Writer's block

[Monkeysrule]

AGHHHHHH!!!! I'm stuck at this one part in a story I'm writing. I just want your opinion. How do you get yourself unstuck?

[Tabra]

One of many thinga.
Go back to the point before you got stuck and go from there, deleting or ignoring what you wrote after that. Block can often be a sigh that you subconciously don't like the direction you're going.

Take a break and do something else for a few days. Take the characters out of the story and write them somewhere silly- like Disneyland to see what do. Nothing that's part of the story, just a scene for fun.

Write an outline of the story. Planning can help you to figure out where you want to go.

And don't stress, if it's not working, take a break. Put it aside, even if it's for a year or two. Unless you have a deadline, then it's ok to do that.

[glainfach]

I always try to block an outline for every story I write. That way I know where it's going and if I get stuck on one part I just jump down the line a bit and work on a later part. That usually gets me thinking about what led up to the part I'm working on now which very often gives me the inspiration to complete what I was stuck on. If nothing else, I at least get more of the story done while I'm blocked.

Another great thing about outlines is that you can set aside an outline for a very long time and come back to it without that awful "Where was I going with this thing?" feeling. I've picked up story outlines I'd written years ago and instantly had the full story pop back into my head.

Good luck!

[Anareth]

To be honest? I just plow through. I do have other things I'll work on at the same time, but for the most part...I guess I don't really believe in writer's block. If you want to write seriously, for a start, you can't afford to--you have to write, whether you're inspired or not. And I find it's usually not that I 'can't think of anything, it's that I'm being lazy and don't WANT to write, really.

For a quick fix, if I'm really stuck on a scene, I go back and reread, and it usually helps me slip back into the flow of things.

[TamTam]

AGHHHHHH!!!! I'm stuck at this one part in a story I'm writing. I just want your opinion. How do you get yourself unstuck?
OMG, Monkey! I was just thinking the same thing. (I'm having a little bit of the same thing.)

I have a trick, because I usually think in terms of dialogue and mess myself up when I get into descriptions. If I find myself weighed down this way, I'll cut right down to the bone and write only dialogue (almost like a script).

When it comes to full-on blocks, though, I have to agree that putting it aside for a while is the only thing that works sometimes.

To be honest? I just plow through. I do have other things I'll work on at the same time, but for the most part...I guess I don't really believe in writer's block. If you want to write seriously, for a start, you can't afford to--you have to write, whether you're inspired or not. And I find it's usually not that I 'can't think of anything, it's that I'm being lazy and don't WANT to write, really.
No, I don't write seriously, and I don't mean that sarcastically. I write for fun. So if it's not fun, I have no problem with putting the project away for a time.

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

I get writers block all the time, and yes, sometimes I'm just plain lazy about it. But I write purely for my own satisafaction, so it doesn't make much difference. Oddly enough, I'm rarely fully satisfied with my own work.

I just *cannot* plow through it, inspired or not, because I'll end up with a very good beginning, a mediochre middle and a total peice of garbage ending. If I can't think of anything, or I just don't feel like it, I'll drop the story until I get in the mood. My characters always stay fresh and strong in my mind; if they weren't and I forget bits about them that I have to research again then I figure they're not strong enough characters to write about anyway.

It often takes a sulk of depression or flame of anger to get me back in the creative mood. Whenever I get emotional the words and ideas just flow out of me, and I can write for pages non-stop.

[Monkeysrule]

OMG, Monkey! I was just thinking the same thing. (I'm having a little bit of the same thing.)

I have a trick, because I usually think in terms of dialogue and mess myself up when I get into descriptions. If I find myself weighed down this way, I'll cut right down to the bone and write only dialogue (almost like a script).

When it comes to full-on blocks, though, I have to agree that putting it aside for a while is the only thing that works sometimes.


No, I don't write seriously, and I don't mean that sarcastically. I write for fun. So if it's not fun, I have no problem with putting the project away for a time.
I also write for fun, always.

[Monkeysrule]

Thanks for the help :)

[Bamy]

I tend to ignore the story (http://69.42.87.207/cgi-bin/ezlclk.fcgi?id=9852) for a few weeks, then re read the story so far, it usually makes me come up with something.

[Keita]

Well, if I happen to have an outline (I don't always) I just jump ahead and do another part of the story. Or I do a shortstory about the events thatled up to the beginning of the story or I do a "viewpoint change", writing it from the viewpoint of a minor character, or a do another story, maybe a sequel or just something that's set in the same world. If it doesn't work, I'll let it go for a while and write something else.

[T'ley]

Just chill. Leave it for a while. Let the ideas come slowly.
I had a block but I left it for a while then came back and had a couple more ideas for the rest of it. Just relax in general.

[Levallia]

Whatever you do, don't try to force it. Inspiration comes from many places; surf the web, watch tv, go outside for fresh air. Just search the depths of your mind and soul, the inspiration will come. :) Another thing that helps is to imagine yourself as the main character, that's what I always do. Put yourself in that point of the story and ask "what would I do?". :)

[Xhack]

I’m with Anareth on this one. I’ll be quite brisk here – get it down on the page. Anything. Plough through to a natural hiatus or the end of that particular plot sequence. Then walk away and return to it in 24 hours.

Re-read. What’s good will fly off the page. As will what’s crap.

If, in the cold light of day, what you’ve written is taking the narrative totally off-track, that’s no loss either. At least you now know where not to go. That in itself can signpost the better direction.

I’m afraid I get somewhat impatient with folk who claim to be blocked. As someone who comes from the journalism end of professional writing, this may seem unfair. After all, in straight reportage, the subject matter is not up for debate – just the way you present it.

But a “think piece” for the op-ed pages is a different matter. If you have 1500 words and a three-hour deadline, you do not have the luxury of clenched-fist-to-the-forehead a la Rodin and – “Excuse me, I’m conceptualising”.

You give it 10 minutes’ thought – then you bloody well write. A slap-dash intro to get you into the body and develop your theme. If you’ve thought it through, the conclusion should write itself. Then go back to the intro and you’ll find that, too, has now written itself. A final polish – et voila! – off to the sub’s desk for mutilation.

Now, I do realise that creative writing does require a slightly different technique. But the discipline required is common to all writing.

So there. ;)

[C_ris]

Especially exam essays!!! :crazy:

Theres no time to stop too much there! Just write a very basic plan and then WRITE!!!!!!!

[PernWebGoddess]

My personal way of dealing with Writer's Block has come about by NaNo. :) In NaNoWriMo, you can't sit around and mope about being stuck, so you have to get moving. What I'll do is stick a marker in, stating what is hapening or supposed to be happening, then I skip ahead to the next part I know is coming.

Later, when the story has progressed, I can come back and fix it, and make it make sense. :)

[Vyon]

1/ get somebody to say something
2/ change the point of view. Even if you know that the final version is going to be from one character's point of view, looking at it from elsewhere could clarify the picture.
3/ go for a long walk - ditto
4/ stop procrastinating and write.

- at which point parent/sibling/spouse turns up and wants something done immediately. :banghead: !!!

[queenrider melody]

I just do something else, then while I'm in the middle of what I'm doing, I find out what to write next.

[Ghyle]

At the moment, I've vowed to write at least one poem a day during 2005. I also have to work on a number of things, plus several books, and essays. So I have to plough through writer's block if and when I get it. As for inspiration, it's like a car: sometimes you need to crank a bit before the engine turns over.

One thing that works for me is revision. So, even if I'm not advancing what I'm writing, I'm writing anyway. This often gives me the inspiration to work on new material, and new pieces. I don't mind if I discard some pieces, so long as I keep on writing, and writing professionally.

I also keep a commonplace book. If I get an idea in the middle of something else, I jot it down in my book, and get back to work. Sometimes the ideas don't work, but sometimes they do, and noting them helps remind me of them when I get time to do them justice.

Another thing I've done is learnt the craft, the nuts and bolts of poetic technique. So that, now, if I decide to write a sonnet, I know instinctively what I need to do it, and how. That's important.

Finally, there is a famous statement, which I shall paraphrase. Hard work makes easy reading. Writing is not always easy, but if you work at a piece, polishing, refining, crafting it, you may often find that it is better than something slap-dash and spontaneous.

[Monkeysrule]

Heh. I do fiction and fanfiction, but revision does help. That way, I'm expanding from the inside out and it ends up not being so rushed.

[Ghyle]

The thing that I find with revision as well, Monkeyrules, is that I'm working on writing anyway, and that simple fact can help kickstart my desire to write more.

I'm fortunate also in that I have a wide array of writing to work on, so that, even if I'm just doing a bibliography, I'm honing my abilities and interests.

[queenrider melody]

Now I'm stuck on a part of my Pern fanfic! :banghead: :banghead: No matter what I do I can't get any further!

[Ghyle]

Queenrider!

Send it along my way, and I'll give you my thoughts on it, K? Getting some feedback while it's free may still help.

[queenrider melody]

That's very nice of you, Ghyle, but I finally have it figured out. It seemed like so much work that all I needed was a break.

[Ghyle]

That's great to hear, Queenrider. I wish you all the best with your work.

[Staerwyen]

Meditate. :yawn:

[Bane]

I just write about something else. This happened to me in a story, and I stopped and wrote about jumpig beans or something. Write something else about something totally different. It doesn't have to be a story. Just write a short that will get your mind off the problem at hand with your story. I have learned that the more I think about a problem the slower I solve it. Especially with a story.

[Lady Faizah]

I've been stuck on something, or rather I've somehow managed to put it completely out of my mind until just recently, and I think I may have figured out why. I wrote part of it while sitting and watching the sun set over a beach, and I just haven't found that same feeling again yet.

What I'm trying to say is that your frame of mind, your mood if you will, while writing could be important. If you start a story while you are depressed, you probably won't even want to look at it when you are in a good mood.

Or it could be something as simple as the atmosphere. When I saw this sunset, I'd just spent the evening at a beach market, with people selling all manner of crafted items. I also got to experience the salesperson's point of view (even though we didn't sell anything) because my grandmother had a stall set up, and I watched it while she got something to eat.

So I wrote about that. Then I wrote about going and watching the sun set. The part where I got stuck is actually the part that I have no real world experience in, so that might even be the problem.

Anyway, I hope this is of some help to someone. :)

[Bane]

Hmmm...just been thinking about this some more. My psych prof said, when we don't write about things we know - for homework we didn't have to do very much research - she told us to MAKE IT UP. She actually used different words, but that'll work. In fiction, writing about what you know doesn't work much. I like fiction that is far fetched, which is what attracted me to AMC in the first place. She took the 'big, bad dragons' and made them man's best friend.

I don't like the kind of fiction that reads like a research paper. I hope you get out of your funk and back into the FF. Take care.

[Lady Faizah]

Hmmm...just been thinking about this some more. My psych prof said, when we don't write about things we know - for homework we didn't have to do very much research - she told us to MAKE IT UP. She actually used different words, but that'll work. In fiction, writing about what you know doesn't work much. I like fiction that is far fetched, which is what attracted me to AMC in the first place. She took the 'big, bad dragons' and made them man's best friend.

I don't like the kind of fiction that reads like a research paper. I hope you get out of your funk and back into the FF. Take care.If I were writing fantasy, then I'd have no problem with making stuff up. But this particular story is supposed to be set in the current day. It is still fiction, of course. I am capable of writing about things I don't know, I have to be if I want anyone to read what I'm writing. That's just one of the possible reasons that I'm stuck on this, as I said in my previous post.

[Bane]

Aww...:hug: Faizah, I wasn't talking to you in particular. I was posting for everyone. It may help them...:Erm:

[Vyon]

As for the research papers - they take the same skills as fiction writing. I find I can't write fiction very well when my attention is too much on my University papers, and I can't concentrate on the assignments when I have a story running. Has anyone heard of Olaudah Equiano? I hadn't until his autobiography was waved under my nose last Thursday. I have to give a presentation on him and the place religion played in his life in about a week's time. At this point I know nothing about freed slaves, less about London in the 1790s, and not a lot about Quakers and other Dissenters. There's a lot of words in fifteen minuites. So, while I'm writing that, I won't be writing "One Dark Night" or anything like it. On the other hand, it's sure to pop up in one of my stories later.

[Anareth]

Well, there's "make it up" as in, "I don't personally know how it feels to be an orphan who discovers they're in fact heir to a huge fortune and a magical heritage", and make an educated guess, and, "I don't know what a US Senator does all day, so I'll just make it up!" When it's something you CAN look up, you should. If you DO make something up, try to maintain an internal logic, at least. (Like magical systems. They're a pain to design, but they need rules. One issue with HP people bring up--okay, nitpicky fans bring up--doesn't the conjuring of objects out of nothing violate the laws of thermodynamics? I mean, yeah, that they apparate, too, suggests they're operating on a quantum level, but still.)

[Yonuh Adisi Fiend Jedi]

AGHHHHHH!!!! I'm stuck at this one part in a story I'm writing. I just want your opinion. How do you get yourself unstuck?


I'll let you know when I myself get unstuck.