The Writers Block Thread

As has been said many times within this forum: practice, practice, practice are the three most important aspects of becoming a writer. Okay I took liberal license of the real estate credo: location, location, location, but it fits. Your first writings will probably be very weak even after you tweak them endlessly but you will have to push through it if you want to succeed at writing. So my advice is to write for yourself first, see how the effort feels reward wise and make future decisions from there. If you enjoyed seeing your thoughts down on paper even though they are not masterpieces that should be enough for you to push on. Virtually no one is born a writer although some seem more inclined to do well at it, you won't honestly know until you give it your best effort.

 

Perfectionism can be a great trait in a writer. Sure, there's the off chance that it consumes your mind, driving you to the brink of insanity, but there's an equally likely chance that all your hard work will pay off with a great book.

So my advice is this; push on, make friends with your demons, and hope for the best.

 

Writing is a skill as is pitching for a baseball team, or singing in the opera. When you are actually doing it, it's too late to think about if you're worthy, or not. What's odd about writing is, you do it alone. You can stop, get up walk around. Think about what you're doing. Go back. Pick up where you left off. Once you start the show, opera, baseball, what have you, you can't stop. You have to plow through and do it right.

The fact you're doing it says a lot about whether you should. Whether you can is progressive. Each time you do it improves your next attempt to do it. So, if you're good enough to begin making the mistakes. Then, at any point in what happens after that, you're still good enough to be making the mistakes. With writing, you get to edit. With opera, you do not. With opera you correct the mistakes by making them during rehearsals. With writing, this process is intertwined, somewhat. How? Revisions. First draft. Second draft. Then, final. In final, that's it. You go with what you got.

What's important to remember is if you think about doing it while you're doing it you'll invariably screw up, and won't do your best. Once you begin to execute, you have to focus entirely on that, or forget about it. Ultimately, you'll be as good as you can be if you allow yourself to be as good as you can be. "Nothing is better. Nothing is best. Take care of yourself. Get plenty of rest." Too Much Of Nothing, Bob Dylan.

If you've bought into the myth that there is a better and best, other than the best you can do with what you're doing, then you open yourself up to this pit of endless doubt - drop your heart into the sink of despair. "If you're doing anything else when you're listening to music while you're listening to music, you're not listening to music." -Frank Zappa-

That would then hold true with any activity which requires concentration. If you're thinking about anything while you're writing (pitching a baseball, singing opera) then you aren't writing (pitching a baseball, singing opera). You're just superficially going through the motions, and what you produce, pitch or sing won't have the skill put into it. With writing, as in these other things, you get better and better each time you do it. Self-doubt? It's a waste of your time. Don't indulge in it. It has no place in the avocation of writing. Your career is too young to judge it. So......don't.

 

I tend to like to refer to each response individually, but I'm stripped for time, so I'll just say that after reading all of your replies and considering them, you've all been exceedingly helpful. I'll take all I can to heart and try my best to apply it all so that I may overcome.

And I would like to thank you all for not finding trouble in me sharing something personal while searching for assistance. That kind of thing never went over well for me, so I felt I was taking a really big risk for some reason, but I feel a lot more comfortable now in the least knowing the people here are trustworthy, respectful souls.

Thank you all again for the responses that were beyond helpful.

 

I've been wanting to write since I was in middle school, it came out of my love of story telling. I admit, it wasn't because of books. I just loved tv shows and wanted to right my own. My mother suggested my best bet was to write a book and hope that got made into a series or movie. Over time I grew to prefer the medium over visual ones. Honestly, even if I did get a movie deal I doubt I would take it since movies by their nature can't really emulate what can be conveyed through text alone.

Anyway, I've been wanting to write fantasy, but a month or so ago I realized that now-a-days, I actually care more for superheroes than fantasy, so I decided to go for that anyway. And besides, going for a niche genre is supposedly good since it helps minimize competition.

Obviously writing a superhero book has its issues since of course superheroes have always been a primarily visual media. And besides that, superhero novels are so rare its kinda hard to get an idea on how other people have done it.

My main problem here really, isn't completely related to my genre of choice. Its the fact that I can't think up anything really. I am imaginative, and I can create things in my mind with no real issue, but really all that's come out is ideas for supervillains. I struggle to think up a main character, and I haven't even started on a plot because well I don't know who my story is going to be about yet! The problem is, I keep trying to make them realistic and you know make sense, which you can't really do with superheroes. Supervillains make more realistic sense, and apparently most superhero novel writers write about villains rather than heroes because of this. I don't want to do that.

I did read through 'Don't tell my parents I'm a supervillain', because he claimed he found a way to make a silver age-esque world make sense. Personally, I didn't really get a good understanding of his setting from his book. He mentions some kind of 'truce' between superheros and villains, but never actually lays out the rules of this truce; he just mentions that there is one.

I have my own way of making it make sense, without it being so clear cut black-and-white. But I still struggle to come up with protaganists, or a plot. I've seriously been pondering this for months now and I still haven't made a single draft.

I don't really know what I can do to break my writer's block that just seems to never go away. And yes, I have read plenty of comics and know how a superhero world works. If it matters, I prefer bronze age comics, even though those were published before my time (I was born in 1986). I used to like modern comics before I discovered bronze age comics on marvel's site. Now, I just see modern comics as stupid and gratuitous. To me the bronze age was the high point of comics, they just seem the most intelligent and thought out. Modern comics seem to be more interested in telling traumatizing and graphic stories since everyone thinks that making horrible stories automatically makes them more mature and intelligent when it actually doesn't.

Anyway, it is normal to have writer's block for months on end? Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can end it?

 

I just want to offer my opinions on this matter. None of this is advice from an experienced writer but it can be food for thought.

First, I don't think you should be picking on a genre due to the competition. There are lots of niche genre but, if you don't enjoy writing it, you aren't going to get very far. I had a teacher who said that writing is a career of attrition. Unless you have the motivation, you aren't going to go far since, for most people, they have to keep pushing until they meet any success.

I can understand the difficulty of doing these niche genre. From what I read in your post, I get the impression you like structure and lots of examples to help you plan out how to start. This is just a suggestion but maybe you can try some more popular genres like fantasy? You might return to superhero genres eventually but trying out other genres can accomplish a few goals.

1. You can improve your writing skills. Since you don't have a single draft in superhero genre, it's a bit hard to determine how well you write. For most people, mastering the skills to write novels takes a lot of practice. Posting some of your work here will give you good feedback. Regardless of what genre you are aiming for, I believe a strong foundation in your writing ability is needed.

2. You can get inspirations. As you write and try to create plots, you might get ideas that you can note down for your superhero novel. Inspirations can come at the most unexpected places. For example, I like to do alternate history and, when researching a topic, I might come across something I never knew which I use later for the story.

3. You might discover another genre which is equally interesting for you. Trying out new things isn't bad for a writer. There are so many genres because certain people are just better in some genres more than others. Why not try them out by writing short stories? Get a feel of what works and doesn't work for you.

These are just my thoughts and suggestions. I hope they help somewhat. I understand that you probably want to do superhero genres but changing your approach can help. There are more than one path to get to a goal and I believe that a direct path might not be there for you just yet.

 

Solution: Plagiarize!

OK, don't plagiarize, that's just copying, and heavily frowned upon. But you can take inspiration from other writers...there is a limited number of potential plots, they get recycled on a regular basis. Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad is a retelling of Macbeth, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a retelling of "an Italian tale translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562, and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1567. Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both, but expanded the plot by developing a number of supporting characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris." I included that quote from Wiki to highlight how Shakespeare put his own spin upon the story.

 

I can understand your frustration. I've been in similar situations where I've really wanted to write something but the idea just would not come and anything I did write did not feel right. My advice based on that is; don't be too hard on yourself.

The danger of trying to force an idea is that it creates writers block. The pressure of wanting to write something and the disappointment of it not working can put you into a very critical frame of mind. And if you are in a critical frame of mind you become very critical of your ideas. It could lead to you throwing out an idea that seems bad at first but could develop into something good. In my experience creativity needs freedom, not constants (at least not in the early stages of an idea development). If you're story wants to go in another direction let it. See where it takes you. Maybe it sparks another idea. Even if you have an idea you feel is rubbish at first just play with or write it down somewhere and come back to it later. It could spark another idea or lead somewhere else.

If super heroes is not working out working out don't try to force it. If you're getting ideas for super villains explore that for a bit. Maybe it will eventually lead you to your idea for the super hero who fights your villain or you come up with another idea entirely.

 

I don't believe there is any such thing as 'writers' block', so I can't help there, but I think you're getting ahead of yourself. I think the best thing you can do now is read as much as possible, in all genres, and write as much as you can. Your writing doesn't have to be about super-whatevers. Write stories for kids about magical puppies, or horror stories about demonic puppies, or poetry. or letters to the editor of your local newspaper (if any), or mash notes to a girl in your class (anonymously). It's all words, and it's all practice, and if you write enough (and broadly enough) the 'right' genre will find you.

"Don't sit and wait for inspiration. Light out after it with a club."

- Jack Kerouac

 

It sounds as though you have plenty of ideas and inspiration, but doubt they're what you 'should' be writing. I suggest you just get on and write the ideas you have and then build on them. There's no law which says you must start with the good guy and the plot rather than the villain.

 

Welcome to the site!

Have you ever heard of Toni Morrison?

"When there's a story that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you have to write it"

What's worked best for me has been:

1) Figure out what you don't like about other stories, then commit to showing your readers something different.

If you have a list of problems that you don't like about your least favorite stories, but these aren't enough to give you your own ideas, then try forcing yourself to find problems with your favorite stories. If you can't find any yourself, go online to find out what other people think. Some of them probably won't persuade you that there was a problem that you missed, but some of them probably will.

When trying to come up with a good idea doesn't work, try coming up with the opposite of a bad idea instead.

2) Hold on to bad ideas in case you can do something better with them later.

I spent years working on a fantasy world with characters that I liked, but no story to tell about them. I spent months working on a bank robbery scene that I liked, but no way to expand it into a full-length story.

Realizing – again, months after the fact for the one and years after the fact for the other – that my bank robbery scene took place within my fantasy world gave me a story that I am now 40,000 words into

How so?

I spent years working on a novel-length Doctor Who fanfiction, a few original short stories, but failing to come up with an idea that I liked for a novel-length original work.

I just got my first idea maybe 6 months ago.

If you don't have anything that you want to write about yet, then don't worry about it. Even if you were writing already, everybody here would be recommending you not quit your day job because there's such a low chance that your books would become your primary income. As long as you have a day job, you can afford to brainstorm for however long it takes to come up with something you like.

You should write one-off pieces to keep your writing muscles in practice, but don't worry about trying to jump straight into a publishable work if you don't have anything you think is good yet.

EDIT: Have you seen the Writing Prompts section of the site?

 

Here's a whole load of story prompts in many different categories.

http://www.creative-writing-now.com/story-starters.html#

If I were in your shoes, I'd have a look at them and see if you can adapt any of them to your superhero theme. And then ...this is really important ...START WRITING. Not planning. Writing. Write a little bit. Write a scene where a character meets another character. Get into the swing of it. After you've done that, what scene do you need to write next? Don't plan it, write it.

Pretty soon your story will take shape and you'll be off and running.

 

I enjoy writing about villain also. I consider myself to be a non-linear writer. I write what is fresh and exciting to me at the moment. I have spent entire months just writing out the scenes with my villain. It actually helps because it lines up what I need to do for my protagonist.
I suggest that you try this, it might help you. Maybe do a brief outline of your story and start from there. As you go, continue to update your outline to match what you are writing.

 

Well I did have an idea for a plot for my fantasy novel, which the teacher for my online fantasy writing class really liked. She even recommended a book to me with a similar plot, though I think that hurts more than helps because now I fear I may plagiarize it.

But I couldn't really think up characters, and after a while I realized: I wouldn't want to read this kind of story myself. I was literally trying to write a story that I honestly didn't care for myself.

I'm not sure what made me decide to switch genres, I guess it was because a superhero story would be the kind of story I'm most familiar with. And really, I haven't read too many fantasy novels. The only books I can list are The Hobbit, the first four Harry Potter books, half of the fifth book, the first Chronicles of Narnia book, and some odd fantasy book I read as a child that I honestly can't recall the name of. When it comes to superhero fiction, I've watched multiple different cartoons from the nineties and early 2000s, and I've read possibly hundreds of x-men comics. I also have quite a fascination with batman and his mythos, though honestly I kinda feel like its a bit too serious and dark now (particularly the thing with Professor Pyg). Honestly, I would be a lot more confortable riding superheroes than fantasy. At least with superheroes I can create some characters.

And if anyone cares, no I don't even have a job, and never had one. And no, I didn't spend all those years partying or wasting my life. Let's just say I was dependent completely on an abusive father who simply forbid me from getting a job, and seeing as I didn't even own my own vehicle at the time I really could do nothing about it. He did try to sign me up for a job just to get me to shut up, but he intentionally chose a job that I didn't meet the requirements for even though there was a job I could've taken. I'm now free of him (he kicked me out after I disobeyed a command, and somehow I didn't end up homeless obviously), and now without the constant stress caused by his abuse I've been trying to get back into writing again. I used to do it all the time, now however I have a hard time doing it for some reason. And yes, I have thought about getting a job, but from the looks of it no one would hire a 30-year-old who's never been employed before unless he just got out of college, which I can't afford and besides my local college may actually shut down soon. So yeah, I'm trying to do the starving artist thing. I'm well aware that isn't too wise, and I'm not into risk-taking so I wouldn't be trying to do it, if I had a choice in the matter.

Anyway, you all have given me some great suggestions suggestions. I should just write stuff. Doesn't matter what, just write. And I have written backstories for a variety of villains so I guess I am writing some, though I can do more obviously. I was actually thinking it would be easier to write a book full of short stories, and besides that would probably be a more effective way of showing off the world I've created anyway.

 

A tentative suggestion , but have you considered writing about a fictionalised version of your life?

 

Wow I am so sorry to hear that.

EDIT: Do you have any strong opinions against the concept of the Villain Protagonist?

 

I just don't view such characters as something that should be justified or glorified. Besides, I have anxiety problems so I prefer things with a positive tone. Granted, I struggle to form positive thoughts, but still, I don't want to write dark negative things. Heck, I dislike how 'Don't Tell my Parents I'm a Supervillain' ended. Yes, he's a very talented writer, I just personally didn't like the story he told, even though most of it was quite entertaining.

 

Ah, got it.

I love writing Villain Protagonists as a way of showing why these people shouldn't be justified/glorified (when the serial killer protagonist in my Doctor Who story talks about how much she enjoys killing people, the reader is supposed to see that as a sign that there's something horrifyingly wrong with her), but I wouldn't force anybody to read anything that would legitimately hurt them.

Have you considered writing about a story about a writer trying to write a story-within-a-story about the villains you've come up with?

 

Bingo! Having realized this, I predict you will go far.

 

I have not felt this way, but understand it. Some feel this way about everything, or just one thing, others not at all.

I approach things as fun, a learning experience, etc. I very much try to keep from comparing myself to others. I usually only do it with small details, as in how to refine myself.

This may help you see things in a new light-
If you want to get away from thinking in that way, take a seat and start applying it to everything you are involved with. You will soon see how it would most likely ruin your life pretty quickly.
Could you ever find a mate?
Could you ever cook a meal worth eating?
Could you ever get dressed well enough to leave your home?

 

I don't wish to sound emo, but I certainly already do apply this kind of thinking to the rest of my life -- unfortunately and subconsciously. And I do agree, it can ruin a lot of things for me, so I try to disregard it as well I can. Its very hard to get over when it comes to writing, though, as is the purpose of this post, as writing is one of the more important parts of my life, even if I'm admittedly not so good at it.

But I do want to try seeing it as you do -- fun, and a learning experience. It seems like the longer I try to do something with my nonexistent writing career, the more I start unconsciously treating it -- what is currently just a leisurely activity -- just like a job I have to do well, or else it'll be the end of me. Its hard to treat it like a fun activity anymore, but I honestly haven't consciously thought of or tried doing that, so perhaps I should do that from now on..

 

I believe a number of people on this forum are exactly where you are- that is, to say, at the starting line. The clock doesn't stop ticking.

 

@antlad is right. It should be fun. If this isn't fun, don't force yourself to do it. Nobody else cares at this point. It's just something you're doing for yourself. This is very important. Take the pressure off.

You will never know if you can do it until you give it a go. And be heartened that nobody will see it, or even know you're trying, until you show it to people. And you don't need to show it to people until YOU are ready.

If you're writing a novel or a short story, I'd say concentrate on the story you want to tell. Daydream it, think about it a lot, imagine yourself in that story, imagine yourself meeting the characters in that story. Put yourself by their side, in their place. Try to feel things the way they would feel. And then write it exactly as you want to. Don't worry about the form, or the word choice or anything else but getting that story down.

If it helps, you can pretend to be telling the story to somebody you know, and who is hanging on your every word and won't judge you ...but will simply enjoy the story, or be moved by the story, or react however you would want them to react. This will help you feel as if you're not talking to yourself.

And do remember there is a lot more to story than plot. If you want to spend acres of time on one aspect of the story ...the love affair, the terrible way people treat your main character, the great place they live, the huge thing they fear the most ...just do it. Get the story juices flowing.

The most important thing, though, is write. By write, I mean write. Not just think and worry about writing, but actually do it. Once you've got something written, you have something concrete to work with. Then you can start adding to it, shaping it, thinking about where it's going, etc. Be willing to stick with something that's not very good and learn how you can make it good. Don't give up because your first efforts aren't great. They're very unlikely to be. Learning to write well is a very long haul. But you're not actually a writer until you write. And then you are!

 

Hopefully one day you will come to the realization that you are ok.

Here are 2 things that helped me with that realization.

As a teen, like most, I became interested in exploring relationships. I was nervous, tongue tied, etc, was thinking too much about it. One day I sat back and looked at reality. What I learned was that there is someone for everyone. There is always someone out there that thinks you are good looking/interesting.

I painted since I could hold a brush. Never thought I would be good enough to be wanted for 'high art'. I ended up in Italy for a few weeks and soaked up the art. I realized my paintings were way cleaner than the old masters and it was like a dam broke and I could see that we all leave brush strokes, you just can't see them in books and prints.

I can apply those two things in most aspects of my life in one way or another.