What's Its Name?

Names have power. We answer to them, sign them, give nicknames, and when all else fails to ring true we change them.

The idea that knowing the name of a thing or a person gives power is ancient and crosses many cultures, religions, and beliefs. bestowing a name grants honor and even power to the name-r over the name-d.

Parents name their children, insist on the spelling (however inscrutable it may be), register the name with the government, and send out announcements to their circle of community establishing the name by which the child will be called.

In some cultures the child is given a different additional name through religious naming or ceremonial baptismal rite, and in others the child goes by their childhood name until they mature and find their 'true' name.

• In the Book of Genesis , after Man was given dominion over all animals, fish, birds God gave man the task of naming them.
• Ancient Egyptians believed a person would gain power over a god if you knew its name.
• From the third century BCE on, the name of the Most High was recognized as too powerful to say aloud or even write, leading to a fascinating journey: how does one recognize, worship, and spread the news of God when a name can't be used?

What Does That Have to Do With Writer's Block?

We are going to Rumpelstiltskin your Writer's Block. Just as poor maidens and wealthy princesses have found the name of the imps that devil them in order to break free from their evil clutches we will name your Writer's Block. In doing so it will turn it from this:

to this:

Still there, still blue, but no longer a threat.

As an added bonus, following these steps will result in written content that can stand alone or serve as a jumping off place for an adventure or fantasy story. (If that DOES happen, please share a link to your content in the comments!)

There's no word limit (post it in Fiction as micro fiction if you are in doubt re: word count!) , no structure you must use, no points for lack or use of punctuation.

Naming Your Writer's Block

1) Describe it. Close your eyes if it helps and think about it. Do any of these things seem true? Jot down your responses or if none are true write down your truth!

• List the elements of your writer's block. Is it hard and solid or soft and squinchy? Does its presence repel you from your desk or does it suck you in to endless small tasks to distract you?
• Is it HUGE and always present? Does it sneak up on you on teeny feet when you least expect it? Does it surface in the mirror when you brush your teeth?
• Does it lumber behind you? Block you? Chase you? Fly down into your face? Swim in the screen of your monitor? Drink the ink from your pens?
• What does it smell like? Is it harsh like the corrections of your teachers with a vinegary haze? Or is it sweet and numbing like Dorothy's poppy fields?
• Does it whisper recriminations to you? Wake you from a sound sleep by taunting you in dreams? Pound through your mind with that tired script that you'll never make it so why try?

2) Talk to it. Tell it how you've felt, why it matters, why you're ready to face it, and how you feel now. Make it a dialogue if you want to have a two-way conversation, or hold all the power and write a monologue. Any of these could be true:

• Is it bigger or smaller than you thought?
• Are you angry, resolved, sad, amused, frightened, tentative, assured, motivated?
• Are you banishing it? Inviting it to stay? Looking to collaborate? Making it a mascot? Burning it? Dissolving it?
• Are you recognizing your freedom from its power or have you discovered it has no power after all?

3) End with the name. Use the last line of your piece to name your Writer's Block. Be confident, clear, and take advantage of your power by adding a command. What will you tell it to do?

• Will it sit silently and bear witness to your writing? Maybe weep and repent until the end of time? Be chained to your keys or used as a watch fob?
• Is it banished forever, or will it be locked for all time in a glass box or captured in block of carbonite ala Han Solo?
• Have you removed its voice? Vision? Power over you?
• Did you shrink it to pocket size or have it evaporate in the rays of the setting sun?

Not Just #2 in the Series

This isn't just the second article in the series, it's more than simply naming and gaining dominance over your Writer's Block.

It was ACTION, (the cure for the Evil Twin of Inaction) AND a Writer's Prompt! So let me know in the comments, please: did you follow the steps? Did you turn your list into an official story? If you've posted it please include a link!.

Here's the link to #1 in this series, and be on the lookout for #3.

and here's part 3: