Getting Words Down: Write or Die

Getting words on paper (excuse the archaic reference) is either our job, our passion, or our biggest roadblock.

Of course, writer’s block isn’t exactly new. What is new are some of the high-tech (and often high-comedy) techniques we use to deal with it.

One of the oddest is the “Write or Die” Web app (found via Lifehacker), which uses a highly questionable negative feedback loop to “encourage” you to write, and frankly, I thought it was a hoot.

Negative feedback loops typically fail over time (the lab rat [us] becomes acclimated, requiring ever larger doses of negative feedback to generate the same response), but it’s something you should probably try at least once in your writer’s life:

The idea is to instill in the would-be writer with a fear of not writing. We do this by employing principles taught in Introduction to Psychology. Anyone remember Operant Conditioning and Negative Reinforcement?

Negative Reinforcement “strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior.”
Consequences:

• Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.
• Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.
• Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself

These consequences will persist until your preset conditions have been met (that is, your time is up or you’ve written you wordcount goal or both).

Stuck on a project? Tell your client you would have finished it, but you simply didn’t find Rick Astley’s whining voice motivating enough (stop writing in normal mnode, and you’re punished with Mr. Astley’s singing, a violation of the Geneva Accords if ever there was one).

Keep writing (or else), Tom Chandler.

write or die

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