Do you write in spurts?

[Mastered_again]

Yeah, a cheap, eye-catching title, but do you find, like I do, that sometimes the words don't flow from your mind to paper?
I can't find my voice or my characters can't. I just curse the blank screen.

Then, something clicks and I can't type fast enough.

Not sure how common this is, but I have a perspiring mind and need to know.

 

[StillStunned]

Yes, and after I spurt I like to have a nap.

 

[samhasstories]

Yes, and after I spurt I like to have a nap.

I knew you would beat me to this.

I do write in spurts, but sometimes I find I can limp my way into one if I try hard enough. I might sit down and feel unmotivated, words are coming like pulling teeth, but if I just sit there and don't let myself get up until I've written enough words, eventually I might get a head of steam. Not always.

But yeah, I think I do my best writing when I'm spurting.

 

[StillStunned]

But yeah, I think I do my best writing when I'm spurting.

I do my best spurting when I'm writing.

 

[SimonDoom]

Very much so. I have no consistent pace, but it's not because of writer's block in the usual sense. If I sit down at my keyboard, I can always make myself write. It's just that some days I don't sit at the keyboard. I just don't feel motivated. Other than two 750 word stories I published in early February, I haven't published a story since October, although I've done a fair amount of writing since then. I can go a week or so of doing no fiction-writing, and then suddenly get the bug and write a lot.

 

[nice90sguy]

Another spurter here. I think that's the difference between pro and amatuer writers. I'm pretty sure professional fiction writers are more consistent in their output

 

[Mastered_again]

I'm pretty sure professional fiction writers are more consistent in their output

Especially the formulaic ones.

 

[TheLobster]

Spurts of what length, though?...

I mean, yeah, that's actually my question. If we're talking writing schedule (every day, every other day, etc.), then mine is a bit spotty. There are days I don't write at all, though I might be mulling over plots in my head.

When it comes to sitting down and actually putting words on the screen, though, then I do it at a pretty consistent and steady pace. No spurting there, at least not of the wordy kind.

 

[intim8]

Yes, and after I spurt I like to have a nap.

OP left that opening a mile wide, just for us.

I can't find my voice or my characters can't. I just curse the blank screen.

Then, something clicks and I can't type fast enough.

Yup, same here. One problem is my job.

Mornings are best for me for inellectual and creative work, but my job competes for that time. My brain often process what I am working on while I sleep, so I often wake up with that "click", and/or a new idea for something. If I can jump right in, it goes pretty smoothly.

But when I'm deep into some work project, it often happens that that subconscious processing is about code, not about characters and plot and the like.

After work, I try to write, but too often my head is not in it. If I haven't had the story and the characters running around my head like kids who have had too much sugar for a few hours, I find it hard to get a handle on them.

When I was between code projects, I was less of a spurter, but it still happened a lot.

I think that's the difference between pro and amatuer writers. I'm pretty sure professional fiction writers are more consistent in their output

Possibly, but also pro writers are less likely to have jobs that suck up their creative capacity. So much of writing happens away from the keyboard, in your head while you are going about your day. Sometimes I wish I had a job digging ditches or something. Then I could let my imagination wander all day and come home rearing to go.

 

[Mastered_again]

Then, something clicks and I can't type fast enough.

Sometimes the click is the squish of a gummy.

 

[KeithD]

No, I write in cycles. Meal, writing/reviewing, reading, meal, writing/reviewing, reading, meal, either evening activity or writing/reviewing, reading, bed.

 

[AchtungNight]

Spurts and cycles here, depending on the day. I have a job to keep me occupied and other hobbies also, thus writing isn’t all I do.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, a cheap, eye-catching title, but do you find, like I do, that sometimes the words don't flow from your mind to paper?
I can't find my voice or my characters can't. I just curse the blank screen.

Then, something clicks and I can't type fast enough.

Not sure how common this is, but I have a perspiring mind and need to know.

That thread title had to be a deliberate double entendre on your part, correct? So, anyway, I know what you mean. I try to do at least a little work on most days, even if it's just proofreading. I usually can only write so much in one sitting (notice that I didn't say in one shot), and thus I get back to it a day or two later.

I rarely curse the blank screen. I've had stories that weren't working (we've all had those) and then I didn't finish them. I don't discard them, however, because sometimes a section of them or even the whole thing can eventually be reworked as something else.

P.S.: Woman can spurt too. I have no idea how common that is. Anybody who knows the details, well I'm listening. I don't mean those videos where they are actually urinating.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Definitely. I'll go ages just writing a couple sentences a day, often on a variety of different fragments. Then inspiration strikes and I'll want to get down a whole story as fast as possible. Like yesterday I produced 250 words of Jack and Jill, immediately after seeing the thread. A few hours later I saw what should happen, and just finished a 2500 word short story. It's not great literature but it's a sweet little story and some people might enjoy it.

The stories that I have to wrestle to get them to come out aren't any worse than the ones which flow easily, though they are often more emotionally complicated. Sometimes what I think is good stuff flows pretty easily - I've written 12k words in a day before, around the rest of my life.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Yeah, a cheap, eye-catching title, but do you find, like I do, that sometimes the words don't flow from your mind to paper?
I can't find my voice or my characters can't. I just curse the blank screen.

Then, something clicks and I can't type fast enough.

Not sure how common this is, but I have a perspiring mind and need to know.

Write in spurts????
Nah, I use a computer

 

[mildlyaroused]

Yes, and oftentimes my most productive periods overlap with the periods in which I read the most. On some level this feels counter intuitive - if I read more, I must have less time for writing? - but it's true. The more I read, the more I write, and the less I sit vacantly in my writing chair.

 

[Priscilla_June]

Its my primary dream as a writer to just have a consistent motivation to write. With that I feel like I could conquer all

 

[HopelessDreams]

I wrote the first four of my Literotica stories within a fairly short timeframe—excluding my initial outline of Restoring Haven which I had written two years prior. To minimize burnout, I alternated writing sections of various stories based on my mood (instead of making myself complete any one story from beginning to end before starting another one). I also avoided editing the same story twice in a row.

Back then the pandemic had caused me to lose almost all my clients, which allowed me to focus on writing erotica. Nowadays I have several higher priorities. That said, I did think up a few more story outlines since uploading my last story, but I abandoned them because they didn’t appeal to me enough. I want to only write erotica that represents my own erotic psychology, but I don’t want to repeat the same themes more than a few times, nor do I want to settle for a less-effective variant just to keep things a little fresher; it would need to also fit better with the rest of the story. And my tastes are not especially broad. I also try to keep my real life experiences out of my erotica—or at least obscure any such connections that my readers might otherwise make. This limits my options even further.

I also haven't been fantasizing very much these past few years. Ever since I lost five pounds a couple years ago (down to 112 lbs), I often experience fatigue—and consequently lack of libido—during the periods of the month when I naturally have less appetite (though at times I've counteracted this by forcing myself to eat when I wasn’t hungry). I don’t think I look underweight, but I nonetheless seem to be at the lower limit of what my body can handle.

I’ve also gotten back into dating—and blogging about my dating life (sharing potentially helpful insights that I’ve gained from it). I’m also much more intrinsically motivated to write about this than I am to write fiction. I also think I’m much more skilled at the analytical writing that I do in my blog than I am at erotic storytelling—and my readers seem to agree.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Of the things that I do do in spurts, writing is not among them. My writing more of an eruption or a flood, but occasionally just a dribble.

 

[lovecraft68]

For a long time, I wrote every night, but the last couple-and due to wife's health issues and other life drama-I tend to binge write a couple days a week and not do anything writing wise the rest of the week.

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

I find it's often a function of how much time I have. When I was younger and had more time, I wrote very consistently each morning before doing anything else. Now I have much less free time, I have to fit writing in where I can, which is often in spurts. I'd love to go back to having consistent time!

 

[Micktg007]

I find if I write in roleplay if there’s a connection that helps and normally most productive in the morning after work

 

[nice90sguy]

I've just published 3 stories in the last two weeks, the latest of which was 30,000 words long. I've also been overposting here a lot! My manic phase has peaked, and I'll probably have a quiet period of recuperation soon. I fucking hope so.

 

[NoTalentHack]

No, I write in Google Docs.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Spurts of what length, though?...

About 3 feet.

I’m probably one of the most sporadic authors on the site. I take a year or more off between stories.