Stop kicking against the goads
Filed under Tips & Tools on July 7, 2009
Tagged: Shattered Amulet, writer's block
The apostle Paul was once known as the Pharisee Saul, with a reputation for persecuting followers of the Way, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” He caused the deaths of many Christians and forced others to blaspheme against their faith. All the while, he fervently believed he was doing the will of God, rooting out heretics of the Jewish religion.
Until Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and told him, “It is hard to kick against the goads.”
This statement was a reference to the shepherding technique of prodding reluctant sheep in a direction they did not want to go. The sheep would kick back, but the sharp point of the prod made resistance painful, and the sheep quickly corrected course.
For all of Saul’s efforts, Christianity was flourishing. Once he realized the futility of the path he was following, he corrected his course and found the new direction bore more and better fruit.
There are times when I feel like Saul when I’m writing. Progress is painful. I stare at the screen until my vision blurs, and after a couple of days of that, I start to find excuses not to even open the document.
I just went through one such episode this last week while working on a scene in chapter three of Shattered Amulet. I had decided on a solution for how Logan was going to sneak into a heavily guarded keep, and could picture how the events played out with great clarity, but the words simply refused to come.
Some people would describe this as writer’s block, but I am not a believer in such a thing. At least, not as an excuse to not write. Yes, there are times when the words don’t flow like rivers of milk and honey, but instead have to be pulled like an impacted wisdom tooth. I believe there is a reason for this.
The writer is kicking against the goads.
Experience has shown me that I get writer’s block most often when I am attempting to take the story or a character down a path they shouldn’t be going. If I sit back and rethink the direction I’m heading, I no longer find my way blocked.
Sometimes I have to change course a couple times, but the corrections are still fairly minor–I’m not making radical revisions to major plot points. Such was the case with regard to the scene from Shattered Amulet. I had already changed the method for entry once, and when I encountered “writer’s block” on the second solution, I took a few minutes to explore another possibility and was able to jump right back into my writing (with just a little backtracking).
Not every instance of writer’s block is a result of “kicking against the goads.” Sometimes, it’s just a lack of interest and requires the discipline necessary to keep your butt in the seat and fingers on the keyboard. If you find forward progress down your current path painful, however, maybe you need to stop, take a step back, and see if there isn’t a better route to follow that will get you to the same place in your story.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I agree completely. There have been so many times where I have gotten stuck, only to find that progress continued when I wrote in a direction other than what I expected. Great post for articulating the issue so well.
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