Page Fright

I’m not a fan of Writer’s Block. To me it sounds too much like Tennis Elbow, or some sort of obscure medieval punishment for daring to be a scribe. (A writer, eh? To the Block with ye!)

However, I can understand page fright.

Staring at a blank sheet of paper is like standing in the wings of a theatre, characters from your story standing mute and inanimate on the stage. They wait patiently as you shuffle from foot to anxious foot, knowing that any minute you have to go out there and get the show started. Whether the play triumphs or fails is on your shoulders.

Nothing like a bit of pressure!

But we have to get over this fear of beginning otherwise nothing will happen, and our lovely stories will exist only as pleasant daydreams. I tend to flutter around for a while before writing anything – I’ll have lost my glasses, be in desperate need of a cup of coffee, or will rummage around for a mislaid notebook. All my fidgeting has to be out of the way early as once I get into a story I don’t move for hours. But each time I have to push myself to make that first mark on the page, to step out from behind the wings.

I wonder if it feels different when you are a published author with a large expectant audience already waiting. Somehow I don’t think it does, although I am happily willing to test this analogy at any time, of course.

How do you get over page fright?

Blog: http://jayneferst.blogspot.com/Writer’s block: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writer%27s_block

Overcoming Writer’s Block: http://www.webook.com/911writersblock