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message 1:
by
Lily
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May 14, 2014 12:18PM
This is a giant sound board for authors. Post writing prompts, talk about what's blocking you, find inspiration. Post away!
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I don't know about block but I don't write when I'm depressed. :-(
This thread is for posting anything that might help other authors to get inspired to write. Or, chat about whatever thing you're currently having trouble working past.
Ok, so my blocks are frequent and horrendous. Usually its when I'm stuck on one direction the story could go but I can't make it work right and I'm too fixated on this one route, I can't see other ways I can go around it (if that makes sense). The way I deal with it is to just take a break, go to bed with notebook and pen (best ideas come at night always right on the cusp of sleepy time) and hope for a breakthrough. Not entirely sure it's the best way cos sometimes I'm unable to progress for weeks at a time so if any one can suggest any other techniques...much appreciated. I can't just push on through cos I always know it's not working and then I over think everything and lose all confidence in the whole of it.
A stream-of-consciousness timed writing helps to grease the synapses every time.When you're stuck, open a blank text file (or old-schoolers can grab a blank sheet of paper), set a timer for 15 minutes, and start writing. The rules are DO NOT STOP WRITING, even if it's innane crap. Eventually, the part of your brain that hasn't frozen up kicks in gives you something to work with. Works every time.
It looks like this:
I don't know why I'm stuck, why can't I think of anything to write? I usually can think of stuff, but now I can't, all I can think about it mud. What's up with that? MUD?! Hmm, that's an acronym for something, isn't it? But I can't think of what it stands for. So now I can't write AND I can't think. Bummer.
Jerad bit into the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, without expectation, and his lack of enthusiasm was rewarded with the lackluster flavor he was anticipating not enjoying. He was pretty sure his Dad used the same ingredients his mother did (after all, how many ingredients ARE there in a p-b-and-j)? In fairness to his dad, nothing tasted quite the same since Jerad's mother died. First there was the shock of the accident itself. He thought he would never get over that odd "missing" feeling he had. The day finally came, though at one time he swore it never would, where he finally gave up that small hope in his mind that she might somehow return, even while he knew it wasn't possible. She was dead. And after he came to face that fact, life had gotten back to normal. Mostly. But still, nothing tasted good anymore.
That was less than 15 minutes, but it looks like I have a nugget of something if I wanted to work with it. It's riddled with errors, and I see I have some clumsy phrases, but the goal is to throw a mis-shaped lump of text onto the page that I can later edit.
I do that as well, think about things right before I go to bed and it usually works out by morning. Then I'm madly scribbling things down before I've even had my first cup of coffee lol
Love this! I have heard of this before actually but have never tried it. Giving up 15mins instead of weeks -worth a shot and I'll let you know if your every time guarantee's a good un :)
Okay, how about a fun writer's promt?Prompt of the week: a cop must decide to convict a pink flamingo and risk the species' extinction.
No one is under obligation, this is all for fun, if it gets you to kick the blocking habit, go for it!
I have to scribble it down as soon as it comes (sleep is so overrated) cos my memory's way too pants and my mornings are wayyyy too hectic and if I get started into the day without chance to note it, it dwindles away to useless fragments or the over thinking thing kicks in :p
I have a way of getting back into the habit of writing after being away from it for a bit?When I first started writing I'd put about 1000 words into a project then lose confidence and stop. Then a month later I'd do the same with a new project.
I decided I had to get into adding to it every day even if it was hard, so for the first week I wrote 100 words a day, the next week 200 a day and so on. I got up too thousands a day.
I took a break while I was studying and now I'm doing the same again but going up 100 a day. :-)
my problem is actually the same as Joanne's. What I usually do is just wait until the next day, exercise or just go to work, keeping paper by me for when I get inspiration (more ideas than anything else) and incorporate that into my work.
I sort of meant for this thread to be specific, no offense to anyone. Like, are you struggling with a sex scene? Writing action is getting you down? Would you like everyone to make up writing prompts with a horror theme so you could get inspired for horror writing?
When i write myself into a corner (outlines? wazzat?) I use my storyboard programs (dramatica pro and storybase 2), to see where I can go with it. It helps a lot of the time. Also, I compile my notes and force myself to make a outline (i write with a loose one) and see where I'm heading and where i'm likely to end up. I exercise 3 different endings, one good, one bad, one meh and plot different what if's. if i still can't get anywhere, it's shelved for awhile.right now i'm suffering from a severe case of writer's block. outline done. notes compiled. yet in front of the monitor, can't type a lick. though i know the story needs to get done. CAN. NOT. TYPE. it's driving me nuts. i berate myself - i should be writing! - but i can't come up with anything. so i work on something else, something else, and more something else until i get back to it and it's the same cycle >_<
Lily wrote: "I sort of meant for this thread to be specific, no offense to anyone. Like, are you struggling with a sex scene? Writing action is getting you down? Would you like everyone to make up writing prompts with a horror theme so you could get inspired for horror writing?"When I need a prompt I go back to old episodes of the 'Writing Excuses' podcast. They're good for ones that are vague enough to not be useless for your genre but interesting enough to get you going.
K.p. wrote: "though i know the story needs to get done. CAN. NOT. TYPE. it's driving me nuts. i berate myself - i should be writing! - but i can't come up with anything. so i work on something else, something else, and more something else until i get back to it and it's the same cycle >_<"
I knew of someone who used to have a rule that if they didn't want to add to their manuscript they had to write a whole page about why they didn't want to.
It's all about finding something that works for you.
I have about three or four books going at a time. If I'm not 'feeling' one, then I work on another. Other times I'll do a re-read and edit. I find that music also helps. I have a 'slow' playlist and a 'fast' playlist to help push along the mood of the scene I'm writing.
Lily wrote: "This is a giant sound board for authors. Post writing prompts, talk about what's blocking you, find inspiration. Post away!"I take a long time to finish books. Partly this is because I like to do a lot of research, but I also seem to get in my own way a lot. There's something that keeps me from sitting down and going on writing marathons the way I would like to. It's terribly frustrating, because I usually have the whole thing planned out already! I know what the whole plot is. Of course, getting that on to the page is something different.
Anne wrote: "I have about three or four books going at a time. If I'm not 'feeling' one, then I work on another. Other times I'll do a re-read and edit. I find that music also helps. I have a 'slow' playlist an..."That's what I do too! I normally write two or three alongside each other and thankfully I'm able to avoid the dreaded writer's block most of the time!
I made a stupid mistake and now I'm blocked. The mistake? I'm part of a writing group and brought in my unfinished project to pieces.They ripped apart the main characters personality, including the parts that were bleedthrough from me. :-(
@Virginia this is exactly why I don't do writer's groups. That doesn't mean I just write whatever I want and publish it without having it edited/assessed, but I think in those sorts of groups it's too easy for things to turn in to a competition. In my experience people start enjoying being petty and mean, and they start tearing each other apart instead of moderating their feedback as appropriate.
Virginia, I wouldn't take it so hard. It's like Tiger said, it does become sort of competition and petty and just wrong. It's why I don't show unfinished work to anyone unless they know the full extent of what I am trying to do, while also knowing that they're criticism is constructive.
I say keep with what you have and don't go back to fix it until you're done.
Oooohh, ouch. So sorry. I think I would feel burned over that too. Try not to let it get you down.Have you had anyone else read? I can't say ignore them, but get other opinions. From readers. Have a few people beta. I had a few family members read my first book. They told me they didn't like the accents I wrote into the dialog. I ignored them, but when I got comments from my beta readers, I heard much the same. I felt like crap for a while, but it in the end, I think the revisions made it a better book.
On the other hand, you might be surprised that some readers might like the character's personality. They might see things with a different eye than other authors.
Whatever you decide, good luck.
Tiger wrote: "I take a long time to finish books. Partly this is because I like to do a lot of research, but I also seem to get in my own way a lot..."Anne wrote: "I have about three or four books going at a time. If I'm not 'feeling' one, then I work on another. Other times I'll do a re-read and edit. I find that music also helps."
I do all of that, both having 3-4 projects at once, music going (MJ is my homeboy when i edit. hee-hee!) and tonnes of research. I'm not sure what's causing the block. I'm not burned out. I switch projects if i'm not feeling it and do a bit of work on it. I switch music if I need a different atmosphere depending on the book (one novel I'm working on i listen to bubblegum pop while another needs disco). I even tried random exercises (my favorite is to flip through a magazine, find a random picture and make up a story based on the scene.)
I'll just keep plugging away, i guess.
@ K.P. thanks for mentioning Dramatica. I am going to try it now.
In my case, writer's block is sometimes a part of my brain telling my ego, "This story isn't working like you want it to. Sorry."
Tiger wrote: "@ K.P. thanks for mentioning Dramatica. I am going to try it now."you're welcome!
The book that I'm writing is set in the 1700s. Every sentence is a challenge because I have to research EVERYTHING, what the ate, slang, what has or has not been invented yet, blah blah blah
Hipnoticraqs wrote: "The book that I'm writing is set in the 1700s. Every sentence is a challenge because I have to research EVERYTHING, what the ate, slang, what has or has not been invented yet, blah blah blah"it can get challenging. but it's fun! i wrote a story *loosely based* in sengoku era japan. lots of research but i'm sure reader will give you some leeway as long as the story is interesting
Hipnoticraqs wrote: "The book that I'm writing is set in the 1700s. Every sentence is a challenge because I have to research EVERYTHING, what the ate, slang, what has or has not been invented yet, blah blah blah"If it's really getting in the way you could probably get as much of the prose and the plot down as you can before you start researching and filling in the details.
I understand that one! The research involved in the book I am currently writing really drags me down. I want it to be at least culturally accurate but doing historical research feels like being at school. The fun bits are the sex scenes, descriptions of settings and the murders of course but the setting has to be right for my own satisfaction as well as the reader's. Writing with historical accuracy is not always easy.
It does have to be right in the end, but the first draft is the first draft. It doesn't have to be perfect straight out of the gate.
Virginia wrote: "It does have to be right in the end, but the first draft is the first draft. It doesn't have to be perfect straight out of the gate."Good point. That is one way out of the situation :)
