Jeff VanderMeer on Writers Block

 

I first came across Jeff VanderMeer about ten years ago, when he was an editor at the Omnivoracious books blog; since then he has left and that blog has been renamed the Amazon Book Review. I remember many great discoveries through that site such as China Mieville's The City and The City; and I also learned about Betsy Bird and her Fuse #8 site which is an amazing place to learn about children's books.

The NYTimes has a regular feature called By the Book in which they interview people about books. In the most recent edition, Jeff VanderMeer, in addition to plugging his new book, Hummingbird Salamander, had this idea to share about writer's block:

What do you read when you’re working on a book? And what kind of reading do you avoid while writing?

I get superstitious. I once had a book sent to me that was disrupting my ability to write a novel because of a superficial similarity between the two. I took that book and dug a hole and buried it deep in the backyard, which solved my temporary writer’s block. Out of a strange guilt, as if I’d buried something alive, I did try to dig the book up after I had finished my novel, but I never found it.

So, yes, when I have an idea set in my mind — characters, situations, some kind of ending — I will stubbornly refuse to read anything even remotely similar, whether fiction or nonfiction. Instead, I will binge-watch television shows and listen nonstop to music. In short, I’m weird on this question. Once, a friend (but were they?) sent me a bottle of red wine titled Writer’s Block, and I poured it down the drain and took the bottle to the recycle bin immediately, just so my subconscious wouldn’t get any ideas.