Writing Through Writer’s Block: Lessons from Modern American Fiction

Recent fiction is teeming with blocked writers: from John Updike’s Henry Bech to Stephen King’s Paul Sheldon and Mike Noonan. From David Foster Wallace’s Mark Nechtr to the autofictional figures of Jordan Castro, Salvador Plascencia, Nam Le, Ben Lerner, Sheila Heti, and Andrew Martin. Writing Through Writer’s Block offers the first book-length analysis of the archetype of the blocked writer. From the scenes of writer’s block enacted in these fictions, we gather pedagogical lessons that are germane to writers of all kinds--creative and academic, advanced and novice--and particularly useful for the growing contingency of faculty whose teaching responsibilities lie in both literature and academic writing.

Aaron Colton is associate teaching professor and director of first-year writing in the Department of English at Emory University. His writing has appeared in Arizona Quarterly, Studies in American Fiction, College Literature, Pedagogy, and Praxis, as well as in Public Books and Inside Higher Ed. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.