Personally, whenever I find I'm confronted with the so called 'Writers block' It doesn't mean I'm blocked from writing completely. I find that if I write whatever comes into my head I'm still writing, no matter how fantstical, mundane or weird it may be. My job is a Prison Officer and I find that if I write about my day, where ANYTHING and EVERYTHING happens, It can be quite helpful in kickstarting new ideas aswell as training up and learning new skills
It seems my writer's block only hits when it comes to titles. I try to never get hung up on making a title, and always save it until the end, but then nothing ever seems to fit the way I would like it to. Just curious as to what processes other writers do, if any, to create a title that fits your story
What I personally did for my planned novel was look at the structure of a book title I love. In my case, I went to Gravity's Rainbow and thought: "What could be a title that has such an ominous ring, and yet has such an eerie depth if one understands it and its place in the novel?" I will say that we all struggle with titles. A famous author that come to mind is Phillip K. Dick. I mean, I think Ubik is his best title because it's just one word.
I like to keep my titles simple and easy to remember - something that sums up the book's tone. It's like Fight Club - simple title, that basically tells it all.
I take a look at the theme of my story, book, or song, and then see if there's an image, phrase, or lyric which sums it up. If there is, I have a title. If not, I will put one together.
i almost always have a title before i start a story... and when i don't, it makes itself known long before i get to the end...
I believe that writers block happens because of overloading the mind or pushing too hard for a long period of time. Then again it could come from a loss of interest. I think lack of interest is a lot of the cases.
No Matter what do not just stop writing I think all of us here have had an experience like that before often causing alot of writers to give up on their greatest ideas without them even trying. Just take an idea and run with it. Here is what I do when I get writers block. I start writing something else until I new idea comes through for the project I was previously working on. It helps alot you will find that alot of times that writing about something else will bring a new idea that works with what you were writing before perfectly and you get really excited about that idea and you end up writing more than you could imagine
I'm not sure if this is a block... or just complete motivation collapse. I had started writing again, great ideas blah blah blah. Incidentally, I also began seeing a girl. We were going fine, the writing was going fine, and I mentioned it to her. She seemed interested about it and wanted to read it, and I sort of wrote it with her in mind, what she would like, what she would enjoy. Then she lost interest in me, and I've lost interest in the story. I look at it and I just see a story that was going to be for her, some of my best ideas and I just cannot feel like continuing them for someone who will never want to read it. So I'm stuck and I feel like I've given a lot of my ideas to a person who doesn't want them, as you do.
I hug you. It must've been painful Hey, don't sacrifice those ideas for her. Come back to them in a few years, when you've got over her and those ideas will feel newer, fresher for you, and transform them into something even better It's possible!
Just a general question: but do you ever that feeling while writing your story of "what the hell am i doing?" You know that sudden hint of doubt that smacks you mid sentence or the writers block that just wont shift at certain times that makes you wonder if the story is right in the first place. I'm not talking from any real bad issues or even considering giving up, it's just that prang you get every so often until you pick your self up again. Just asking because sometimes i think I am the only one who has these ideas lol. They do go but they can make you think a little too hard lol. Ive done it with a sentence where i have written it...looked at it...changed it......reread it....looked at it.......and changed it back lol, and you start thinking what the... lol. Just reading through the forum everyone just seems so sure lol. And I'm like oh....lol Come on there must be at least the odd dip lol. Disclaimer This is a light hearted question and not wishing any writers block on anyone.
Lol, well, you see, lol, what you're experiencing is certainly quite common...... lol Sorry I couldn't resist. lol... Ok now in earnest, sure you get that feeling - too many times I've wanted to smack my head against my laptop or throw it out altogether and scream "Why am I doing this to myself!!!!???" Usually actually screaming out loud helps too. I'm not really sure what the discussion is. lol..... (I can't seem to stop!!!)
See its contagious... lol I just read my post and there were a lot of them weren't there "LOL" Glad im not the only one tho, sometimes it feels like being in an exam where everyone's pencils are moving and im just sat staring at the first question.
I'm sure it's very common. I don't usually have this experience while I'm writing the draft, but it hits me when I read through what I've written, and I'll start making changes. When I get really frustrated, I put it away for a while, come on here to the forums and read about other people's struggles for a while. Or I read. Or watch whatever sport is going at the moment (right now, that would be either the Brooklyn Nets or soccer, but baseball is best for my soul). Or I go play the drums. The most serious episode I've had was at the beginning of this past summer. I had decided several months earlier to try to finish a novel I had started about a group of middle-aged musicians after having become dissatisfied with it and setting it aside. I pounded away at it, got maybe 30,000 words in, and then realized I still didn't like where it was going. In fact, it felt like it wasn't going anywhere. I decided to set it aside for a week and do other things (the Yankees were doing well, so that helped). A week became two. When it got close to a month, I realized I was making excuses, so I took a day off from work, and when my wife and son had gone, I grabbed myself by the seat of the pants, marched myself over to the computer, pulled up the file and told myself, "Now write!" Nothing came. Maybe I hadn't planned it well enough, and needed to go back and do a formal outline. Maybe I needed to sketch out some character arcs. Maybe I just didn't have the passion for the story, anymore. Whatever the reason, I decided that James Michener's phrase - it lost forward momentum - summed it up nicely, and I decided to walk away from it until whatever time seems like it might be good to pick it up. And it turned out to be the right decision, because my current project has me more energized and positive, with an approach much more structured, than anything I've done before. So, don't let it beat you up. Sometimes, you just have to let a good story sit and fester for a while. Good luck.
Thanks Ed, I would watch sport here to but being welsh its a given to watch rugby and we aren't doing to well in the world cup at the moment. But its strange isn't it how even though you have plans for a story it can still feel like its got a life of its own and almost start dictating itself with you merely typing. Some times its a good thing some times its bad. Hope your new project going well.
Got myself in deep *beep* with so many short stories I've lost count. I start writing with one scene in mind, or with a brilliant character portrait that just hit me, or whatever. I finish it, read it and find out there is no context for it. I try working around the piece - introduce another character, change the tone, try expanding on it with some unrelated idea in mind, Nothing works out. I leave it for a while, return to it after weeks, months, years, but it's still there and I have no idea what to do with it. Once or twice I combined some of these fragments to create something of a short story - but even if readers don't notice it, I know they are chimaeric constructs that seem artificial, or just plain bad. I may call them "an exercise in style" - but actually, they are my own nightmare of futility.
I usually write everyday, whether that be a page or five pages is completely up to how I feel on that given day I would say. I sometimes will be lazy & skip a day, but I tend to regret it since writing to me is an almost act of rebellion against the cosmos almost "set" feel to things, like it has been planned out already...not trying to get too philosophical though.
If nothing helps, you can take a pause. When you will be thirsty for this, you'll unblock yourself without any difficulties.
Know what the worse part is? When you have a long, long, long break between school semesters. Right now, I have a month and a day until my next school semester starts. Pretty awesome right? Bet I could write some kick-ass chapters and scenes in that time frame of absolute freedom. Yeah, not happening. I'm overwhelmed by the free time, the endless possibilities of what to write about. But here's an idea that popped into my head. I think, with anything, waiting for the muse to come is a time-waster. You just have to, like Cogito once said, 'grab your gonads and just DO it'. Just move ahead, not caring about how bad its gonna suck. I discovered that when working on my Senior Thesis. I was overwhelmed, scared. 20+ pages of something that will determine whether I will graduate or not. I thought it was an impossible task. The muse never came, are you kidding? I would have much rather gotten blood drawn out while doctors drilled my teeth than work on this seemingly impossible task. The only reason I was able to do it at all was to tell myself, "You have no choice. There is no debate, there is no compromise. We are going to do this." That's what got me through. I think that tactic can also be applied to creative writing. Sure, it's not a Thesis. Sure, your entire college career is not in the mercy of whether or not you can bang out an epic story of total epicness. But you still want to do it. Use that as your motivation to force yourself through it. Also, don't set the bar up too high. Don't say you're going to be the next JK Rowling. Why? Because if you do that, your brain will expect you to type like you were JK Rowling. Lord knows how many times I've done that to myself, and the results were the same every damned time. I got scared, overwhelmed. I felt discouraged, and then quit. Instead, I think, you should say, 'I'm going to write a decent novel that I would want to read.' There. Just a decent novel. I can do a decent novel. I don't care if it's a hit mania or not. Just a decent novel that I would read all snuggled up in the chair with a cup of coffee. Er...that may have gotten a bit preachy. Sorry 'bout that.
It's like saying, "what do I have a taste for"? I'm not hungry. Sooner or later you will have a taste for Chinese or Italian, or maybe a peanut butter & jelly sammich. Something. We all have to eat. Writers have to write. Take the simplest thing. --like your foot. Describe it in length. Not THE length, IN length. The most banal item can take on a whole new slant, if written about with love, or all consuming detail. Assuming you love your foot, then let the whole world know it. Go 'head-Kick some verbal ass, with that unusual foot of yours.
It should be pointed out that JK Rowling didn't know, when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, that she would turn out to be JK Rowling, bestsellingest writer in the whole wide world. She didn't paralyze herself by setting the bar too high.
Gah, I have writer's black right now 1500 words into a short story I'm working on. Have you ever thought of a story and thought, 'That will be a short one!' and then you're not even halfway through it and it's longer than you thought. That's where I am. Here's what is difficult for me: First drafts. I have a hard time just dumping the whole story, warts and all on a sheet of paper. I know I should just put my head down and plow through the whole thing without looking back but it's so difficult for me. I need the things I wrote to be perfect WHEN I write them. Okay, I am going to log off the forums and force myself to start writing the rest of this story. Just get it done and worry about the re-writes later. I don't care if I have to force myself to press every key on my keyboard. ~ J. J.
Sometimes when I can't seem to write I will go back and correct errors in previous work and change words or parts of sentences. It will kind of get your gears moving a little bit. Like a warm up.
