Burnout

[SpecterNecter]

I took a break because I was having trouble writing a particular part of a story and now, having stepped away, am having trouble restarting and particularly I have this almost OCD obsession with it being perfect... Any constructive suggestions????

 

[EmilyMiller]

Been there…

What’s worked for me at different times:

1. Write something else. Maybe something short and unserious. I wrote my short story Off The Shoulder when struggling to finish my novella Coleoidphilia (specifically the last installment, Caputpedes). OTS turned into a series of other short stories and a second novella.
2. Get someone to look at what you have written and brainstorm ideas with them. My not so secret partnership with @Djmac1031 is great for this. I have only cowritten one story, with him, but we act as sounding boards and trial ideas with each other all the time. Two heads are better than one.
3. Write an outline of the tricky bit. Then flesh it out. Then flesh it out more. And approach a final version almost by stealth.
4. Just write the troublesome section. Don’t worry about quality or consistency. Just blast past it and finish the story. Then come back to this passage at the end.

Hope that helps. I empathize.

Em

 

[SpecterNecter]

Been there…

What’s worked for me at different times:

1. Write something else. Maybe something short and unserious. I wrote my short story Off The Shoulder when struggling to finish my novella Coleoidphilia (specifically the last installment, Caputpedes). OTS turned into a series of other short stories and a second novella.
2. Get someone to look at what you have written and brainstorm ideas with them. My not so secret partnership with @Djmac1031 is great for this. We have only cowritten one story, with him, but we act as sounding boards and trial ideas with each other all the time. Tow heads are better than one.
3. Write an outline of the tricky bit. Then flesh it out. Then flesh it out more. And approach a final version almost by stealth.
4. Just write the troublesome section. Don’t worry about quality or consistency. Just blast past it and finish the story. Then come back to this passage at the end.

Hope that helps. I empathize.

Em

Appreciated

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

We've all been there.

Like @EmilyMiller suggested, work on something else. Some of my best ideas for stories have come when I was working on another story.

I also tend to read other authors works when I'm blocked, not trying to steal ideas, but just clear my story from cache, so to speak. Straight from the experts, In order to write, you have to read, read, read. ( Wanna say I heard Stephen King say this, but I'm probably misremembering)

Another tactic I use if I've been away from a story for a while is to start at the beginning and read it as a reader not an author. It's a slightly different mind space and can sometimes help you see where the story wants to go.

Good luck, and keep writing.

 

[Bazzle]

Have 2 stories on the go. Plus like @EmilyMiller has said. Reach out to a fellow author to annoy/bounce ideas off. They might either annoy you or unlock that door in the corner of the room, which you always ignored because you thought was a cupboard, but actually leads up to the loft conversion with large double bed with an array or sex toys in the chest of drawers.

We all find ourselves in culdesacs of plot lines. Just how many times can they drop their knickers and wiggle their ass to the Birdy Song?

You will find help form the community, it may just be a different song, or even the colour of panties that can move the story on!
B

 

[Djmac1031]

I took a break because I was having trouble writing a particular part of a story and now, having stepped away, am having trouble restarting and particularly I have this almost OCD obsession with it being perfect... Any constructive suggestions????

I can sympathize with the "Perfect" thing. I struggle with that myself.

As @EmilyMiller suggests, maybe find a friend, or at least someone willing to give it a look and offer an unbiased opinion.

The other option is what I've done on my last story; just push through. Write it. Even if you feel like it sucks.

Get there. Get to the end. Then give it some space and then go look at it again.

I'm now editing what I've written. Seeing what worked. What didn't. It's not always a quick process, so be patient with it.

Edit: Emily, I swear I'm not just trying to repeat your advice as my own. We just think alike lol

 

[onehitwanda]

Just how many times can they drop their knickers and wiggle their ass to the Birdy Song?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I can sympathize with the "Perfect" thing. I struggle with that myself.

As @EmilyMiller suggests, maybe find a friend, or at least someone willing to give it a look and offer an unbiased opinion.

The other option is what I've done on my last story; just push through. Write it. Even if you feel like it sucks.

Get there. Get to the end. Then give it some space and then go look at it again.

I'm now editing what I've written. Seeing what worked. What didn't. It's not always a quick process, so be patient with it.

Edit: Emily, I swear I'm not just trying to repeat your advice as my own. We just think alike lol

PLAGIARISM!!! I’M BEING PLAGIARIZED!!!

 

[Bamagan]

We all find ourselves in culdesacs of plot lines. Just how many times can they drop their knickers and wiggle their ass to the Birdy Song?

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Have 2 stories on the go. Plus like @EmilyMiller has said. Reach out to a fellow author to annoy/bounce ideas off. They might either annoy you or unlock that door in the corner of the room, which you always ignored because you thought was a cupboard, but actually leads up to the loft conversion with large double bed with an array or sex toys in the chest of drawers.

We all find ourselves in culdesacs of plot lines. Just how many times can they drop their knickers and wiggle their ass to the Birdy Song?

You will find help form the community, it may just be a different song, or even the colour of panties that can move the story on!
B

Had to look it up. Down Texas way, we call it the Chicken Dance. Classic dancehall polka. We usually line dance to it. Lots of fun. Bwack, bwack, bwack, bwack...

And yes, lots of ass wiggling. and the girls in the tight Wranglers look especially good, too.

 

[Cagivagurl]

As others have said if it is a particular story that is hanging you up. Walk away from it for a while...
If it's writing in general then, perhaps its time to read....
listen to music. Find inspiration in other areas.
The human mind is a wonderfully amazing thing, but it sometimes becomes clogged with data.
For me personally, what I've found helpful was to imerse myself in other creative outlets. Let the writing part of my brain regenerate. Fill with new ideas.
If you kn

 

[lovecraft68]

Push through and finish it. Once its done, its a lot easier to go back to it line by line and rewrite it to be better than it is to just stop and keep waiting until you think the entire thing is perfect.

I'm in a spot where I'm waffling between two different opening chapters, but know what I want in chapter two which will be a flashback so I went straight to the part I know I can write, you can always circle back.

 

[Priscilla_June]

Been there, my best advice which I think others have echoed here is to perhaps to take a step back and maybe write something else for fun. I think the biggest shift in mindsets that I am still working on is trying to write for myself and just have fun with the adventure rather than writing for everybody else’s opinion.

Outlining also helps

 

[lovecraft68]

Outlining also helps

Unless you're like me and a complete panster who gets thrown by any form of structure.

 

[AchtungNight]

Look back at your old stories for plot holes, background, and other things on which you might could elaborate. Write accordingly and you’ll be back in the swing of things soon.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I took a break because I was having trouble writing a particular part of a story and now, having stepped away, am having trouble restarting and particularly I have this almost OCD obsession with it being perfect... Any constructive suggestions????

It's okay if you have a work and then maybe you can't finish it for a while. I know I have at least two that I couldn't get "right" and I just left them as is. One of those was over a year ago, and maybe I'll get back to it. In another case, I had about three chapters of a series done and that didn't seem to be working well. If you have other stories somewhere in development, you can try writing one of those as an alternative to this one.

By the way, the feeling that it has to be "perfect:" I think almost all writers go through stages like that. It's really more like, "I used to be able to do this, but maybe I've lost the knack." Sometimes it's almost a daily issue I've noticed. Try having some coffee (or whatever works for you) and then just start "typing," as Charles Bukowski used to put it. Usually it takes a few minutes to get a flow going.

 

[HordHolm]

Focussing on something else is good advice.

Another bit of advice, though, is to just get up, close the laptop, and get outside for some fresh air/nature/physical activity. It may be that the weather where you are ain't perfect, but there's usually something physical to do that can blow the cobwebs out of the mind. It's good for the health, too.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Sometimes, editor and/or publisher deadlines don't give an author the luxury of "stepping away" from a particular work. If you can do that, great tip.

Otherwise, consider approaching the work from a different perspective. I have found audio works best for me in one of the following ways:

1. Close your eyes and record your thoughts as you speak them. If the "blockage" is between your brain and your hands, this can get the ideas flowing again. If you have a speech to text application, it can also save you time and effort.
2. Use a text to speech converter to listen to what you have already written. This can help, both to hear any mistakes, and also to stimulate new ideas for continuing.
3. Use an AI generated text to speech application to generate an audio reading of what you have written. This is different than #2 in that you need to be more involved in the inflections and dialect being created to make it sound more realistic. It can be tedious, but also stimulating for the writing process.

 

[Thefireflies]

During the writing of several of my most recent stories I began to feel an unusual pressure to get the story written that was completely self-inflicted, and I began to lose the joy I normally get from writing. I think it is some form of burnout. I still have ideas and my head is full of stories, but like you, I’m struggling to restart. I have put words to the page, but can’t sustain it, at least not at the moment. I think, for me, taking any pressure of self-imposed deadlines off and reminding myself it’s just for fun.

 

[AchtungNight]

If writing erotica is disturbing you somehow, it might also be good to write about the things you find disturbing. I’ve done this several times and become more comfortable with writing erotica as a result. People find sexual tension in such situations too.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Perfection is a fallacy, it doesn't exist.

 

[LonRivers]

I took some time off to deal with some family issues, but during that time I thought and came up with ways in which to write or ideas to possible bring to life in story. I found that doing that helped. I spent a lot of time on one story to tell, a much larger story, and it was taking it's toll because I kept coming up with dead ends, not getting that continuity right and then finding out that some aspects of my story were being used (in slightly similar ways) in other media. I like to try and be a little original. Fine tuning helps. Even it's your own piece of mind.