Writer's Block

[sirhugs]

Help.

I'm a long time contributor to the story side for those who don't know.
Used to be active on this forum but been distracted by health issues. Focused on writing.

Here's my problem.

I have time and urge to write but all my setups seem stale, and I seem to have lost the ability to write realistic sex scenes (I'm medically impotent and haven't had sex in ages).

Any tips to get me writing again?

 

[StillStunned]

Write something not specifically sex-based? Try your hand at sci-fi or fantasy, go as weird and wild as you want, and see whether any sex scenes unfold naturally. If they don't, it doesn't really matter much in SF&F.

 

[StillStunned]

Also: whenever I feel blocked, I just focus on reading for a few weeks. Particularly bad writing can get me all fired up to prove that I can do better than a published author.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’m not exactly an expert on either writers block or my analogy for fixing it, but think about casting your line into a stream. How many times do you do it before you get a bite. And then maybe that one gets away. But persist. Maybe let the boat drift downstream a bit and try a different location. If you keep casting your line, eventually you’ll catch a fish.

*Its probably evident that I have never fished, though my grandpa used to drag me along with him sometimes

 

[AwkwardMD]

Help.

I'm a long time contributor to the stpry side for those who don't know.
Used to be active on this forum but been didtracted by health issues. Focused on writing.

Here's my problem.

I have time and urge to write but all my setups seem stale, and I seem to have lost the ability to write realistic sex scenes (I'm medically impotent and haven't had sex in ages).

Any tips to get me writing again?

I'm really sorry to hear this. Writer's block sucks. I get it every year, for at least a week or two in the spring.

It has helped me to think about my writer's block phases as a time to "breathe in". I watch more TV, more movies, play more games, and absorb. I take creativity inward. Eventually I'll be ready to breathe out again, and I try to be patient with myself about it.

 

[Jorunn]

Write a series of stories about a ‘fictional’ guy who is impotent. How did he discover this? Doctors and nurses who tried to help. Unusual cures he tried. His trip to China for acupuncture. A visit to Paris to find romance. He meets an older French woman. And she teaches him new ways to pleasure a woman using his hands and mouth. He takes his pleasure from her pleasure.

Otherwise, write what you want, and when you reach a sex scene, treat it like science. Break it down into steps and use one sentence for each step. Add some adjectives, and be done with it in two paragraphs. Just avoid categories where lots of sex is expected, and don’t worry about scores.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Help.

I'm a long time contributor to the stpry side for those who don't know.
Used to be active on this forum but been didtracted by health issues. Focused on writing.

Here's my problem.

I have time and urge to write but all my setups seem stale, and I seem to have lost the ability to write realistic sex scenes (I'm medically impotent and haven't had sex in ages).

Any tips to get me writing again?

I think I've mentioned these before. Of course, what we do may or may not work for you, but this is what I've got.

1. Revisit characters and situations from your earlier work. Recently, I started adding more to a series that I thought was done five years ago. It had a secondary female character who seemed worth describing further, and so far it is going pretty well. There is also a group of sequels (which could have been a series but I didn't know it then) that I have decided to continue after a four year gap. You don't have to start anew with every submission. You probably have older material that needs another look and can be expanded.

2. Write a non-fiction essay, erotic or not. Usually these can be a mini-memoir about something in your life, even if it was a long time ago. Everybody's got stories about themselves that might be more interesting than you thought. I've got a couple that I'll link to as examples.

https://classic.literotica.com/s/movies-and-memory-ch-01

https://classic.literotica.com/s/new-york-taxi-driving-tales-ch-01

The first one has only two chapters so far, and the second has four. Eventually I'll add to them.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

'They' say the mind is the most virile organ.


I'm not sure who 'they' are though.



I know my mind is screwed though.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I try to find someone to talk about my story with, or do some behind the scenes world building when I'm blocked. If that doesn't work then I read and play video games. If I still can't write and I'm getting frustrated enough then I go coding for Dwarf Fortress. And then somewhere in the super focused trying to figure out which commands and tags will get this reaction, object, or creature working the way I want, I completely forget about what I was trying to write until weeks or months later when I get an insane urge to write and abandon dwarf fortress once again to return to my writing.

 

[Djmac1031]

I've had writers block for a few months now, so I understand the frustration.

Still, I'm trying.

I think when life has us dealing with stuff it does make it harder to focus on writing.

Work through things best you can, hang out on the forum, talk stories, talk about whatever. Make a few friends, fight with a few assholes.

Who knows where inspiration may come from...

Wishing you the best.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Make a few friends, fight with a few assholes.

Just don't mistake the abuse department for the argument department.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Just don't mistake the abuse department for the argument department.

They’ve been merged to save costs. Did you not get the memo?

 

[NuclearFairy]

They’ve been merged to save costs. Did you not get the memo?

Well, that explains some things.

 

[Djmac1031]

So by way of a slightly more serious reply...

I'm currently trying to write a story. I only have a vague idea of a plot. But I'm pushing forward on it. Im hoping to just work it out as I go.

Im not worrying about mistakes or over used words or typos. I'll edit later. For now I'm just focusing on the story and the characters.

If I can get a solid story out of it, I can clean up the mistakes later.

even if it winds up sucking, itll still be a story, right?

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've had writers block for a few months now, so I understand the frustration.

Still, I'm trying.

I think when life has us dealing with stuff it does make it harder to focus on writing.

Work through things best you can, hang out on the forum, talk stories, talk about whatever. Make a few friends, fight with a few assholes.

Who knows where inspiration may come from...

Wishing you the best.

I think I said something similar to you as I said to @sirhugs above. Another version is that if you have some plot and characters in a series, you can move in any direction to the future or the past. You can even add some incidents in the middle that you haven't thought about before. I had one stand-alone story where I liked the female character (she's the narrator) but instead of going forward, I went back to something that happened twenty years earlier when she was in college. She had mentioned it in passing in the 2024 story, but I decided to fill in the details of what happened back then.

Does that make any sense? If you've got a character you like, there are many sides to that person to write about. Like that group of sequels I mentioned to @sirhugs above. As I write the "fifth installment" after ending it in 2021, I find that I can continue the story in some plausible fashion. Even the setting and back story are in place. The odd thing is that it started as a single stand-alone story that I never intended to continue.

 

[Djmac1031]

Another version is that if you have some plot and characters in a series, you can move in any direction to the future or the past.

Exactly what I'm doing, actually. Im taking a minor character who has appeared in a few other stories and giving her her own adventure.

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

Particularly bad writing can get me all fired up to prove that I can do better than a published author.

I feel this viscerally. I recently read a short story which was absolute dross, really extremely poor, and then turned the page to discover it had been turned into a trilogy of real, published books...

I often find that writers' block for me means I need to find a fresh idea to work on. So I might go for a walk, or read, or wait a week or so to see if inspiration strikes.

 

[ronde]

Help.

I'm a long time contributor to the stpry side for those who don't know.
Used to be active on this forum but been didtracted by health issues. Focused on writing.

Here's my problem.

I have time and urge to write but all my setups seem stale, and I seem to have lost the ability to write realistic sex scenes (I'm medically impotent and haven't had sex in ages).

Any tips to get me writing again?

If your setups seem stale it might be because they're not based in reality. That works for horror and sci-fi, but not so well in other genre.

I have a few suggestions to give you some fresh ideas.

1. Go somewhere where there are lots of people of all ages and just watch for things that seem interesting. Why would the mature woman at the mall wear a T-shirt with "You can thank my mom for these" emblazoned over her breasts? Those two guys grocery shopping together - do they seem more like a couple and just roommates?

2. Check out the YouTube videos of Walmart shoppers. You'll see at least half a dozen fetishes on display.

3. Think back about the co-workers you've had. Heard any juicy gossip about one of them? Did one woman seem to always dress to show off her assets? Did one guy seem to be perfectly groomed and favor skinny jeans?

Once you have spotted something interesting, start asking the question "why". That will generate a plot for a story that's based on what any reader would see.

A story doesn't have to include graphic descriptions of sex to be erotic. Sometimes hints can be erotic too.

 

[crookedletter]

When I have writer's block I just write anything and everything that comes to mind: random thoughts, observations on everyday and uninteresting things. I do it by hand which tends to allow me to get into a flow more easily. It doesn't always happen, but frequently enough I'll start musing on something more specific, start thinking -- and thus writing -- about how those thoughts might become a story. And often the next thing I know I'm writing something that resembles a narrative.

I do the same if I'm stuck on a work in progress. I'll start with something like So this is what's happening... or by asking myself what a character wants and why, and I'll let my thoughts spill messily onto the page until I -- occasionally, eventually -- get something that feels like a break. Or I write myself into a whole new story with a whole new set of problems. Which is okay too.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

Whenever I have writer's block, I just write something else. I write like I sketch or doodle: little things I don't expect to go anywhere, to ever see the light of day. Maybe I want to try out describing a certain type of outfit, or a certain scene, or a certain conversation. I've got probably 100k words of stuff I've written this way over the years. Some of it has even come in handy! But most of it was just to scratch the writing itch.

In terms of getting your mojo back, or writing a "realistic" sex scene - what's sexy about sex for you? Focus on that. Just write down lots of thoughts about that, without trying to make it writerly. Get the thoughts out. Then try to write a little scene about those thoughts, again without a view to sharing it with anybody. See what works, what feels natural, what feels hard, etc.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Exactly what I'm doing, actually. Im taking a minor character who has appeared in a few other stories and giving her her own adventure.

Maybe this seems obvious, but you have to ask why you created this person in the first place and why you would want to revisit her. What kind of role or situations was she in during your first go-rounds with her? Did you have a location or setting that might be appealing?

 

[Djmac1031]

Maybe this seems obvious, but you have to ask why you created this person in the first place and why you would want to revisit her. What kind of role or situations was she in during your first go-rounds with her? Did you have a location or setting that might be appealing?

it's... complicated lol. She was introduced as a nameless character with no speaking lines early on in The Seduction Of Darkness, part of my Angels & Demons Saga i share with @EmilyMiller

I gave the character a name and she became more involved as the stories progressed, having a very important role in the third story in my trilogy.

But she's never had a solo story on her own. So that's what Im aiming for.

 

[iwatchus]

I have a character (Lizzie for any of the few of you who reads my stuff) who is the significant other of a side character from my main series. She got a bit of camera time in some of the later stories and then a bigger role in a spinoff story (A New Life) and I have decided I really enjoy the character. I may give her a spinoff story or at least a much bigger spotlight when I write an upcoming spinoff featuring her significant other comes out.

 

[gunhilltrain]

it's... complicated lol. She was introduced as a nameless character with no speaking lines early on in The Seduction Of Darkness, part of my Angels & Demons Saga i share with @EmilyMiller

I gave the character a name and she became more involved as the stories progressed, having a very important role in the third story in my trilogy.

But she's never had a solo story on her own. So that's what Im aiming for.

I don't do many (or any) angels and demons sagas, but it might help if you could visualize what she looks like. I usually use photos on-line or women I once knew as physical models; their personalities I usually make up. Male characters are less important somehow but I sometimes use people I knew years ago as models. I have one major female character that I have never pinned down exactly as to looks, but I can visualize her anyway.

The clothing that the women in the photos wear is sometimes helpful. I have no idea what people would wear in your saga. I guess it's sort of "timeless?"

 

[Djmac1031]

I don't do many (or any) angels and demons sagas, but it might help if you could visualize what she looks like. I usually use photos on-line or women I once knew as physical models; their personalities I usually make up. Male characters are less important somehow but I sometimes use people I knew years ago as models. I have one major female character that I have never pinned down exactly as to looks, but I can visualize her anyway.

The clothing that the women in the photos wear is sometimes helpful. I have no idea what people would wear in your saga. I guess it's sort of "timeless?"

Oh I know exactly what she looks like. Her personality? That's coming to me the more i write her.

As for her wardrobe? Well, most times, she's a nudist. Hates clothing, only wears it when forced to.