THE BRUTAL ANGUISH OF WRITER'S BLOCK

And Other Stories

By: John Corral

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The short stories in this book were written over the last decade and appeared here and there—three in online literary journals, two more in obscure anthologies, and one was entered and won a writing contest on a writer’s website. Seven are new and original to this collection. The theme? I think that’s obvious from the title. It’s about writing and writers.

I’ve received many queries about whether I have gotten writer’s block over the years. Yes, of course, I do. But given that I’ve managed to churn out enough writing to fill seventy books to date, plus a half dozen movie scripts, that’s not a significant problem for me. If I stall on something, I start on another. A second question I am often asked is this: “Where do you get your ideas?” It’s the most confounding question for a writer to answer, leading to an unsatisfactory answer for the person who queried. It’s as if when one revealed the true (but obviously withheld) answer, the curtain would be pulled back, and the secret would be out.

On my part, I construct a story as if I am building a structure. It’s ninety-five percent craft and five percent creativity. Like a carpenter or electrician going to a construction site each day and using tools and tricks of the trade, I wake up each morning and write. Pages come out. Eventually, they are enough to complete whatever I am writing. What I can’t answer is where the five percent creative part comes from or how to pull it from the air. It’s just there—or it isn’t.