For the past couple years I've been stuck in a writing slump. I've had tons of ideas for stories, but when I sit down to write i just can't make them come out. Even when I do manage to write something, I get burned out on it almost immediately and can't keep going. Any advice you guys can give me?
Shake yourself up. Write something completely different than anything you've ever written before. If you write fiction, write an expository article on how to bake a loaf bread or a travel article on the worst vacation ripoff you ever encountered. If you write hardcore science fiction, write a children's story and either illustrate it or make notes about illustrations you wish you could draw. Write the story of your life and tear it up page by page if you're afraid to have anyone else read it. Write what you wish had been the story of your life. Write about your first sexual experience, the time you robbed a bank, or why beavers have red teeth.
I've found flash fiction pretty good for that in the past. I was getting burned out on longer stories so I just didn't give myself the space for it and wrote some hundred-word things instead. It helped - I wouldn't always get much done on a longer piece in a day, but then I could do a 100-word story and it'd be finished and done and I could show it to people so I got that little dopamine hit, and I was more likely to go back to the longer thing again tomorrow.
I'd second this. The flash fiction contest on here helps me get something, anything, written down and the prompts can often mean I write something I wouldn't necessarily have considered.
These folks are right IMO. Flash Fiction is a great balance of creativity and structure and could well be the answer that you are looking for. In my experience the best answers are almost always clear and to the point.
this really sucks. i'm sorry. my advice is connected to what you have already. when it comes to fiction, take the pressure off. i'd even go so far as to say, don't write stories at all. what i would suggest instead is something we called the picture game. it's pretty simple. you find a picture that is interesting to you. then you set a timer for 15 minutes and you write a description of the picture. those are the official rules, but most of the time a writer will tie their description to something else - the person who can see what's in the picture, perhaps. or a narrator describing the scene with the historical and cultural context blended in, or what had to have happened. because it's just a writing exercise, it often feels easier and more accessible than trying to come up with an entire story, and that can help tip the switch so you can write freely. there was a day a few years ago where i found a picture to use for the game, and I wrote a description of what was in the picture, but I wrote it from the POV of the person who could see it. and what I wrote was interesting enough that it wouldn't go away, so I wound up taking a closer look at it a few months later. That writing exercise eventually became a novel. you never know. another thing I'm going to suggest is maybe not as simple to do, because it assumes that you have a lot of luxuries in place to do it. but when you get up in the morning, first thing in the morning, write three pages worth of braindump. just write whatever. generally, I complain. but this exercise can kick stuff loose so you can deal with it.
Are you still reading regularly? Reading really recharges my battery. Also a break doesn't hurt. Sometimes the breaks last a real long time, and that's okay.
I stopped reading at my last job because we didn't get lunch breaks. For some reason I don't like reading at home. Don't ask me why. But I finally got a new job recently and I've been reading almost every lunch break.
Writing schedule. This was a suggestion from all the indy writing people on this forum who I was picking their brains. But the easiest way out of a writing slump is a schedule. Where you literally sit down and spend time on your book. My writing schedule looks like this: Today I am setting aside 2 hours to write. If, after 15 minutes, I can't write anything, I'll do something else for 15 minutes like dishes or play a youtube video and then try another 15 minutes. If after that, I honestly am stuck, I will try another day. But the important thing is that I'm not forcing myself to write. But I am giving myself a chance to write and I'm not passively using that time. I'm actively doing it.
What have you written before? Like the longest? For me, if I'm depressed in my day nothing is getting written down, regardless of intentions. So maybe youre the same way and need to be in a better mood before you can be creative. Writing is a lot easier to think about than do lol. It takes a lot of mental and physical commitment to sit down and do that one thing, so maybe you're inexperienced and got the wrong idea of what you need to do. I dont know, why I asked what you used to write. It just comes down to doing it. I suggest doing that lol. And also, reading more at home. Watch or listen to a story or documentary that will spark an idea. -- I listened to this guy on youtube a min. Ago talk about this soldier from world war 1. He was in the trenches behind a machine gun, American soldier, and it was foggy and saw a guy walking through the fog. He aimed the gun but didnt want to shoot until he saw if it was a German or not. Guy came through the fog and it was an injured, unarmed German. The German saw him and sort of just resigned himself to being shot. The American couldn't bring himself to shoot and kill the unarmed, pathetic looking german soldier so he lowered his gun and the German nodded a thanks and went back through the fog. Well as the story goes, the German was a young Adolf Hitler. Another story the guy told was about a Navy Seal he trained with who, after an event in the middle east involving almost having to kill children who were sent towards his unit as suicide bombers, went on after his time served, to help liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul as a volunteer civilian. Actually saved a young girls life through a coordinated rescue operation. --- So point is be inspired. Then put your nikes on and just do it. ✌
