I'm in a rut at the moment. In so much of a rut that I've joined a forum to gain ideas and inspiration from somewhere. For the first time in a long time I cannot be as creative as I need to be in order to write or even have a decent storyline / plot. I hope someone can give me some good advice as to how I can get started again. It's been a while! Thanks.
Some people swear by freewriting, in which you set a timer and just keep writing until the time dings, buzzes, or clanks, even if all you end up writing is "I can't think of a darned thing" over and over. Five minutes is considered a good duration to start with. Personally, all I ever have gotten from it is the above phrase and "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," followed by an urge to run around with a fire ax yelling "Here's Johnny!" Another possibility is to take a walk or a drive someplace you find relaxing and beautiful, and to describe things you seein the most descriptive terms you can. It's just to open up your awareness and get your creative side of your brain in gear. Or perhaps take a passage from a favorite book, and see if you can rewrite it in a way that sounds better to you. Or listen to news stories, particularly human interest bits, and start playing "What if...?" with yourself, writing it down as you go. Another option - type "Writer's block" into your favorite search engine and see what comes up. Instead of trying to come up with a storyline or a plot, maybe you can come up with just a problem a characters might encounter. and then get into the characters' way of thinking and decide they would approach it. To do that, you need to pull up a character or two. That might also get you thinking about what made the characters become who they are.
Library. Read and read lots. By far the best place to go would be a central library in a city somewhere where there will be a plethora of books too many to mention. Spend as much of your free time in there as you can and just read on as many topics as you can (fiction, non-fiction, factual, historical, political, etc, etc, etc...so many. A world of knowledge at your fingertips). I guarantee that you will come out of there after a week or so with so many ideas to write about you'll find there's absolutely no time in the day in order to do them.
One thing I like to do is go to a bookstore and work on my caffeine intake. I can read up on all the new and unimproved crap as well as people-watch. Another thing you can do is to just write out a random scene.
That's actually the kind of thing you should try, a writing prompt broke me out of a rut, though I still have a few kinks to hammer away: or something along those lines, it was months ago. Before Christmas even, but I'm still working on it. Changed it up quite a bit though. You could also try summarizing a book you've recently read. That's also a fun activity if you not only sum it up but parody it. (Someone did that with 300 in Short Stories)
Have you tried making a collage? Some writers swear by this, although I personally haven't tried it. Find some pictures from the internet, or magazines etc. They could be of objects, scenery or people, and then you brainstorm.
haha that is funny Cogito. Although it would be quite amusing to see to be honest. One thing that I find that has helped me with a horror piece I am working on is just simply writing down anything in a scrapbook that pops into my mind, whether it is just an image that I describe that has been in my head, or simply a word or a sentence. It can be better to get things out of your mind rather than leave them there at times. Also if things are stressing you, write about them and get it out. I am finding that really works at the moment and was the inspiration for my horror piece to be honest. Hope you get passed this though. Torana
I don't know if this will help or not but sometimes when I have ideas but just can't get them down on to paper, I draw like spider diagrams and just throw the ideas out as they come to me... Then once I have accomplished my spider diagram I try and make a bullet pointed list of a chapter-by-chapter plot (very briefly) and use that to help me write. It only works if you already have general ideas though.
Try listening to lyrics of songs and get the feel of the songs. At least thats what helps me best when I'm stuck in a rut. My latest idea came from the song "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin. Then I expanded it into something really unique.
When I hit a snag in my writing, I find what workls best is to just go and destress, hit a punching bag, practise a kata or similar, work out using my weights, sit in front a TV or computer, and just play a game for it. Whatever works for you, then when you have an idea, just get back to work.
