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Suggestions for getting over writer's block?
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Myxx
The Scope
#1 - 2011-10-22 17:06:13 UTC
So, I have a freaking load of stuff I've meant to put on paper and its all set up in my head and I know what I want to actually write. And then... when I DO go to put it on paper I have this huge bout of what I want to call indifference, at least thats how it feels. It ends up that I just save it and file it away for another point in time... whenever.

So, any suggestions on how to get over this type of thing?
Ryek Darkener
Bluestar Enterprises
The Craftsmen
#2 - 2011-10-22 17:56:54 UTC
First of all: Google helps Blink

I found a lot of good advice when I started writing more seriously, often from well known authors.

What helped me:

- is to write down the global plot first. The whole story on max one page
- then I structure it, e.g. with a mindmap tool, high level, chapterwise

Next might be individual:

- do you go over the structure in mind, again and again, until you have a sudden inspiration?
- do you break down the chapters to scenes and work them through?
- do you compose text and look afterwards if and how it fits into the story?
- insert your own approach, and stick to it ...

Whatever you do, it is work. Hard work, and it consumes lots of time.

And it is a great feeling, if only one of your readers is posting: 'Well done, more of it' Big smile

Ryek
Istvaan Shogaatsu
Guiding Hand Social Club
#3 - 2011-10-23 00:47:26 UTC
Drink heavily. Curse your writer's block. Visualize it as a thing, and learn to hate it. Drink more. Drink until you vomit. Chew your vomit on the way out. Smoke 13 cigarettes in a row. By now the visualizing should be easy on account of all the hallucinating. Imagine your writer's block as a monolith you have to destroy. Substitute a real-world object like a refrigerator or occupied police car for the object of your imagined hatred.

When you wake up, it will be gone.
Myxx
The Scope
#4 - 2011-10-23 01:27:13 UTC  |  Edited by: Myxx
Istvaan Shogaatsu wrote:
Drink heavily. Curse your writer's block. Visualize it as a thing, and learn to hate it. Drink more. Drink until you vomit. Chew your vomit on the way out. Smoke 13 cigarettes in a row. By now the visualizing should be easy on account of all the hallucinating. Imagine your writer's block as a monolith you have to destroy. Substitute a real-world object like a refrigerator or occupied police car for the object of your imagined hatred.

When you wake up, it will be gone.

Your advice, while noted... would likely cause severe bodily harm to myself. I appreciate the um... insight, though.


Ryek Darkener wrote:
First of all: Google helps Blink

I found a lot of good advice when I started writing more seriously, often from well known authors.

What helped me:

- is to write down the global plot first. The whole story on max one page
- then I structure it, e.g. with a mindmap tool, high level, chapterwise

Next might be individual:

- do you go over the structure in mind, again and again, until you have a sudden inspiration?
- do you break down the chapters to scenes and work them through?
- do you compose text and look afterwards if and how it fits into the story?
- insert your own approach, and stick to it ...

Whatever you do, it is work. Hard work, and it consumes lots of time.

And it is a great feeling, if only one of your readers is posting: 'Well done, more of it' Big smile

Ryek



You happen to be particularly awesome. Thanks for that.
Astrid Stjerna
Sebiestor Tribe
#5 - 2011-10-24 18:01:34 UTC
Myxx wrote:
So, I have a freaking load of stuff I've meant to put on paper and its all set up in my head and I know what I want to actually write. And then... when I DO go to put it on paper I have this huge bout of what I want to call indifference, at least thats how it feels. It ends up that I just save it and file it away for another point in time... whenever.

So, any suggestions on how to get over this type of thing?


Well, as a lifelong writer, I can offer some help -- maybe not a solution, but at least a way to get going again.

When you wake up, as long as you have time, write 'Morning Pages'. These are basically one or two pages of just stream-of-conciousness writing, where you let your mind wander and write down whatever comes into your head. Could be poems, could be limericks, could be a long string of ramblings about weasels (don't ask, it happens).

Carry a pad of paper around and when you think of a word, or an idea, write it down -- even if it has nothing to do with your plot, reading it later may trigger a new idea.

One more suggestion (if you have the money) is that you may want to invest in something like Dragon Naturally Speaking. I've found that what I hear in my head sometimes doesn't 'sound' right on paper, so I'm going to try it at some point in the future.

Lastly, if you're feeling uninspired, get crazy! I've found that a good way to spark new ideas and inspiration is to go ahead and write the silliest, most random and ridiculous story I can imagine, and then go back to the story I got stuck on.

I can't get rid of my darn signature!  Oh, wait....
Telegram Sam
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#6 - 2011-10-24 19:56:49 UTC
I've never really understood what the term "writer's block" really means. To me, that guess that it means one of those periods when you feel just very mundane-- no creative inspiration happening. I play music more than I write, so to me the analogy may be "musician's block." For a while there you just don't feel any urge to produce/create anything. What helps me pull out of those phases is to experience some really good creativity/art done by somebody else. Could be going to see a good band, checking out the art at a museum, or even going to a symphony. In the writing genre, reading Jean Cocteau's trippy essays on what it is to be a "poet," or reading Fritz Lieber's story "Gonna Roll the Bones" can do it for me. Anything that immerses you in some intense, well-excuted creativity. Seems to get that artistic part of the mind stimulated and ready to take off on some artistic production of its own.
Astrid Stjerna
Sebiestor Tribe
#7 - 2011-10-24 22:29:15 UTC
Telegram Sam wrote:
I've never really understood what the term "writer's block" really means. To me, that guess that it means one of those periods when you feel just very mundane-- no creative inspiration happening. I play music more than I write, so to me the analogy may be "musician's block." For a while there you just don't feel any urge to produce/create anything. What helps me pull out of those phases is to experience some really good creativity/art done by somebody else. Could be going to see a good band, checking out the art at a museum, or even going to a symphony. In the writing genre, reading Jean Cocteau's trippy essays on what it is to be a "poet," or reading Fritz Lieber's story "Gonna Roll the Bones" can do it for me. Anything that immerses you in some intense, well-excuted creativity. Seems to get that artistic part of the mind stimulated and ready to take off on some artistic production of its own.


'Writer's block' is when you have the basic idea in your head, but you can't figure out how to connect one plot element with another. For example, you know the Plucky Hero swings onto the deck of the ship to rescue the Damsel in Distress, but you can't figure out what happens after he swings.

Or, to put it in a more 'musician' way: it's like trying to find a rhyme for a particular word in your song, and getting stuck when you can't think of a word that rhymes properly.

I can't get rid of my darn signature!  Oh, wait....
Sgt Maru
Perkone
Caldari State
#8 - 2011-10-24 22:35:49 UTC
Smoke weed erryday, but no seriously, personally I've found that listening to music or trying to find music that fits for what I'm writing about helps me. I also for some reason think about writing about a story I'm stuck with when I play other games, like I'm writing my own novel, get stuck, play RAGE, take a break from shooting baddies and notice that the scenery tells a story, and get inspired and go back to writing, maybe these only work for me, but still food for thought.