Inspiration/muse

[loquere]

What gets you going, when you have a block?

Is it a meal a tv show?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I don't have blox, what I have is nuthin much to say.

 

[Aynmair]

What gets you going, when you have a block?

Is it a meal a tv show?

A scent, a memory, a song.

 

[sr71plt]

What I almost always am trying to block is the muse so that I can get something else done.

 

[Handley_Page]

What gets you going, when you have a block?

Is it a meal a tv show?

Almost any daily activity:
Planning a proper end !

 

[Hypoxia]

Ways to deal with blox:

* Think about (and write) something else. Whether another story, or exercises, or whatever.
* Drive on, regardless of internal vacuity. Just put words down and worry about them later.
* Self-medicate. Self-abuse. Have others medicate and/or abuse you. Return the favor.
* Take a long walk-bike-drive-ride-flight and THINK while you move. Try to, anyway.
* Give it all up. Stop writing. Fall back on external entertainment. Hallucinate, even.
* Take up a musical instrument. I recommend harmonicas, ocarinas, and tinwhistles.
* Go to a zoo or farm and contemplate the animals while they contemplate you. Ha.
* Did I mention giving up? That's the surest cure, most long-lasting, and cowardly.
* Spend all your time writing on these and other forums. Maybe someone will give a shit.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Sometimes it helps to 'plot' my stories.

I have a bad habit of starting stories with no idea where they end up. But my strongest ones are always when I have writers block and I can plot them out.

I just write a list of the scenes that I want to happen, so I can keep them straight in my head, add more or less.

This is part of my plot for the newest story.

Jealous encounter with wounded Jasper and Seraf.
Trouble with Goyo/Guillermo
Many visits of Seraf, discussion of friendzoning of arthur
Trouble with increase of troops and mech in black quarter.


Like that probably means nothing to you. But to me, the first line is a scene where Seraf has a ragey jealous fight with my main character, Jasper, because J is so devoted to his gang leader that he let the gang leader torture him as part of a test.

Goyo and Guillermo are the names of the rival gang leaders.

The third lines means I get to write some fluffy sex scenes, and a discussion between S and J about the one time J slept with another guy.

Fourth line means I get to write about when the army gets serious about trying to find Seraf.

I just plot out the entire story this way, and even if I'm not ready to write a long difficult dialogue scene, I can skip ahead and write a rough draft of a later scene, and I know how it fits in with the rest of my story.

 

[VenusButterflies]

Poetry gets me going, Neruda or Rilke especially.

 

[loquere]

Watching Mr. Smith goes to Washington usually does it for me but...... I'm gonna try and write something different & see if my abilities have returned.

 

[Athalia]

What gets you going, when you have a block?

It depends on where the block is. If it's thinking of a plot, you can use trick I learned in college. Get a Tarot deck (I used the Waite deck, but any one will do). Lay out a series of cards, and look for ways that the characters or situations might overlap. Before you know it, there's a plot bubbling to the surface.

If you've got the plot but can't get the juices flowing, just write anything. The idea is to get the fingers moving. I take a favorite book and just copy it word-for-word. Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut work best for me. I get into the rhythm of how they tell the story, and before long, I want to use that rhythm to tell my story.

 

[loquere]

It depends on where the block is. If it's thinking of a plot, you can use trick I learned in college. Get a Tarot deck (I used the Waite deck, but any one will do). Lay out a series of cards, and look for ways that the characters or situations might overlap. Before you know it, there's a plot bubbling to the surface.

If you've got the plot but can't get the juices flowing, just write anything. The idea is to get the fingers moving. I take a favorite book and just copy it word-for-word. Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut work best for me. I get into the rhythm of how they tell the story, and before long, I want to use that rhythm to tell my story.

Number 2 was me.

 

[pacifist91w]

It's never the same twice!

Writers' block can suffocate me for weeks or months on end. I guess it's because if I managed to get out of it with a certain stimulus, that stimulus won't work next time. Wish I could figure out something that always helped.

What has gotten me out? Watching the movie _Labyrinth_, reading fan fiction, traveling to Devil's Tower, and there are plenty others I can't think of right now.

Oh, Princess Luna got me out of a block once, too!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Sometimes it may just be writing something different for awhile.

Or not writing at all.

Kick back watch some reruns or some horrible movie on Netflix.

Or just having a beer or two. (I drink it for the taste)

 

[loquere]

Sometimes it may just be writing something different for awhile.

Or not writing at all.

Kick back watch some reruns or some horrible movie on Netflix.

Or just having a beer or two. (I drink it for the taste)

Wow, are you my Twin?

 

[Hypoxia]

Sometimes I succumb to blocks. I'm 1/3 or 2/3 finished, I have the story fairly plotted-out, timelines are set, genealogies are diagrammed, actions and conversations are simmering in my head -- but I just can't bring myself to actually write it. My brain isn't blocked but my energy levels certainly are. Slogging-through that next batch of writing just seems like too much work, too demanding of time and resources. In other words, I'm a lazy shit. Gotta kick my own ass, force myself to stick with it. Not a pretty sight, I assure you.

Still, I managed to finish THE BIG BANANA after letting it sit and stew for a week or more at the point of transformation. I *knew* what would happen after the thunderbolt; I just had to gin-up the energy to put fingers to keyboard and *write* the fucker. And re-write it. Oh, re-writing is easy; I do that all the time. And posting on the forums, of course. Those are lazy ways of pretending I'm a writer.

I doubt I'm the only one here who gets energy-blocked. Oh, how we suffer!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Wow, are you my Twin?

I have a brother...he's an asshole. Are you an asshole? (just joking - I have no twin)

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Sometimes I succumb to blocks. I'm 1/3 or 2/3 finished, I have the story fairly plotted-out, timelines are set, genealogies are diagrammed, actions and conversations are simmering in my head -- but I just can't bring myself to actually write it. My brain isn't blocked but my energy levels certainly are. Slogging-through that next batch of writing just seems like too much work, too demanding of time and resources. In other words, I'm a lazy shit. Gotta kick my own ass, force myself to stick with it. Not a pretty sight, I assure you.

Still, I managed to finish THE BIG BANANA after letting it sit and stew for a week or more at the point of transformation. I *knew* what would happen after the thunderbolt; I just had to gin-up the energy to put fingers to keyboard and *write* the fucker. And re-write it. Oh, re-writing is easy; I do that all the time. And posting on the forums, of course. Those are lazy ways of pretending I'm a writer.

I doubt I'm the only one here who gets energy-blocked. Oh, how we suffer!

Yeah...have a little problem with a novel length work...well it's supposed to be a novel length work, but is stuck at around 50,000 words and no end game in sight. I never really had an ending for it, thought I would have one by the time I got there. So now I'm stuck in the middle of the damn thing with no place to go. Phooey!

 

[Swilly]

Yeah...have a little problem with a novel length work...well it's supposed to be a novel length work, but is stuck at around 50,000 words and no end game in sight. I never really had an ending for it, thought I would have one by the time I got there. So now I'm stuck in the middle of the damn thing with no place to go. Phooey!

How do you know it's the middle if you don't know where it ends?

Pretend it's the first installment in a series!

I was always pissed off the the movie "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" actually ended there. What a gyp!

 

[CeasarBoobage]

Sometimes I can fix the block by writing something else. It doesn't matter if it's an addition to an existing story in process or spinning up a new one.

Reading the story from the beginning can help as well. Once I get into the flow of the story, I can usually start picturing again how it was supposed to flow. As soon as I hit the blocked part, as long as I don't run out of steam, I can let the characters blaze ahead and tell me how to write their story.

However...... I have about a dozen stories that are perma-blocked, and no matter how nimble my fingers are, as soon as I open one of them, my brain blanks out. It's like my muse is happily dancing on my shoulder, directing my fingers, singing into my ear. Once I open the problem child, she stomps her feet and kicks me in the nose, flying away in anger. I desperately want to finish those stories, I really do, but when I make the attempt, that fickle muse blacklists me for several days. Maybe I need to get her drunk.

 

[loquere]

I have a brother...he's an asshole. Are you an asshole? (just joking - I have no twin)

That's the kind of joke I make too. I need to read your stuff.

 

[loquere]

Yeah...have a little problem with a novel length work...well it's supposed to be a novel length work, but is stuck at around 50,000 words and no end game in sight. I never really had an ending for it, thought I would have one by the time I got there. So now I'm stuck in the middle of the damn thing with no place to go. Phooey!

-Just kill everyone
-Have aliens invade
-Have a character run for President
-Give someone aids

 

[Zeb_Carter]

-Just kill everyone
-Have aliens invade
-Have a character run for President
-Give someone aids

A lot have died already...not really touched on in the story.
That's the plot of the book...aliens are the problem to begin with.
No president...the world is current run by the Irish.
Not a erotic story.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

How do you know it's the middle if you don't know where it ends?

Pretend it's the first installment in a series!

I was always pissed off the the movie "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" actually ended there. What a gyp!

'cuz it's nowhere near ending...

(now you would think that there is more to this comment...)

 

[loquere]

A lot have died already...not really touched on in the story.
That's the plot of the book...aliens are the problem to begin with.
No president...the world is current run by the Irish.
Not a erotic story.

Make someone become a Pope.
Lots of bar fights

 

[Hypoxia]

Ultimate solutions:

* Blow up the world.
* Shift to another space-time.
* Reveal that it was all a (bad) dream.
* Cliffhanger ending; next chapter, different subject.