Many of us would like to solve the mystery of writer’s block. I’ve been blocked on an eBook project for weeks but I solved this case today. In this post I’m going to share my thoughts on a way to get past writing struggles by using a detective’s tools.
Writing is like solving a mystery
There are two common ways to start a writing project:
1. Gather lots of data and use it build an intelligible document. This document will be influenced by what you learn - it may start with no thesis.
If you have a lot of leeway in your writing assignment you can try the first method. This can be fun if you enjoy doing research. You get to start with nothing and then let the information guide your writing.
2. Start with a hypothesis and then go digging for information to prove it.
A lot of writing assignments start with a pre-determined subject and slant. Feature articles for blogs and magazines are used by editors to fill in their editorial calendars. They know they want certain types of articles at certain times, so that’s what you get to write.
In both methods, you’ve got to do research and synthesize data in order to write. A key difference lies in how quickly you draw conclusions about the subject matter. You as the author must decode the information, find the clues, and solve the case by writing an article that puts the pieces together.
Let’s look at a couple of examples of great detectives and see if we can learn from their methods.
Sherlock Holmes – master of deduction
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated sleuth has been a popular character for more than 120 years. Sherlock Holmes was virtually unmatched in his ability to solve crimes through investigation and deduction.
Holmes had an unworldly talent to make deductions about perfect strangers through observation. He knew how to find clues that could describe people’s lives and interests through mundane things like body language; scars and discolorations; brands and types of clothing; ashes; and so on. Holmes was a master observer and synthesizer of data.
Chief Inspector Morse – master of hypothesis
Holmes’s methods of solving crimes couldn’t be more different than the more contemporary exploits of Inspector Morse, Colin Dexter’s cult favorite detective. Morse was a brilliant, and eccentric, detective in his own right, but his methods were far different than Sherlock Holmes’s. I would classify Morse as a hypothesizer.
Morse tended to make snap judgements after observing a crime scene. Somehow, by using a combination of years of investigation experience and intuition, Morse would develop a solution. Morse almost inevitably solved his crimes, but not without incident. Unfortunately, Morse’s initial hypotheses rarely worked. He would also become attached to his ideas until overwhelming evidence would disuade him. Thus, it may have taken him much longer to solve a case than if he let the facts speak for themselves. On the other hand, his methods were effective in most cases where other detectives would have failed.
Deduction vs. hypothesizing – which is better?
In my case, let’s pretend that I wanted to prove that right-handed bloggers were more successful than left-handed bloggers. I started to write my eBook based on the assumption that right-handed bloggers were superior bloggers. After all, I knew of several successful right-handed bloggers, and didn’t know of any lefties, so I assumed that righties were better.
As I wrote I found it harder and harder to continue. What seemed like an easy exercise (I’d already written some related posts, so I figured it would be simple to write) became very difficult. Soon I was stalled and the document languished on my hard drive for weeks.
How did I get stuck? Simple: the facts that I found began to disprove my hypothesis. I found some examples of successful left-handed bloggers. I couldn’t find any evidence that suggested that one’s dominant hand had any impact on blogging.
I started to doubt that right-handed bloggers were superior to left-handed bloggers. (remember, this is only hypothetical - handedness doesn’t really make any difference)
My downfall was that I was married to my hypothesis, not unlike Inspector Morse following a pet theory to a dead end. My inability to move from my hypothesis, despite the evidence to the contrary, made it impossible to continue writing.
I could have avoided my problem by following the Holmes example. Instead of trying to write the story that I wanted to write, I should have focused on the story that I found. I should have done more research ahead of time so that I could come up with a better direction for my eBook.
And so, I’ve decided that I need to switch to Holmesian mode for this eBook. Instead of running with a particular theory, I’m going back to a clean sheet of paper. I’m going to conduct research by interviewing a bunch of bloggers and learning from their experiences. I’m going to use that research to draw some logical conclusions. I’m going to go to where the research leads me.
In this case, deduction will work better.
Don’t rule out the power of hypothesizing
Hypothesizing is a powerful tool and it has its place. Editors will ask for certain types of stories because their experience tells them that they’re out there. They won’t always be right, but they often are. Despite the many twists and turns of his cases, Morse almost always solves the crime. He simply uses steps and paths that Holmes might not use.
A hypothesis can be used to perform directed and valuable research. I could read about blogging for days and never come to any conclusions about the performance of left-handed vs. right-handed bloggers if I never check out that angle.
The other thing about the use of hypothesis is to be prepared when your hypothesis is proven to be incorrect. In some cases this is simple. If your hypothesis is completely wrong, you can use your existing research to rewrite or reshape your work in the direction of the correct conclusions. If the real story is some different combination of ideas, you need to be more flexible in your thinking. Sometimes you have to let go and follow the facts wherever they go.
Fill your toolkit with multiple approaches
I’ve tried to show that hypothesizing and deduction can both have their place in writing. I think that some forms of writers block is the result of placing too much emphasis on one method.
If you’re stuck because a flawed theory, you need to let go of the theory and get back to researching your topic to get on the right track. Conversely, if you research, research, and research, but you don’t know what to do with your newly acquired knowledge, then maybe you just need to pick some possible directions and analyze them until you find something that works.
This change of mindset has helped me – I hope it will help you.
(Approx 6 hrs. and two major edits)
EDIT: This post has been submitted as a part of a Problogger.net group writing project on headlines.
