Writer’s Block: Is it Real? What is Being Blocked? Why Couldn’t George Bernard Shaw write a Great Novel? Why Do Some Novelists Drink?

What prompts this post is that writer’s block was mentioned in the last post (as being a specialty of Doris Lessing’s therapist, even though Lessing, herself, did not have it).

Judging by most books published about how to write a novel, you would think that writer’s block is impossible. They tell you what it takes to make good characters, plots, sentences, etc. What is there to get blocked? Nothing. It is all very rational, and if you don’t carry it out and produce a good novel, then you have not followed their advice or are a procrastinator.

So why was Nobel Prize winning playwright George Bernard Shaw a failure as a novelist? He tried it, decided he was not very good at it, and gave up. Evidently, you can be one of the greatest writers who ever lived, but still not have what it takes to be a successful novelist.

And why do some writers feel that they have to drink to tap their creativity? After all, the brain really doesn’t function as well when it is intoxicated.

This all makes sense according to Multiple Identity Literary Theory. What gets blocked in at least one form of writer’s block is access to, and/or the cooperation of, the writer’s alternate personalities. Some novelists use alcohol as a way to sedate their host personality and allow their other personalities to come forward. (Writers like Stephen King and Toni Morrison do not need alcohol, because they know how to access the world of their alternate personalities by using a form of self-hypnosis.) And if you don’t have multiple personality—perhaps that was Shaw’s problem—you might have superb writing skills, but still not be very good at writing novels.