At a Creative Impasse? Here's How to Use It to Move You Forward
A creative impasse just means it’s time to regroup.
I need to come clean about something. I’ve really been struggling with my fiction lately. I’m working on a novel, and am nearing the end of draft #2. Lately I’ve been feeling more and more resistance to sitting down to write. Some resistance is normal, and I’m good at working through it. But this is reaching a level where I feel like I’m forcing things. And as I’m always saying, I don’t force things. To me, forcing it is a signal that I need to consider not doing the thing. And so I’ve slowed down on my fiction writing. And that makes me feel bad, and even resentful toward my writing. And then I want to write even less. Vicious cycle, am I right?
I’m used to this cycle, sadly. It happens every time I try to finish a novel draft. I just can’t seem to get it done. I peter out somewhere around the middle or a little past. I start to struggle more with writing, and feel less and less enthused, until I’m forcing things to the degree that I kind of just give up in despair. I haven’t been able to finish a novel since I finished my first, some fifteen years ago. Yikes.
What am I doing wrong? Why do I always find myself at this impasse? Maybe you’ve experienced something like this in your own creative practice.
Last night, after I decided yet again that I wasn’t going to force myself to write, and was feeling guilty about being a bad writer who can’t stay committed to her craft, I’d finally had enough of feeling terrible about all this. Feeling terrible sucks. I don’t want to do it anymore. What if I stubbornly and willfully refuse to see this impasse as a bad thing, and pretend it’s marvelous instead? Like, eff you, impasse, but wait, come back, because I’m going to embrace you whether you like it or not! That’s more like it.
Here’s what the impasse tells you:
It’s time to take a break and let things percolate.
It’s time to find a new direction, and it’s gotta be an enjoyable one.
An impasse just means it’s time to regroup. That’s all. Creative work needs to be enjoyable for the most part – using that dopamine connection is how you can create motivation for consistent practice – and if it stops being (mostly) fun, that’s your sign that something needs to change. For me, it seems to be a sign that I’ve taken the story as far as I can in the current iteration of my novel. In each draft I get a little further, so it makes sense that my impasse signals the need to start a new one. Draft #3, here I come! First I’ll do some percolation activities, like assessing my story and analyzing its themes and character arcs, but then I’ll start in with the writing again. And hopefully draft #3 will take me a bit further.
The most important thing to remember when you are at an impasse is to not give up. It’s not a sign that something’s wrong, or you’ve lost your passion, or the project is a failure! Sleep on it. Go do something else for awhile. And then sit down and think a bit about it. If you start feeling stuck or anxious again, repeat all this until space opens up in front of you for whatever the next step in the project is. It will happen! Trust that it will, and enjoy your impasse while it lasts, because soon enough you’ll be back in the saddle.