If I'm writing longhand (1st draft) I like to sit in my comfy armchair, with my feet up on the coffetable and my notice-board on my knees as my writing platform. When I finally get up, maybe a few hours later (depending how the session goes), I have to 'unknot' my poor bones, but it's the way I get my work done so it's well worth the creaks.
Out of the Box Okay, I know people ask this question all of the time, "How do you unblock your writers block?" I'm going to ask this again but this time I don't want the usual answers because I've tried all of those. I've tried, music, and reading, and letting my mind wonder and all of that stuff. I need a new stradegy on how to overcome this problem. It's never, ever, been hard for me to start a story. To be honest I would get confused when my writing friends told me they had trouble writing the first chapters of their novels, but this book has got me completely stumped. I know exactly what I want to happen, but I can't seem to put it into words. Please, I need something strange to get me out of my funk. Something out of the box. -Moira
Dude, it's all about the DMT experience. Dimethyltryptamine: the most potent psychedelic known to man! If that's not your thing, I have a closet I converted into a meditation room. When there's a part of a story that Creation has not yet revealed to me, I put in some earplugs and wear one of those things over my eyes that rich people wear when they sleep. I refuse to leave the closet until the next step reveals itself to me. If I keep an open mind and heart, and remain faithful that the idea will come, it always does.
I have a technique that I've used to help "unstick" myself in many areas including writing. The credit goes to Paul Scheele for this technique. I would recommend you do this some place where you are alone as some might think it's strange. It's also very important that you speak out loud with this exercise. The first thing you do after you've gotten in a comfortable place is to close your eyes. After you've done that, when an image pops into your head, you describe out loud all the details about the image. Is it dark, bright, what colors are there, what's the content in the picture, ect. If another picture pops into your head you describe that and do this for a few minutes. After some practice you'll move past your brain's forced images into your mind's flowing images. Go back to writing after a session of this and I bet you'll be unstuck. This works to reconnect you with your minds streaming flow of information. It's very powerful and can often give you glimpses of where you can go next with your story as well (if you learn how to use this properly). It's also very powerful to do this when thinking of your story to help you liven it up. Think about a scene you like or need help with. Then start describing it (again, out loud!!). Follow the description and the scene and the characters and I think you'll find great insights into your piece. I just thought of this and I'm going to experiment tonight so I'll let you guys know how it goes. It does take some practice to be able to jump into your stream of thoughts because you have to learn to get past your conscious blocks. It's well worth it.
[Out of the Box Okay, I know people ask this question all of the time, "How do you unblock your writers block?" I'm going to ask this again but this time I don't want the usual answers because I've tried all of those. I've tried, music, and reading, and letting my mind wonder and all of that stuff. I need a new stradegy on how to overcome this problem. It's never, ever, been hard for me to start a story. To be honest I would get confused when my writing friends told me they had trouble writing the first chapters of their novels, but this book has got me completely stumped. I know exactly what I want to happen, but I can't seem to put it into words. Please, I need something strange to get me out of my funk. Something out of the box. -Moira] If you've tried everything that's been suggested and still can't get it together, I'd suggest 'not' writing. Just stay away from it until it bites so deep into your creative soul you'll either have no choice but to get back into the groove, or you'll realize it's not for you. Either way the question will be answered.
This too. And I would add that sometimes what is often misdiagnosed as a bad case of quill-clot can actually be a matter of simply having nothing to say just yet.
So, doesn't anyone around here suffer from hypergraphia? (The opposite of writer's block.) I've always wondered if it's possible to induce that somehow. To me, writing too much seems preferable to writing too little. You fool! In grip of writers block, it would take me hours to write a sentence like that! oO Beggars can't be choosers, you know. Be happy if you managed to write anything at all. ...Once again, I am struck by the distinct feeling that there may be many different definitions of what constitutes "writer's block." oO
When ever I get blocked, all I do is listen to music, perhaps read a book or watch some TV even. Most of the time the stories, or the feelings that all three induce give me an idea or two that I just start working on and after that I'm generally cleared. The fact that I'm currently writing something for a contest on another site helps a bit as I'm writing/editing that every day and it keeps my creativity going.
Sometimes I wonder if by labeling a problem 'writer's block,' we make things more difficult than necessary. There are so many different reasons a writer gets stuck. The advice you give to a writer who's stumped by a plot twist is probably going to be very different from the advice you give to the writer who can't find inspiration at all. If you're having trouble getting inspired to begin with, this usually works for me: 1) Relax. Maybe you need total silence, music, a bustling cafe, cool art to look at. Doesn't matter, as long as you're comfortable. 2) List words that you like. Pick words that bring up images for you. I tend to pick words related to the seasons and different times of day; I'm not sure why those work for me, but they do. Rearrange your words into short phrases; ideally they'll expand into an image or thought. You can come up with some cool stuff this way. There's also a slew of writing prompts and idea generators on the 'net; those also work for me sometimes.
The last time I had serious writers block, I started writing about it and came up with a story called Inspiration!
At least you still have some ideas in your head. You just seem to have some trouble developing them. If you don't know how to develop an idea, sit down and make a list of all the different ways the story could go based on that one idea. For example, let's say your idea is for a story about a fox meeting a wizard that gives him the ability to talk. Here are a few different ways the story could go: -The fox is grateful to the wizard and begins spending more time with the wizard than with other animals. -The wizard gets angry and turns the fox away, but he no longer fits in with the other animals because he can no longer communicate with them. -The fox's friends become jealous and want the wizard to give them the ability to speak. They become so persistent that the wizard is driven away. Okay that may not be the best example, but it gives you an idea of how one broad idea can become so many different things. If you aren't coming up with any writing ideas, I would use writing prompts or story starters. A story starter will give you a basic descritption or idea for a story and you have to fill in the details. Personally, I like to go with writing prompts that are similar to the heading of a journal entry. It could be a question that asks me how I feel about something or what I want in life. I'll start writing a journal entry in response to the prompt and ideas will start coming to me for other stories as I'm writing for the prompt. Some of my other writing friends have said this doesn't really work for them, but it works wonders for me so try it if you haven't. My final piece of advice is to think about where you are when you're trying to sort through and develop all your ideas. Make sure it's a place that's comfortable where you won't be distracted by things. Hope that helped! Good luck. ~Eliza
Oh I know what you mean, Shadow Moon! I hate writer's block, and I do believe that it exists! I had it for the longest time with the story I'm working on now. What I did was this: I had recently gotten an idea for another story, so I worked on that for a short time. In no time at all I was working on my 'potential' story; it was great! I've heard, also, that music (with lyrics) can help ease writer's block. I find that watching scenes anywhere (like in a park, store, etc) and making a tiny story for the people I see helps, too! Good luck!
I personally do not believe that writers block is real. And I'll tell you why. When you can't figure out what you should put next, it's because your subconscious mind is telling you, it's just boring. It sucks at that point in the story. So what I tell you to do, is re-read it, and the moment that your mind trails off the story and into something else, such as checking the time, or thinking about what you're going to have for dinner or whatever. Stop there, and delete everything after. Then start writing. It works 100% for me!
the fortunately unfortunately game eisier to show then describe Lily walked up to the shop fortunately she found a pound coin unfortunately she dropped it into the gutter if you keep doing this it soon create a story and can get rid of writers block (it happens to me when i have writen a very dramatic event and don't know how to stop making it more dangourous) if you use the charecters in your book and the last action they did or 1st if you are starting a book it really helps
Well I believe there is a writers block, but thats because I write mainly for fun and entertainment, and whenever I get into some writers block what I normally do is try to open up my mind to the things around me. Write a mini story thats a bit off topic, and normally by the end of that you can open your mind enough to get some ideas flowing in and out, if you have an idea and its not that good, write it down anyways, maybe that will make you start thinking of other ideas and then you can get back into the flow again.
Sometimes it's best to go somewhere...maybe a park or something...bring a pen and a pad of paper and just think about things. Don't sit at your computer waiting for the words to arrive.
To experience writer's block, you must first believe in it. This is one situation where doubt can save you a lot of trouble. Happily skeptical, (and with no shortage of ideas) Kas.
One of the things I hate is...I come up with a great idea for a scene for a story (usually a short story) and I write that scene relatively quickly and easily. But, of course, the story has to be based on MORE than just that scene I wrote. For instance, I may have to create a beginning and an ending to accompany it, but I have no good ideas for doing so. And then writing that beginning and ending becomes more of a chore to write than anything else and it stalls my entire story.
Essential life, check out Wreybies' blog post: https://www.writingforums.org/blog.php?b=2374 I think it might help you a lot.
I've needed a break from writing, after much failure and... well not even that, just LACK OF ANYTHING. I did write a few paragraphs after much planning, planning, replanning, scrapping, replanning and planning again. But it doesn't get me anywhere. Today for some reason I felt like trying again, not sure why, I just keep thinking about it. I mean, hey, if I never do it, i'll never have that 0.01% chance of being good enough to live off it (don't tell me - i know it's far from likely!) I even felt like writing something from college that i never got around to - which is unusual because i usually like everything to be perfect. And it was THIS that led me to think back to college (only couple years ago now). College was the only place i ever wrote anything start to finish, albeit in short script format. The first thing i wrote was literally just written without too much thought, then rewritten etc. Got a top mark for it and it was also chosen by the class to be made (it never did... wont go into that). I loved scriptwriting. I wrote 3 short scripts, in full, in the 2 years at college (UK college, NOT university). I should dig those out. Anyway it was that way, of just a random idea and just WRITINg without too much detail that seemed most effective. I switched to a programme called Celtx which made things easier. I never actually considered writing books that much, if at all, until a filmmaker at the college told me my second script read a lot like prose. Scripts are too limiting, but books too... well. Why not go back to Scripts? Anyway I'm hoping to do that to get back into it (hopefully) because it lays a basic groundwork. It was only about a year after writing my final draft of my first script that i thought of writing it as a book, and thought of a better ending, which wouldn't have worked for a short film. It worked then, just hope it works now.
I counted nine paragraphs. I also have a feeling you didn't spend all too much time deciding what you should write. So in conclusion of that, I think you will do fine. Just write the story that you have in you and worry about fixing it later.
Thanks - yeah, Evelyanin, i can ramble on and on about so much crap, but when it comes to REAL writing, nothing happens. I gave up long ago, i think i shoud give up for good. Would help if i didnt buy loads of nice new paper and index cards that will never get used/go to waste :/
