy a decent mic, USB keyboard, audio interface, headphones, mic stand, pop filter, and cables. Add some free recording software and virtual instruments, and you can even write orchestral music for film and TV.
Yourself:
- Organize yourself. William Faulkner is believed to have said, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning.” Waiting for inspiration to strike is hit or miss. (Especially since it can strike at inconvenient times when it’s easier to blow off.) Most writers work best first thing in the morning because that’s when our brains are at their most creative. But you don’t have to rise as early as songwriter/composer Randon Purcell, who writes daily from 4:30 to 8 am. Exactly when and how long you write isn’t as important as setting and sticking to a consistent schedule. Even if it's only an hour or two in the evening or only on weekends, treat it like going to work. It’s far more productive to schedule your writing time in advance and to follow your schedule.
- Hone your craft. It’s been said that good writers borrow, but great writers steal. Read other writers on writing in general and great songwriters on songwriting. Listen to your favorite artists. Dissect your favorite songs to find out what makes them click for you. Analyze lyrical, rhythmic, melodic and harmonic patterns and try them out in your own work. (We advocate writing ‘in the style of’, not outright copying of lyrics or melodies.) Finger-style guitarist and songwriter Pat Donahue gives voice to this process with his gem of a song, ‘Stealin’ From Chet’. (Of course, he is talking about stealing guitar licks, but the principle applies.)
Subject Matter:
- Gather raw material. Another key aspect of preparation is to gather sensory information. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings of your experiences become the color in your songs. But it doesn't have to come from only your life. Immerse yourself in life's rhythm. Soak up experience and pay careful attention to what happens around you. Listen to different styles of music. Read great literature. Watch TV and movies for the music, the stories, and the language. Have meaningful conversations. Be interested in other people’s stories. Listen for interesting turns of phrase to incorporate in your lyrics. Your smartphone is your audio recorder, video camera and notebook all in one. Use it.
- Identify things to write about. The first songs most of us write tell the stories behind the powerful emotional moments in our lives. We want to share our elation at falling in love or the heartbreak of our lost love with the world. But according to hit country songwriter Steve Seskin, writing only about your personal experience is a terrible idea. While it's important to write from the heart, it's not enough to only tell your stories. A great example of using other people's ideas is songwriter Judith Avers songwriting project. To cope with several major personal losses, she offered to write songs for others. People sent her their stories and she spent an hour a day writing songs for them. (Wherever your song ideas come from, you still have to invest yourself in every song.)
- Organize your ideas. A critical organizational task at the very beginning of the writing stage is the second of Steve Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: begin with the end in mind. Know what story you want to tell and/or the primary emotion that you want to convey. Once you’ve got a basic idea, develop a short outline for the song before you start writing. (Later, when you finish a song, catalog it, both in your own records and with your PRO.)
And that takes us to...
2. Intention, Incubation, & Inspiration
Intention. Just as a gardener takes stock and makes plans for spring planting, a songwriter at rest is mentally preparing to write. Give yourself permission to stop writing with the intention to resume whenever your next writing session is scheduled.
Incubation. Rest isn’t for the lazy; rest is critical for optimum cognitive ability. The time away from writing is similarly regenerative. When you’re not writing, ideas are percolating below the surface. Artist Kay Pere likens this to the fallow period between harvest and planting when the earth is resting.
If you're banging your head against the creative wall, you might be distracted by life's problems or negative thought patterns. Take a break to incubate!
Do more research. Or turn off your mind: meditate, nap, soak in a bubble bath, or sleep on it.
Inspiration. Trust that all the raw material you've gathered will come to fruition when you're writing. Your imagination will generate ideas, solutions, creative insights and connections. Those ideas will appear as inspiration the next time you write.
3. Production
"The secret of getting ahead," said Mark Twain, "is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." And the first task of songwriting is to write consistently.
Your output doesn’t have to be great, and you don’t have to finish what you’re working on in one sitting. But you can’t finish if you don’t start, so starting becomes the first most important task.
According to songwriter and Berklee educator Andrea Stolpe, the key to breaking songwriter’s block is to ‘write faster.’ The main thing during the production stage is to get your ideas out and to keep them flowing. (We'll touch on a number of specific writing techniques in Part 2.) One of the biggest mistakes that you can make at this stage is to start editing. Nothing can dampen the creative process faster than the wet blanket of self-criticism. Restrain your critical editor until you reach the next stage.
It helps to have an idea to start with. It doesn't have to be a complex song idea, like the Crash Test Dummies “Superman’s Song” comparing Tarzan to Superman. Ideas can be as simple as an over-heard turn of phrase, a book title or even a cliche. Don’t let the lack of a fully formed, complete song idea stop you. Songs can grow from a melodic idea noodling on your instrument or grooving over a chord progression. Better ideas have greater potential for better songs, but the more you write, the quicker your songwriting will improve. Strong writing can turn average ideas into better songs, and good ideas into hit songs.
4. Turn Fear into Feedback
I’ll admit that every time I write a song, I want it to be great. I’m always hopeful that everyone will love it the way it is. But I also know that my own viewpoint is about as biased as a mother’s blind love for her newborn babe. And as terrified as you might be to put your work out there, the only way to know if other people will like it is to do just that.
I’m not talking about the feedback you get from your friends and family (which is equally biased, although, hopefully, in your favor) or even your favorite coffeehouse or bar gig. We all love the ego massage our ‘legion of screaming fans’ gives us, but that’s not a critical audience. A critical audience is some combination of other songwriters or music industry professionals who will tell you what they don't like so that you can fix it. That type of feedback is an invaluable resource and will help you to improve your work.
Once you get feedback on your initial rough draft, it’s time to start the process of rewriting.
5. Revision (Rewriting)
We've all written songs that come in a flash of inspiration and practically write themselves. For example, Bob Dylan reportedly told Leonard Cohen that he wrote ‘I and I’ in 15 minutes. But rarely will great songs come completely formed in their final version right out of your creative womb. And that means rewriting.
Songwriter and teacher Jason Blume often says that he doesn't teach songwriting, he teaches song re-writing. I love the story of the first time Jason played one of his songs for a panel of music publishers. After listening to it, the first panelist said, ‘This is a great example of a song that would NEVER be played on the radio.’ Jason was initially crushed, but brightened when the next panelist chimed in, “I wouldn’t say that.” Jason’s despair returned when the second panelist continued with, “You’re right, of course, but I wouldn’t say it that way. Let’s talk about all the reasons WHY this song won’t ever be successful."
The panel proceeded to point out the flaws in Jason’s best songwriting effort to that point. Driving home, Blume's dream of songwriting success tasted like ashes in his mouth. However, he soon realized that the panel had given him the blueprint for how to repair the song. Jason took full advantage of critical feedback: his first cut came after seven re-writes for his publisher. His successful re-writing led to hit songs on the pop, country and R&B charts - simultaneously!
The secret to rewriting is to have the courage to cut the merely good. Keep working on your song until it’s the best that it can be, even if you have to put it on the shelf and come back to it later. (It took Cohen five years and 80 verses to complete ‘Hallelujah’ - and it probably still wasn’t completely finished.) To figure out when that is, you have to...
6. Treat Yourself
It is universally understood that reward works better than punishment. Beating yourself up for failing to achieve your songwriting goals won't help. In fact, that is the kind of negative thinking that causes internal stress and impedes creativity. Build in extra motivation to stay on task by breaking the task up and periodically rewarding yourself with something enjoyable. Spend an hour on a chorus or a verse, then take a break. Give yourself some small pleasure as a reward. Alternatively, schedule writing sessions before doing something you enjoy, like getting a massage or going to a movie.
7. Finish & Repeat
Finishing songs is (almost) as important as starting. You could spend 15 or 20 minutes like Bob Dylan or years on your songs like Leonard Cohen. You can write short songs like The Beatles 'Her Majesty' or epics like Don McClean's American Pie. The point is, if you don't start, you can't finish. And if you don't finish, it makes starting the next song that much harder. Even if you're dissatisfied with the final result, it's important to move on to the next song.
In Part 2 of this topic, we’ll explore a variety of specific tactical techniques to address songwriter’s block. If you use them, unlike Herman Melville, Ernest Hemingway or my friend, you'll never fear songwriter's block again.
Until then, keep on writing!
