This is a subject that has been discussed several times in the S32 forum. However, since this is an ongoing issue for screenwriters, I believe it's a subject that merits further discussion.
I've had bursts of inspiration that resulted in churning out a first draft screenplay in a week or two. Conversely, I've had screenplays that were slow to come but still turned out well. In those cases, it was much more about tenacity than inspiration.
When I was physically ill for two months last year, I had no desire to write. Beyond that, if I sit down with a determination to craft a screenplay, I've always been able to succeed in doing that.
After doing some research about writer's block, the question remains, is it a real physiological issue or is it a mental one?
What's your opinion?
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I love what hemingway said about it. In his mind it was caused by writing every avenue in a previous session. His method to overcome it was to leave a solid idea on the table when he finished the session. that way he could start with a path to proceed rather then start on empty.
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Mine is certainly a mental one. I usually crash into the wall the moment I start overthinking it.
One thing that's helping me is a book called The Three Wells of Screenwriting by Matthew Kalil. The ideas in it help me figure out where to go in my imagination when I get stuck. And the ideas he presents in it apply to creativity in general, so it'll help me as a director as well.
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Neither. It is an excuse. Self-sabotage. A conscious or subconscious excuse often created and brought on by one's fear. Fear of failure, self-imposed high standards and/or perfectionism (fear of not being good enough), procrastination (fear or dread of doing the work), business, laziness (which probably is fear getting in the way), imposter syndrome (fear of rejection), etc, etc, etc. Fear and self-doubt, those do exist. "Writer's block" does not. Exhaustion or illness or personal tragedy, etc, those are issues that can affect one's work, of course.
Professional or amature writers?
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I’ve always felt that writers block is nothing more than fear, or, if you’ve read “The War of Art”, resistance. You simply have to work through it. It only exists if you let it.
To quote author Harry Crews: “If you wait until you got time to write a novel, or time to write a story, or time to read the hundred thousands of books you should have already read - if you wait for the time, you will never do it. ‘Cause there ain’t no time; world don’t want you to do that. World wants you to go to the zoo and eat cotton candy, preferably seven days a week.”
Writers block is simply a variation of the same. You have to make writing happen, no matter what.
Check out my Stage32 blog post on this one a few years ago... still relevant ... my 2 cents. https://www.stage32.com/blog/The-7-Step-Process-for-Busting-the-Myth-of-Writer-s-Block
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I've never experienced an actual "block." So I don't believe in it.
If my writing slows and I can't find resolution, I walk away. What I need always comes around when I'm collected.
it's real if it's real to that person. You can't tell other people if it's real or not to them. I'm getting sick of this way of thinking.
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I just go and experience life for a while. That unblocks me. Talking to people sharing my life and hearing their stories. To tell stories you need reference points, to understand people and their experience. I think we get blocked when we are unaware that we have run out of this resource.
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I flit between scripts. If I get blocked on one I usually find another I can work on. Even just coming with with new concepts helps keep the creative flow.
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Personally, I think it's mental. I recall when I was more heavily writing my poetry books, I'd pause for months at a time in some cases because I was "uninspired" or suffering from "writer's block". After a while I realized if I placed myself in a certain frame of mind, then poof! Writer's block became less of a problem. Music, sit on the sand at the beach, nature. A little switch of perspective, then I start writing and the pages suddenly begin filling. Sometimes it's just you needing to sit and power through and write.
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I think it's all about Momentum. If I stay away from the gym, the first day back is the toughest. In yoga, the hardest part is just getting on the mat. It's getting into whatever saddle ritualistically.
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Jerry Seinfeld would circle the days he wrote jokes on a calendar so it became a case of not wanting to break the chain of circled days... like in baseball, a hitting streak. Once in the groove, anything's achievable.
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“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” -- Jack London
And a happy Oedipus Mother's Day to you too Erik Jacobsen (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk - he typed in jest)