COVID-19 RESOURCES
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

When the Well Runs Dry

LoquiSordidaAdMe

LoquiSordidaAdMe

Literotica Guru
Joined
Aug 8, 2017
Posts
1,135
For the first time since I started writing, I find myself without an idea for another story. I see two options. 1) Force myself to write something, anything, even if it's bad, or 2) Take a break and wait for a story to find me.

I worry that 1 will make writing feel like a chore that I resent, and that 2 may just never happen if I don't make it happen.

I can't be the first person on this forum to run out of ideas. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get them flowing again? Is there a third option I'm missing?
 
LoquiSordidaAdMe said:
For the first time since I started writing, I find myself without an idea for another story. I see two options. 1) Force myself to write something, anything, even if it's bad, or 2) Take a break and wait for a story to find me.

I worry that 1 will make writing feel like a chore that I resent, and that 2 may just never happen if I don't make it happen.

I can't be the first person on this forum to run out of ideas. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get them flowing again? Is there a third option I'm missing?
Click to expand...

How many plot bunnies would you like? I have cages and cages of them. They are getting very expensive to feed so take all you want.

Seriously. Change your routine. Get out more and people watch. Type in Tumblr nude and check out whatever perversion catches your eye. Lots of plot bunnies there. Pictures are always a high percentage place to find plot bunnies. I have half a dozen folders full.
 
LoquiSordidaAdMe said:
For the first time since I started writing, I find myself without an idea for another story. I see two options. 1) Force myself to write something, anything, even if it's bad, or 2) Take a break and wait for a story to find me.

I worry that 1 will make writing feel like a chore that I resent, and that 2 may just never happen if I don't make it happen.

I can't be the first person on this forum to run out of ideas. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get them flowing again? Is there a third option I'm missing?
Click to expand...

I get inspiration from reading other people's stories on this site. I look at how an author in a particular story treats the idea or subject matter, and usually I get ideas about how I might treat the subject matter differently, or take the plot concept in a completely different direction, or work with a similar plot idea but with completely different characters. Since this is an erotic story site, I play off what happens to turn me on. I might like an author's story, but I might also think that it would turn me on more if the subject were handled in a somewhat different way.

I enjoy seeing how other authors' imaginations work -- the imagining of characters and plots, the use of language and dialogue, the creation of settings, etc. Letting go of my own writing habits and biases and appreciating a story from another author's point of view can inspire me to try something different.

So you might try setting aside the compulsion to write for the moment, reading some stories, and coming back to writing when you're done with that.
 
This time of year I find myself often having a hard time writing. It's difficult to focus and come up with the words and vision needed for whatever story I'm working on. And, if I'm not writing, trying to start something is equally resistant. There are just no words in my head worth putting down.

For me, it's probably from holiday fatigue. Too much good cheer, people, events, stress and so on. I have little time or energy left over for me and I get artistically drained. So, I write what I can as it comes to me and leave the rest for later. I have no fear that my head will just quit coming up with things to write about. Sometimes it may take awhile, there were a couple of years where I didn't write anything, but eventually the muses got too insistent to ignore. They aren't going to lose my address for their midnight visit schedule.

Eventually, the idea for a plot and new characters will hit you again. Whether you choose to run with it is up to you. Many don't and complain they have no inspiration when it's really just a matter of low energy. Or so I believe.
 
LoquiSordidaAdMe said:
For the first time since I started writing, I find myself without an idea for another story.
Click to expand...

That's incomprehensible to me, to be honest. I pass a woman in the street, and there's the beginning of a story, if ever I needed another idea. Start with some tiny observation, and ask yourself, "I wonder why, I wonder when, I wonder what if..."
 
Switching genres can help. Or, if all else fails, try some creative writing tricks. Ask someone to give you x number of items, locations and/or character features/traits, then try to make a story out of it. Juggle with the pieces. Engage your brain. Don't be afraid to be silly.

I've been in that place a couple of times. I tried the "write even if it's shit" approach and I wasted a few weeks and a good idea on it. In the end I had 10k words full of nothing. So I quit, aired my brain and suddenly, after three months of nothing, I had an inspiration. "No more High Fantasy for some time."

I dug out my notes on a Sci-Fi setting I had and started writing. "Fading Stars" is the result. One chapter published, one is with my editor and I'm drafting the third already. It's flowing much better than anything I tried in the last twelve months.
 
Forcing it is the worst thing you can do. Also unless you're writing for some type of deadline you don't have to write. Its okay to take a break and watch some tube or do whatever you like to do.

Sometimes a block is the mind/muse saying its time to recharge. If you give it a little bit and still don't feel it, then reread your prior work, it can get you back in the flow. Like a jump start.
 
RubenR said:
You could check out the Story Ideas board. Or go through your music collection, Pintrest, your library... Smoke something funny, drink something that gives you a headache. Go out and look at people...
Click to expand...
Ideas are easy. Starting stories is easy. The rest is hard. I ask myself (and others), "Have you FINISHED any good books lately?" Writing is like that. The voices in my head haven't cracked whips enough. Sad.

Try working in the other direction. Visualize an ending, even just a snapshot of anyone, anything. Now imagine what it took to reach there. A character hears a song with some emotional impact. What is their history with it? They flee a ravening mob, or stare into a fiery volcanic crater, or eat a lonely pizza slice, or dissect a unicorn, or are airtight with kin -- how and why?
 
unless you're joyce carol oates i think everyone has dry spells and periods where they don't feel like writing. don't try to force yourself because what comes out will never satisfy you. there are all sorts of good ideas for inspiration in the responses above. i think you should try some of them. the story i'm currently writing came about because of a joke someone told me. the story has almost nothing to do with the joke, its what my brain processed from it. i've had inspiration from a dream, something i watched on TV and even, believe it or not, from "northanger abbey". none of those stories are actually derived from those sources, they just provoke a story in my head. just clear your mind and stop trying. the stories will find you.
 
RubenR said:
You're absolutely correct. Finishing stories is also the hard part for me, lately, but also thinking of, and writing down, the details. But it seems like recently, I found some inspiration for that too. As you suggest, knowing the end really seems to help. I hope I make it to the end

But the question here was about story ideas
Click to expand...

Yes, ideas and writer's block are different things, in my mind. I've seen folk struggle horribly with writer's block where they have the ideas in abundance, but the words are blocked.

Loqui, poor bastard, is suffering something as bad, but different. No ideas? Shudder.
 
LoquiSordidaAdMe said:
I can't be the first person on this forum to run out of ideas. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get them flowing again? Is there a third option I'm missing?
Click to expand...
Correspond with some of your readers. Get them to pitch a story idea to you, something they'd like you to write. The current story I'm working on came about when one of my beta-readers sent me a story idea. I replied back that his idea was terrible, but it had given me an idea for a story, which I preceded to outline.
 
What I'll do sometimes is browse sites with erotic pictures. When I find something that really pushes a button, I'll create a story of the people in the picture: who they are, how they got where they were in the picture, what they might be feeling or thinking, what came next. The more I look at the picture, the more details emerge, and by the time the process is finished, I might have the germ of a story.
 
Hypoxia said:
Ideas are easy. Starting stories is easy. The rest is hard. I ask myself (and others), "Have you FINISHED any good books lately?" Writing is like that. The voices in my head haven't cracked whips enough. Sad.

Try working in the other direction. Visualize an ending, even just a snapshot of anyone, anything. Now imagine what it took to reach there. A character hears a song with some emotional impact. What is their history with it? They flee a ravening mob, or stare into a fiery volcanic crater, or eat a lonely pizza slice, or dissect a unicorn, or are airtight with kin -- how and why?
Click to expand...

Good thinkin', that.
 
electricblue66 said:
That's incomprehensible to me, to be honest. I pass a woman in the street, and there's the beginning of a story, if ever I needed another idea. Start with some tiny observation, and ask yourself, "I wonder why, I wonder when, I wonder what if..."
Click to expand...

This is me too. I have so many ideas, not enough time to write them all out.
I get ideas from everywhere. Dreams, random things popping into my brain, and yes the random 'what if'.
 
He’s chained and waiting
At the bone dry well he dug
The first pumps were sweet and effortless
And slid easy across his mug
Now the spittle bites back sour
And all the mysteries are unveiled
But who chained him to this well
And enjoys his plaintive wail
 
CoffeeWithMonkeys said:
This is me too. I have so many ideas, not enough time to write them all out.
I get ideas from everywhere. Dreams, random things popping into my brain, and yes the random 'what if'.
Click to expand...

I have more story ideas than I know what to do with. My brain comes up with them faster than I know how to write them. I've got an outline of about 50 story ideas and the odds I'll ever get around to writing half of them are small. Sometimes I run out of specific ideas about how to turn an idea into a good story, but that's a different problem.
 
SimonDoom said:
I have more story ideas than I know what to do with. My brain comes up with them faster than I know how to write them. I've got an outline of about 50 story ideas and the odds I'll ever get around to writing half of them are small. Sometimes I run out of specific ideas about how to turn an idea into a good story, but that's a different problem.
Click to expand...

I usually jot down ideas at Blogger, and sometimes go back to read over them and have no clue what I meant! LOL!

But yeah I have so many ideas, started stories, even stories several chapters in, most will never get finished :(

But there are ideas everywhere! I get a couple every day. It could be my
bipolar, aspergers, PTSD, depression, etc...
One of my friends once told me I write awesome dialog, and I told her that's because I write what the voices in my head are telling me.
 
Eh, it happens.

Maybe go with some prompts and write whatever silly comes to mind. Then go back later and see what you can work with.

But important not to hold back or filter:

Once upon a time

Dear Penthouse

I had a dream

Action/war story prompts...you get the idea
 
HisArpy said:
For me, it's probably from holiday fatigue. Too much good cheer, people, events, stress and so on. I have little time or energy left over for me and I get artistically drained.
Click to expand...

I think you probably just identified the core of my problem there, HisArpy. Glad to hear I'm not the only one.

TxRad said:
How many plot bunnies would you like? I have cages and cages of them. They are getting very expensive to feed so take all you want.
Click to expand...

electricblue66 said:
That's incomprehensible to me, to be honest. I pass a woman in the street, and there's the beginning of a story, if ever I needed another idea.
Click to expand...

SimonDoom said:
I have more story ideas than I know what to do with. My brain comes up with them faster than I know how to write them.
Click to expand...

And believe me, I'm crazy jealous of people with that kind of natural talent like TxRad, electricblue66, and SimonDoom. But I'm not one of them and so I work within my limitations and push past them where and when I can.

lovecraft68 said:
Forcing it is the worst thing you can do.
Click to expand...

rae121452 said:
don't try to force yourself because what comes out will never satisfy you.
Click to expand...

I think I agree, lovecraft68 and rae121452. Thanks for keeping me off the wrong path.

And thanks for all the great ideas and encouragement, ReubenR, TxRad, electricblue66, SimonDoom, Blind_Justice, Hypoxia, 8letters, jehoram, CoffeeWithMonkeys, and jomar. I think you've given me the third option I needed. I'm not going to wait for a story to come to me. I'm going to go out and hunt one down.

Thanks everyone.
 
LoquiSordidaAdMe said:
And thanks for all the great ideas and encouragement, ReubenR, TxRad, electricblue66, SimonDoom, Blind_Justice, Hypoxia, 8letters, jehoram, CoffeeWithMonkeys, and jomar. I think you've given me the third option I needed. I'm not going to wait for a story to come to me. I'm going to go out and hunt one down.

Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...

Be very careful shooting plot bunnies. They are very tender and tear all to pieces is the shot is too large. ;)
 
CoffeeWithMonkeys said:
I usually jot down ideas at Blogger, and sometimes go back to read over them and have no clue what I meant! LOL!

But yeah I have so many ideas, started stories, even stories several chapters in, most will never get finished :(

But there are ideas everywhere! I get a couple every day. It could be my
bipolar, aspergers, PTSD, depression, etc...
One of my friends once told me I write awesome dialog, and I told her that's because I write what the voices in my head are telling me.
Click to expand...

If the voices in your head speak in short punchy phrases with good punctuation and appropriate use of paragraphs, I say go with that.
 
TxRad said:
Be very careful shooting plot bunnies. They are very tender and tear all to pieces is the shot is too large. ;)
Click to expand...

In the strange and permit-less wilderness of my mind, it's always open season on plot bunnies. They're tender but they breed like, well, bunnies.
 
When I get fatigue for one series, I start something new or work on a different series already made. Keeps the juices flowing.
 
I go digging in my massive collection of incomplete stories. Even if I don't get moved to finish one of them, going through them can give me ideas - too many ideas.

For NaNoWriMo 2003 I thought up plots for 36 linked chapters and only used 12 (posted as Flawed Red Silk). I have discarded half a dozen because they were similar to chapters I did use, and have used four or so in later stories. I still have more than a dozen unused just from that NaNoWriMo.

I suggest reading some Lit stories and thinking "What if?" i.e. what if the plot didn't go like that; what if the characters decided to do something else?
 
LoquiSordidaAdMe said:
And thanks for all the great ideas and encouragement, ReubenR, TxRad, electricblue66, SimonDoom, Blind_Justice, Hypoxia, 8letters, jehoram, CoffeeWithMonkeys, and jomar. I think you've given me the third option I needed. I'm not going to wait for a story to come to me. I'm going to go out and hunt one down.

Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...


Good luck with your story brainstorming.

Actually, it surprises me somewhat to see you start this thread considering you just came out with a story (the Bequia Mermaid story) that was published only in the last few days and has done very well. Your story production has been good for someone who only started recently. So, don't force it, but find some new ways to stir the imagination and see what happens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
I'll never manage to write anything
4 5 6
Replies
147
Views
3K
MillieDynamite
MillieDynamite
EroticCupcake
Note to Self: Get to the Sex
2 3
Replies
63
Views
2K
EroticFriction
E
I
Writer's block or Catholic guilt?
2 3
Replies
58
Views
969
AchtungNight
A
mirafrida
Anecdata, or, a tale of two stories
2
Replies
27
Views
558
pink_silk_glove
pink_silk_glove
KachinaDoll
Changing the point of view of a story
2
Replies
27
Views
535
ShelbyDawn57
ShelbyDawn57
Back
Top