The Writers Block Thread

Discussion in 'General Writing' started by Sapphire, Sep 21, 2006.

  1. LostThePlot

    LostThePlot Naysmith Contributor

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    First; an immediate salve.

    You don't need to master any form of writing, you don't have to somehow work your way up, you just have to write. The only qualification you need is to write a story worth reading. So just write. And beyond that, you are under no obligation to be world changingly creative from your first attempts. It takes practice to come up with ideas and it takes an implicit confidence in yourself to believe that they are good enough to spend a lot of time on; both of which it sounds like you need to work on a little. And you can only work on them by writing. Just by forcing yourself to put pen to paper is where it starts. Consider doing things like writing your spin on classic stories or short novelization of a bad movie; just any story that you said to yourself 'It would have been way more interesting if...'. This is how you learn to have faith in your writing ability. Don't worry about how original any of this is, just get yourself writing something in a way that you enjoy, proving to yourself that your words and sentence and paragraphs (and eventually many many pages) are worth reading. Pour yourself into something.

    Secondly; the long term solution.

    You are not alone in how you feel. I too was a grammar school boy that somewhere down the line went awry. Along the path I got an MA but after four years of job hunting I still work a day and a half a week for minimum wage. I don't say this because it's a competition or anything; simply to say that there are people who understand, more than you might imagine. The world is very much not as it was advertised to me and I too would very much like to go back and choose differently. So don't judge yourself too harshly. Don't worry about what other people think or how they are doing; all of this can change in a heartbeat. Just focus on you and what you are doing. Focus on doing something that means something to you.

    In my keen amateurs opinion (as a crazy guy who's known lots of crazy people) you sound like you are depressed. That's natural during periods of upheaval in your life, especially when you haven't managed to settle into the life you always thought you'd have. There is no easy answer to it but the best thing you can do is talk. About anything, to anyone. Human contact. It reminds you that you're funny and clever and interesting and just a human that can do these things and make someone else smile. It'll give you perspective; help to see your problems as something that can be overcome instead of something unmovingly huge that surround you.

    That doesn't mean it's easy. I learned this by not doing it and have the scars to remind me. But it's doable. And you can still excel in your own terms.

    You need to give yourself a chance both as a writer and as a person. You need to re-build your confidence. Once you've got that, once you feel you can trust your intuition and your narrative voice, you'll find ideas are easy to come by. And once you can write and feel good about it you can channel all that darkness into it and turn it into something beautiful. That's what I did.

    Feel free to PM me man, just if you need some moral support.
     
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  2. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    @waitingforzion, guess what? You may not have hit on what you want to write about, but you can write. You put together four coherent, pretty much error-free paragraphs up there. There are a heck of a lot of people who can't even do that. And a lot of them are self-published on Amazon. So you're ahead already.

    I know what it's like to write that kind of soul-dump when I'm feeling useless and depressed. But don't stop there. If you really want to write, if you really feel it's something you can and should do, go on and make it into a story. Just for the exercise, you know, to get the kinks out. Then go on and write a little something more.

    And in the meantime, yes, find a counsellor you can talk with (maybe Mom can help?). And if you don't click with the first one, say thank you and goodbye and try again.
     
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  3. Tesoro

    Tesoro Contributor Contributor

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    Just one question: why do you want to write, if you have nothing to say, nothing you want to explore? There's a saying:
    "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
    You could always write about someone sitting around pitying himself because he can't find a purpose in life except for the one thing his mind is fixed on. ;) And so failing to see all the possibilities that life offers.
     
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  4. Tea@3

    Tea@3 Senior Member

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    I'm not sure the OP isn't pulling our leg here. ...(?)
     
  5. Rickey D. Clay Jr.

    Rickey D. Clay Jr. New Member

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    It's quite possible. Hmmm...
     
  6. Joker-Jayde

    Joker-Jayde New Member

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    I'm currently hit a bit of a stop, just hit my third chapter and the first 2 have been a really strong start, but now it's time for the second mini story arc to actually begin. I have a main one running through which takes place as and when, but I have to start including other story lines to build a whole thing, I currently have no ideas so I'm thinking of just keep writing, even if its scenes that I know will happen, I could just write them now, just to keep in with the swing of the main story line, to keep the feel and intimacy I have with the characters, so I dont let them go and eventually og back and I can't feel the same for them.

    I think the main point is don't give up, you started something and you have a goal, if you give up then go back to it, you might not find the closeness or bond, if you will, to the story you were creating, or your characters, Nothing ruins a story more than a sudden, unexplained change of style, change in character that you can not figure out why. Just keep going, you may write a masterpiece during this 'writers block' and not even know it :)
     
  7. Michaelhall2007

    Michaelhall2007 New Member

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    When it happens to me, I try to think of some other chapter I know I'm going to be doing later.
    Pick one you know will excite you. Even if you don't use it in the final draft, I g-tee it will spark your love for the written word again and remind you that you can write.
     
  8. Greyditch

    Greyditch New Member

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    I'm not at expert on these sorts of matters, by any means, but are you sure you are not depressed at all? you don't sound very positive at the moment..
     
  9. Rob40

    Rob40 Active Member

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    Im suggesting positive mood. I know, you put yourself out there and painted a picture the opposite, but wait.

    At a recent conference, a seminar presented 'the imposter syndrome' and showed how, amazingly, all of us talk about ourselves or present ourselves at some point in negative and unexciting light. "Im just a nurse" or "i try to write" are examples. They didn't say the opposite is the only way but in how you present yourself makes a juge difference in how you are received.

    And. How you receive yourself, the most important.

    Its where to start. You might not want to project yourself full on agressive, "I'm a writer dammit!" But its a good thing to tell yourself to get going and then adjust presenting yourself.

    It might feel like a huge ordeal to force yourself into a positive position, but you might be surprised at the effort it takes to keep yourself down. So, where would you like to spend the energy?

    More motivation: I might have a good day job but it offers nothing to the creative side and i remain seriously disappointed in my writing ability. So a successful somethingorothernotauthor could be farther away than yourself in achieving desired goals. Youre at least on the path, stay positive so you can navigate it.
     
  10. Michaelhall2007

    Michaelhall2007 New Member

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    Why type at all?
    I use my Ginger Keyboard app which has a handy speech to text button.
    Any idea I get I record on there. Plus I can drive home from work writing my best seller by just chatting to my phone.
    Granted I do have to correct all the grammatical errors but it's quicker to say 1000 words than to type them.
    Although I'm typing at the moment, but here's what happens when I talk...

    this is what is looks like when I use the microphone
    Do a deer a female deer
    she sells seashells on the seashore
     
  11. Alejandro89

    Alejandro89 Member

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    Sometimes the best thing to do is just let it go and start a nee project.
     
  12. CraniumInsanium

    CraniumInsanium Member

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    As someone who's a writer who's been putting writing off for whatever reason, I'm reading this and thinking that you need to have an
    "emotional investment" in your characters and their story. If you haven't touched it in a few days, a week month, whatever your thought process has shifted to paying that nagging bill, whatever's going on in your personal life good or bad, your interest has drifted to catching the latest episode of (insert show here), meeting up with old school buddies to catch up, etc.

    For me, I need to actively be thinking about my story. If I haven't and I choose to sit down and read what I've written thus far just to recap and maybe tweak a bit, that gets some of that "emotional investment" I mentioned earlier going. You start to care, and think about your MC's, and thinking "no that should be this way, not that", and thus starting the process somewhat of getting something going again.

    In the case of actually not knowing where to go with a story, going against your instincts seems to work, or adding unpredictability, being completely random and adding things as soon as they pop into your head. In that instance you're still making progress, and can later go over what you let flow out and edit, tweak and sift out what was quality and what was complete BS.

    Just my thoughts.
     
  13. MeadhbhMoryx

    MeadhbhMoryx New Member

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    Hey,
    Sometimes I like to write my first draft on paper. Maybe it's the slower process but I feel it gives my brain time to muse better.
    I also find that reading it on Dropbox on my phone where I can't edit it, also gives me a new perspective.
    I'm writing a book but when I feel heavy, I take side breaks into smaller projects.
    Something to keep the creative juices flowing but not too heavy.
    You will honestly just need breaks sometimes and that's okay.
    After all the immersion in the doing, when you take down time it gives the side of your brain, that takes longer to make connections, time to collide. It gives your head the space to have 'Aha' moments. Some inspiration to move your story forward.
    It all about balance man.
    Also ref pressure: Disclaimer- I am a noob, nobody is putting pressure on me to do anything only myself BUT I think you/me/we-have got to remember to write for ourselves first. That is the only thing that will work for me. Do you still feel like your doing that?
     
  14. MikeyC

    MikeyC Active Member

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    What works for me, is writing something new for a couple of days. Even just ideas for books, (the length of my idea list is quite impressive now), but that small break, takes you away from the deadline project. It is very easy to get too close to a project, and having the ability to step away from it, having a fresh look later on, the ideas often come streaming in. And you start wondering, 'why did I have trouble in the first place.'

    I like to take a month or two between edits.......

    Rgds

    Mike
     
  15. PassTheDrinks

    PassTheDrinks New Member

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    Stress and pressure is always a bad way to get someone to complete written works. As it probably wouldn't come out as good as it should. However, encouragement is always needed in my opinion. I agree with your friend, taking a break, maybe getting in some new scenery, trying something new, going on a little travel (even if it's just taking a bus or taxes a few miles from your usually scene), do something new.
     
  16. Indefatigable Id

    Indefatigable Id Member

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    I saw this thread sitting here and started thinking about something else read in another thread. Basically, fiction originates from feelings you get from made-up stuff that never really happened. That's all it is, at first, is this set of impulses. You have to draw upon those feelings, pull on them, coax them out of you and encourage them to grow into the insanity of talking to made-up people in your head. It's great fun because if you get to 'know' them, they can 'talk back', right? Well, the thing is that it all starts with a feeling... if you don't have that feeling, it's like trying to build a fire without an ember. You're rubbing sticks together and making a lot of noise, but nothing cool is happening. So, the rational mind kicks in and says, "Hey, bub. This is pointless. Know what I mean? Let's go do something not this." And just like that... you're stuck.

    To "feel" something about made-up people takes a certain level of weird on your part. I think what happens to a lot of people is they make the mistake of becoming super rational about art. Like, if you have the right techniques and the right strategy, then you are sure to succeed. It goes part and parcel with our modern, highly civilized lifestyle where everything is orderly and there's little need to be in touch with our more primitive instincts. For me, I feel much more creative when I'm going through turmoil in my life, when I am being bullied or abused, or when I am struggling to pay my bills after being betrayed by a friend or family member. I think that's just because I'm more alive in general.

    All storytelling derives its entertainment value from conflict, and so I think a person can lose touch with the very soul of the art form if they forget what conflict is like. Basically, if you have your life in order you have to take special measures to keep in touch with the darker side of human nature.

    Or put another way, your ego and your super-ego have become too powerful and you've completely suffocated your id beneath a mountain of social niceties, trigger warnings and adhering to what's "supposed to" be said/done all of the time. Desire and need are the driving force of conflict, the opposite of conflict is Buddhism, being free from all desire and therefore free from all suffering. Nooo. You need your characters to suffer. The human soul craves suffering on some level, I truly believe. We are attracted to tortured souls, we gravitate towards stories of great tragedy and those who overcame adversity.

    I think if you're blocked, then you've got your id locked up in a cage in the basement. Let it out. Let it wreck the scene. Some characters will die, there will be property damage. It'll get ugly, but I have never seen a compelling story that didn't get real ugly at some point.

    I never had a problem with making up stories when I was a kid because I liked getting my hands dirty. I liked upsetting the reader when I was in school, seemed like the cool thing to do. When I got older, it got harder and harder. Until... it became impossible.

    And now I realize what the problem was. More than anything, you can blame the super-ego, with its constant moral lecturing. "Writing a story like that is irresponsible, you might put a bad idea in someone's head. Is that what Jesus would do?" Spare me, okay? The ego is almost as bad, "What will people think? Is writing something so vulgar going to be socially acceptable?"... no. And that's why people will probably enjoy reading about it.
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2016
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  17. Indefatigable Id

    Indefatigable Id Member

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    I had a problem last night and then all of today, where I couldn't get that emotion... I mean, it was crazy, I knew what I was trying to do but I couldn't tap back into that same fantasy world. Then, I did a little experiment. I don't know if any of you have ever done free association writing, but I have tried it here and there. I always find that when I do it, it always comes out the same... I start using words that I don't ever use in ordinary conversation. It's almost like there's another voice deep inside of me. So, I took a notebook and I started doing that with headphones on, listening to Mechanical Animals by Marilyn Manson... and in no time at all, I went from completely stagnant to a completely natural flow of words that were unfiltered. I mean, these are the things you keep to yourself. But, still, I noticed that there is a part of my brain that tries to intercept outgoing words. Literally, will make me overthink putting down anything on the page. I will censor my own thoughts. I have to get a sort of flow going to try and "bypass" this filter, and then I find that the thoughts flow like water and I am able to translate the words that I am thinking into the written word without any restrictions.

    It's funny, I know what the problem is and I am still afflicted by it.

    It almost feels like I am inside of a spaceship and there are shields up, but these shields actually block not only things from coming in but also from going out. It is so restricting. I can't let loose until those shields come down, or that cage is opened. But I find that the cage isn't necessarily easy to open, it's like I am a paralytic and I am trying to move my little finger... but I just can't figure out which circuits in my brain lead all the way down to the finger, that's the best way to describe it. Like I'm in a dream and I am trying to run, but my legs aren't moving. I am screaming on the inside, but on the outside I am just this placid bag of meat.

    I think it's sort of like erosion... if I can get the flow started with just a little bit of internal expression, then I can keep making the hole in the shield bigger and bigger until I can get both of my hands in the hole and just rip it apart. It's weird, though, the shield feels like it's always trying to come back up. I think as I get older, maybe I just get weaker and less able to punch through this bizarre tendency to self-regulate. When I can no longer do it, I think that's when I'll basically be dead inside.

    Maybe if I exercise it, let it out more often, it will become stronger. I can't write through a filter, though. It's not possible because I can't turn the emotions into words as long as everything has to pass through the moral and rational portions of my mind and basically be "approved", especially since a big part of my own personal ethos is not to act emotionally in my dealings with the world around me. It's a real cluster fuck.
     
  18. Startled Crow

    Startled Crow New Member

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    Before I've recently got into serious horror-fiction writing, I've always blogged. I blog mainly about message forum administration, blog management, website development, emergency management and public safety issues as well as cycling... That probably sounds like a lot to cover right? That is how I beat the writer's block, though. If I stick to one topic (or story, book, etc.) and one topic only, I will easily get the dreaded block... However, if I focus on multiple topics at one time, I don't ever get it. I think expanding your interests helps. I also try to do other things as well, outside of writing so that I don't burn myself out from it.
     
  19. Darkcula

    Darkcula Member

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    I would have posted this on Quora but I wanted the writers perspective. I had read a post on 'Medium' which I'll share it with you all:
    Consider yourself solely hooked onto some big, massive project, preferably a Novel/Book. This will mean that the timelines for creating the first draft are huge too. You have started with an idea and written a couple of chapters/pages. It will make you feel so great and enticing, that you've had it all figured, till the very last chapter. Then suddenly, you take a break from your writing and when you come back, you realize what you've written was a piece of garbage. It is because you have lost that rhythm and your vigorous regressions of your own writing creates an element of doubt which hinders your confidence. Obviously, when you had started your thing, the dophamine levels were at their peak, now the entire well's dry.
     
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  20. aguywhotypes

    aguywhotypes Active Member

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    Interesting. I think my block comes from having to many options

    For myself I'm going to try the opposite and zoom in tight and focus in on one tiny area and hope I won't get distracted
     
  21. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I'm not sure what the question is...

    If you're just checking whether this experience is universal - nope. Doesn't happen to me.
     
  22. Darkcula

    Darkcula Member

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    You have half-answered my question.
    I am also seeking advise on how to move forward with my writing.

    It's not that I am trying to judge you or anything, but I am quite curious to know what amount of work you have gotten published?
     
  23. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I have about twenty published novels plus a few novellas and shorts.

    In terms of your writing - I think maybe you're just running into the "writing is hard" truth. Coming up with ideas and characters and twists is fun and fairly easy. Actually writing it all down in coherent, appealing language? That's hard work. I'm not sure if there's a way around just setting your butt in the chair and typing. I'd say don't try for perfection from the start, just try to keep going. If you find yourself discouraged after reading the previous day's efforts, don't read the previous day's efforts.

    I think you just have to DO IT. Don't let yourself make excuses. Write.
     
  24. Cat Cherry

    Cat Cherry Member

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    I think most writers doubt themselves sometimes. I've published a bunch of academic stuff, and even after publication, I still pick it apart and look at what I could have done better. There's a fine line between being a merciless self-editor who can improve issues with one's own writing and being a blubbering pool of human jelly who can't see anything but issues with one's own work. To move forward with a piece that you really think is iffy, I'd suggest showing your work to one or two people you really trust and listening carefully to what they have to say. If those people know something about writing, even better. Chances are, they'll have a few suggestions for improvement and a few positive pieces of encouragement for you. If their suggestions seem feasible rather than overwhelming, keep going.
     
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  25. A lake.

    A lake. Member

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    Yes all the time, but that is why I rewrite and edit. When I'm feeling like it is all junk I think about the story I'm trying to tell and I can find changes that feel right. Bad writing can be frustrating but it is the only way to get better!
     
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