I know that feeling. It's happened to me a few times... I think there were a number of reasons. It may have been a genre I didn't quite master (whodunnits), and therefore put aside, not having enough of an idea where I was going, or what I actually wanted to say. The only thing that worked for me was to find something that really came from the heart, so much so that I had to tell it.
I have been through the same feeling a number of times, and the only thing that helps is thinking "I'll write this story for me, because I believe in it and because i enjoy writing it and whatever is going to happen with it after that doesn't matter", basically allowing myself to write a crappy story (but in the end it always turn out a lot better that i first thought). I also think I have had the same feeling as VM80 above, where I wanted to write a story that I can't quite handle, because of lack of experience or knowledge on what I'm writing about. basically I wanted to write this suspence novel but found I lacked some basic knowledge on the work of the police and other "professions" that appeared in the story, which made everything sound contrived, so i put it on hold while I wait to decide what to do with it.
I heard a great quote yesterday. "Don't be afraid to write crap because crap is the best fertilizer" - Pat Pattinson, Berklee instructor. 90% of everything we do as creative beings will suck, but you'll never find that top 10% unless you keep polishing. The answer is simple. Just write.
Personally, my self-doubt will not be conquered until at least one dispassionate critic reads my story and enjoys it, and that will only happen if I get published. If I don't, I will still have considered the process cathartic and worthwhile but the disappointment will be profound.
I used to have that problem as well, and here is what I do. When I'm inspired, I don't write, I plot. I jot everything down quickly, I plan the characters, the setting, do a lot of "what ifs" to see where the story could be going. Then when I lose inpiration, I leave it for a while. Then I come back to it and decide if I still like it. I often find I have "inspiration blindness", in which case I think everything is totally awesome, and when I lose it I realize the whole thing is weak and not interesting enough to be worth my time. If I DO like it, I clean up the plot so everything makes sense. Then I start writing. The first draft is done very quickly. I don't describe anything and just get on with it. In the morning I also decide how many words I should write that day, write it on a post-it and stick it on my computer so I can't do anything without that number glaring at me, guilting me into writing.
Try something I saw on a judy reeves video on youtube. Write down a detail you noticed this morning, anything at all, and make it one sentence. Not something abstract, something as solid as possible. And then set a small deadline, say 10 minutes, and write prompted by that detail. It works, and it gets you going, even if you don't feel like it.
Hey guys i haven't posted in quite some time, i know it's only been a handful of days but to me it feels like 3 months has passed by. Ive posted a couple of posts yesterday, but i was busy on homework. ANYWAY, im having a great school year so far, but i find it hard to write anything. Maybe since it's only the Fourth day of school hasn't kicked in or what but i keep getting ideas popping in my head but i don't have the urge to write them. Trust me, if i had a telepathic computer where i can come up with an idea and it will just display it on there i would be going to booktours like crazy probably. Besides Schoolwork, i have another thing going in and out of my mind. I haven't written as a routine in awhile cause i don't know... it's very odd. theres no distractions...i just haven't. Im not losing interest at all i love writing with a deep passion but right now it feels like a grey cloud blocks my vision. My new Language Arts teacher has a Short Story thing coming up soon, so hopefully by then i won't have this silly problem. I have alot going through my mind for an 8th grader, more then those ones who just want to text and get wasted. I observe the world around me, i notice changes more then other people do. I stay quiet, not speaking a word unless i situate and get comfortable. Today i have been a mute since my last school period. I have no idea why, im not depressed or anything but sometimes i would rather watch out the window or just think about the world and my other silly whereabouts while still maintaining education. At times i could talk alot, and then others i get too shy to present stuff in front of people. Im a very weird mute i guess you can say. I know on this very website, i may talk alot but otherwise your lucky to hear me at all. Im guessing even more now cause of well... lots of staring happens in the corner of my eye. When everyone watches me i feel cornered. But then sometimes i might not realize it but i stare people down and i don't mean too. I have been accused of a stalker once, but i have no idea why. I accidently listen to people's private conversations and i try to ignore it but i can't. I don't like listening to people's business unless it's a close friend that shares it with me. I know im extremely off-topic, but i will continue. I have lots of friends at school, im just not the chatter type. Only around people ive known for years i will talk like a normal person would. This whole post is more then one topic, but it's mixed in. I keep coming up with ideas but then i can't write. I just feel blocked. I know what my ultimate distraction is, and im afraid it's going to be a shaky one. Let me just say i have a pair of light blue eyes watching me. Blue, innocent, but scared eyes. I don't like watching somebody being terrified of me. The person who stares at me at times is very shy, but i know she's terrified of me. Or atleast im thinking too hard. Is that possible? Unless.....? Well no, it didn't happen at all today. Only one glare. Other then that, nothing. Very confusing times for Xeno.. Oh and on another note.. i was playing MW2 and i got into a game with 2 guys who's clan tag was named Xeno! They stole my name! haha jk. I found out it was way before me, but recently i have been thinking about changing my gamertag with adding "Xeno" at the end of it. I even thought of naming my clarinet Xeno. I have become obsessed with the name i guess you can say. I now this sounds nerdy, but it feels like me and my clarinet have some connection. Like it's my sword or something.. ok too much Bleach! If you think im going nuts i don't blame whoever reads this haha.
Hi Fullmetal Xeno! Wow, this post feels as if you're venting a little, getting a few things off your chest which is okay, but I think this is better suited to your blog. I see a little of myself in you when I was your age and at school. I had friends, quite a few of them I'd known from primary school, but I was never overly chatty. I'd rather sit back and observe. School can be a very hectic time and if you're busy with schoolwork and other commitments don't panic about not writing religiously. Better yet, if you're not already, carry around a small notebook so you can write down anything that you might see, hear or find interesting for your writing. I do. Maybe start by writing down those ideas you're having, just so they're not swimming around in your head. Also (I do this when I feel "blah" about writing) read some of your favourite books, they might get you inspired again. I know my advice isn't spectacular, but it's a start and hopefully that grey cloud will lift soon. Good luck with your writing!
You already have one on this website, silly Xeno. Whatever ideas you do have, be sure to write them down. However be sure to show ask a language arts teacher to look at your work - preferably with one you are comfortable with. Teachers absolutely LOVE to read their students work when they do not need to grade it, they love to see you are motivated to actually make use of what they teach you. I did this just this last year with a teacher and my writing improved tremendously. Of course, I was in high school, but teachers are teachers and they will help guide you. And for the school troubles, don't worry about it. Don't panic. Make that your mantra. The Bleach references made me smile. Also, great to hear there's another clarinet fanatic on these forums.
Prompts. Open a dictionary to a random page. The first word you see is your inspiration, write a poem or a short story or a character description. It doesn't have to be long, just write. Do it everyday eventually you might whip out an awesome story idea that can advance to a novel.
I'm really tired of writing atm. I get some inspirational thoughts about my book and whatnot, but I'm not ecstatically excited about writing it, thinking about writing it, planning to write it etc like I was before. Maybe I'm a little burned out or something, so I'm gonna take a break. I guess I could force myself to write but I'm worried about it coming out dead and lifeless since my heart wouldn't be in it. Is this what separates 'professional' writers from the casual? That I'd stop writing while others would continue? Geez...
Bad ass advice right here. ---------- Post added at 06:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:37 PM ---------- Bad ass advice right here.
I've recently gotten halfway through the first draft of my first book, and i'm halfway through a chapter that I can't seem to finish. Its like suddenly I can't seem to express myself the way I have been up until now. I'll spent an hour writing and rewriting a few lines, then i'll read through the chapter and decide that it sounds sluggish and only keep a few bits. The other day I found a paragraph i wrote a while back, a random burst of creativity that I haven't slotted into the book yet. I read it and thought 'wow, reading this gives me chills.' And then realised how dry this chapter i'm writing was in comparison. I don't quite know how to tackle this, whether to start the whole chapter again, to force it out to the end and make it better later or to read through everything I have so far (which will take a while!) to rekindle that spark. Any suggestions?
I have felt the same way too, several times. But I honestly don't know what to do with it. I think the best way is to just pretend it's perfect until you've finished the entire draft and by then you might just be in the right... ... ... ...whatever it's called, to get it right. if you try long enough to get the same piece right and it just won't, go ahead writing the rest and think of it later.
Well ive decided to format what i've got into proper manuscript format, which is taking a while but at the end of it I should have something that looks proffessional and awesome I think it might be the motivation I need.
I wrote a blog entry about this, in which I made a list of specific ways to combat writers' block. I figured it would be helpful to people here, so I copy-pasted the whole list. Here it is: 1. Pick a modest daily quota and stick to it. Make the quota small. I.e. if you normally write 1,500 words a day, when not stuck, then set your "stuck quota" to something like 200 or 300 words a day. This is really easy to do - I think it's about two paragraphs - and you'll be able to leave your minimum goal in your wake most days, hence feeling awesome about yourself. Gaining this confidence from getting started will often warm you enough to un-stick you, and working in small increments is what leads to 3,000/day word counts (my record is 7,500 in a sitting). But the key is, you need SMALL goals. If you set out with a plan to write 3,000 words, or even 1,000, all at once, it'll seem like a mountain and you'll feel like crap. It's like working out at the gym: for the first 20 minutes or so it sucks, but you stick with it to try and suck it up past 30. Then another 5 mins, then another 10, etc just to push yourself. But after an hour, when you see something like "900" on the "calories burned" screen, staying on the StairMaster is suddenly much more appealing. Or, to be less drastic, going to a salsa club with line dancing might make you feel awkward for the first 10 minutes, but after that, you're fully confident and into the fun. Forcing yourself to write to a minimum bar, even if you don't feel like it, will more often than not get you out of your worry rut and get your juices flowing. Even if not, say if it's an off day, you'll feel good about yourself for the fact that you got some progress in even though you weren't really feeling it. Because on those days when you're really swamped, you won't be able to realistically do 3,000....but there's no excuse for not setting aside 10 minutes to do 300. 2. Write an exaggerated character. This could mean a sufferer of a painful degree of social awkwardness; an annoying, clingy individual who bugs the crap out of your other characters; a mean old git; a sexist/racist/homophobe or someone else of extreme views that you find offensive; a school bully; a bureaucrat drone who is written more as a satire of bureaucracy than anything else; someone who lacks common sense to the point of comedy; etc. Throwing in an encounter with a person who makes your MCs think "How do I handle this?" will push your character development skills by forcing you to examine and explore how your characters will react when tested. Not just how they react to the addition, but also to each other, themselves, their surroundings, etc. Plus, I know that Satire Mode really gets me into that "hehehe, sock it to 'em" groove of leaning forward, pounding nonstop at the keyboard, and cackling inwardly about what I'm writing. It's just....fun. And even if you don't actually use the scene in your book, it'll still get your creativity flowing. 3. Ease tomorrow's workload. If you have a stiflingly busy week, then pave a path for yourself. Let's say it's a Monday - just do your 300 words (unless you are in the right mode to crank out more words - dear God, don't oppress yourself) and your work for that day, but then do some things that you would have done tomorrow, as well. Then tomorrow's to-do list will be shorter and you'll be more freed up to write. 4. Don't worry about the idea that you might write badly if you write with writers' block. You'll end up tweaking most scenes several times anyway, so what's the big deal? Also, this is used as a lazy-ass excuse far too many times, both with writer's block pauses that last too long and with "aspirers" who put off their first writing projects. All writing consists of 1) writing something; 2) looking it over and tweaking it, and maybe making changes and maybe not depending on whether you are happy with it; and 3) finalizing said tweaks, if needed, until you're happy with it. And then your writing will be good! The only way to be a bad writer is to not write. 5. Listen to music *before* you write. I'm not 100 percent against listening to music while writing, but there are plenty of drawbacks. First off, if you are really into the song, your mind will want to focus on listening to it instead of writing, which will slow down your process. Also, make sure that the lyrics/tone of the song doesn't match too closely with what you're writing. You're writing a story of its own, not written material to accompany a soundtrack. Plus, it'll be jarring if a song sets up the perfect mood, but right in the middle of writing the scene, it changes. 6. Talk to real-life writer friends about your plot holes. When your issue isn't just insecurity about pulling off a scene - it's actually a case of a major, gaping plot hole - talking to writer friends about it helps. Don't get me wrong -- your friends shouldn't spoon-feed solutions or tell you how to write your story -- but the mere act of talking out loud about it will cause ideas to pop up in your head on their own. This is one of the biggest advantages of talking about it in-person as opposed to an online setting where you have to type out your problem. That helps, too, but not to the same degree. And, of course, if your friend can help you flesh out some new idea to close the plot hole, that's even better. (Key word being "help flesh out," not "spoon feed." It's YOUR story, YOU call the shots and do the work). That's all I can think of at the moment. Really, the only reason why writers' block is such a problem for so many people is because they let it beat them. Don't let it beat you. Get at your keyboard and write. It may feel forced at first but that feeling will go away, and the tips above have helped a lot of people, so they might help you. Happy writing!
I had my award winning idea over a year ago, but for some reason, I just can't write it! I know the story very well, the characters even better, and I can visualize everything and everyone in my head quite clearly. I can hear my characters in my day to day life offering their input, and I feel for them. But for some reason, whenever I sit down to write anything, my mind always thinks of something better to do or I get bored or I realize I have to go somewhere. The story would be broken down into a six books series, young adult, fantasy. I know what each book will entail, and I want to write it really badly, but it just won't come out. And this doesn't just go for this story, but all my stories. I used to be able to write like a pistol, but now it comes out like toothpaste stuck at the bottom of the tube. I don't know why. It's not even writer's block, because the idea is there and is continually flowing...it's like my mind just won't let myself write. And I don't know how to get past it. I had the idea in July '10. It's now September (almost October) '11, and I want to write it. What should I do? Are there any exercises I could try?
Could it be that because you have everything so planned out, there is no excitement or anything to discover, so actually writing it feels like a bit of a chore? Just a guess, I'm only a beginner writer myself but I wonder if you would benefit from doing some more open ended writing. You could either write something completely different as an exercise, or reduce your plans for your current story to the basic premise/characters, and see where it takes you.
If this were my problem, that would be the explanation. Sometimes a story gets so entrenched in one's head - well, it's almost like rewriting, rather than writing. (One of the reasons I don't outline ). So agree here - write something else for a while, or just write snippets until the 'tingle' comes back. But don't not write at all. Bad habit to break...
You are obviously carrying and the water bag has yet to break. But it will I promise you. It will and you better be ready to deliver.
Maybe the problem is that you've given yourself too much to do? Going into a novel knowing it's only the first in a series of six sounds daunting. Five years ago I tried to write a trilogy and despite having everything planned in advance, and being psyched about the idea, I never got started because the task just felt too big for me to ever do a sufficient amount of work on. So concentrate on trying to write a standalone novel - not a series. If the first one goes well then you can always expand it into a series.
