Getting in the mood

[pbbj]

I'm trying to finish one of my stories, a series, but I just can't seem to get in the mood to write. If I force myself to write it just feels... uninspired and dull.

So. What are your experiences and tricks for getting in the mood to write?

 

[JagFarlane]

Long, boring, monotone lectures seem to be the best at sparking the wandering imagination, heh.

 

[sr71plt]

Unless it's something I'm being paid for and am on deadline, I don't write it unless I'm in the mood to write it. This is an enjoyment, not a job.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm trying to finish one of my stories, a series, but I just can't seem to get in the mood to write. If I force myself to write it just feels... uninspired and dull.

So. What are your experiences and tricks for getting in the mood to write?

I do something else for awhile, maybe throw some darts, shoot pool, just let the mind relax and see if anything comes to me.

Another thing that works is I read one of my other stories and it sort of gets me in the mode to go back to the new piece.

 

[redzinger]

A shower, as mentioned on the other thread. I'll read something first, usually the previous chapter, before I get in.

A bit of editing sometimes sets me off too.

 

[49greg]

I hope you guys know that the title of this thread is somewhat ambiguous. When I first read it I thought it was going to be something completely different.

Having said that I throw in my half a cent worth:

If I'm not in the mood, writing isn't fun. And for me it's all about fun. I did Nanowrimo last year and HAD to average 1300 odd words a day. I ended up with a bad bad bad story. Did I mention it was bad?

But I found that even though I wasn't that inspired some days, I could come up with something. And the Bad parts weren't because of the not in the mood thing, but because I was writing about something that I had very little to no knowledge of and had done no research on before hand.

My advice, for what it's worth is to just spend some time away from your writing device and just think about it for a day or two. See if that helps. damppanties wrote an essay on curing writer's block:

http://www.literotica.com/s/cure-for-writers-block

Try it.

 

[pbbj]

All good advice. I'll just do other stuff, try another day probably and read the other chapter first.

Yea, the title might be a bit misleading huh?

 

[PennLady]

I'm not quite not in the mood to write, just out of the routine and habit of it and not sure how to get re-started. Mostly not sure what to write.

 

[RoyceConnors]

If it's hard to get in the mood to write it, maybe what you're writing isn't interesting or inspiring enough to write about. Maybe go back and see where the excitement of writing it wore off and go another direction instead.

 

[Carnevil9]

For writing erotica, all I have to do is watch some porn. That gets me horned up enough that I can't wait to dive into my own little magical sex world where I am God.

For writing non-erotica, I don't have a mechanism to get in the mood. I just have to wait for the moment to strike.

 

[LastLostIdols]

Well whatever gets you in the mood to write; listen to music, watch a film, rub one out, dance, smoke, drink, take a shower, go for a run, ignore your neighbour's pleasantries etc. Or you can just... you know, sit down and write. Often times we don't want to write but as soon as we get past that first sentence that's when the mood strikes us with the need to write. At least that's how it works for me.

And you should never worry about writing anything bad, because the bad. No matter how bad it may be, can always be edited later to lead to something good. So just Follow your feet, they'll show you the way.

 

[Carnevil9]

Well whatever gets you in the mood to write; listen to music, watch a film, rub one out, dance, smoke, drink, take a shower, go for a run, ignore your neighbour's pleasantries etc. Or you can just... you know, sit down and write. Often times we don't want to write but as soon as we get past that first sentence that's when the mood strikes us with the need to write. At least that's how it works for me.

And you should never worry about writing anything bad, because the bad. No matter how bad it may be, can always be edited later to lead to something good. So just Follow your feet, they'll show you the way.

I agree that sometimes just writing a few paragraphs will get you to fall into the groove. You can always throw away the first few paragraphs if they suck, or re-write them later.

But I disagree about editing later. If I am not in the writing groove, I don't put out writing that needs editing. I put out useless writing that needs to be thrown away.

(some would say ALL of my writing falls into that category, but that's a different topic!)

 

[LastLostIdols]

But I disagree about editing later. If I am not in the writing groove, I don't put out writing that needs editing. I put out useless writing that needs to be thrown away.

Same horse, different jockey.

Editing & deleting to me falls under the same general practice of refining one's work.

 

[lovecraft68]

I never trash anything I have a folder called "remnants" every once in a while I've managed to salvage some scenes out of it and plug them into new stories.

 

[TamLin01]

Force yourself to write it anyway. If it comes out "uninspired and dull," well, it won't be your only draft, will it? Having a few more things to fix upon revision is a far better fate than having nothing at all.

 

[sr71plt]

Force yourself to write it anyway. If it comes out "uninspired and dull," well, it won't be your only draft, will it? Having a few more things to fix upon revision is a far better fate than having nothing at all.

I really can't understand the need to force yourself to do something that is just part of the "enjoying activity" of life. What is the need to agonize over doing something that isn't coming naturally? Would you feel the need to play golf just because there are golf courses in your city?

 

[MatthewVett]

I just sit down and get it done. I can go back later when I feel inspired and edit it, but I find it helps to have a rough draft to work off of.

 

[StrangeLife]

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/1f/8f/e3/1f8fe325f85ddce7af8d06f6a30e8df6.jpg

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

I had a car that died every time that saying is used.

 

[49greg]

I'm not quite not in the mood to write, just out of the routine and habit of it and not sure how to get re-started. Mostly not sure what to write.

I know what you mean. I finished and submitted a story a few weeks ago and haven't written anything since.

A few nights ago I had a strange dream. I've been adding to it and changing it up in my head ever since then. The main character in the dream is hardly there any more and the main bit of the dream that I remember isn't there either. Just a tiny bit of the dream remains in the story I've built in my head.

It wasn't a sexy dream so now I need to add that. And all I have is really just a snippet of part of a story. I think I'll try to start typing today. The girl is modeled after a girl I knew in HS, she was two years behind me. Our parents threw us together in cotillion but I never told her what a crush I had on her. Her family moved and I didn't see her again. I sometimes wonder what if.

 

[Vanadorn]

Sr71 is dead on - don't write if you don't want to.

However, you should still do SOMETHING that continuously hones and sharpens your skills. If you can't write something decent - take a 3 minute mental SOC.

Best tactic I ever got from a real paragon in the industry years ago was that he would, especially on days that he was NOT in the mood to write, bust out this battered cheap Staples 6x9 spiral note book and pick up a pen - and for 5 minutes (stop watch alarm) would write a stream of consciousness based upon some random 2-4 word phrase he would pick out a newspaper, or poster on a wall, or anything.

He would start there and until the alarm beeped, he would just write, the pen was not allowed to stop, even if he just wrote the word "and and and" a few times while his mind jumped to the next synapse he would just write. Then when it was over he would close the book, put the pen away, and decide if he wanted to write. If he did, great, if not, there was always the latter half of the day or tomorrow.

His book was filled with such wonderful stuff, just Stream of Consciousness - and there was dozen or scores of possible story ideas just sitting there. I took up his idea and started doing it myself.

Can't tell you how helpful it has been. When I start getting the itch to write, I SOC it the old school way with pen and paper. And then one day, WHAM - writers block gone and I'm churning out thousands of words a day. 75k story? No problem - and it's pretty good too. Every workshop, group, and forum I had ever been on for the 25 years since then I did this and shared it with the writing bodies and minds there. It works.

My best to you!

-V

 

[nicecthulhu]

Are you not in the mood to write, or not in the mood to write the finish to the series?
If I'm not in the mood to write, as others have said, I simply do something else.
If I'm not in the mood to write what I feel I should be writing then I take one of two tactics.
First, if I'm not enjoying writing the story then I'm not enjoying the story. So, why would I think anyone else would? It sits in its own little folder waiting for some future date when I can return to it to force a butterfly from that caterpillar. One of my stories has a completed first draft and I've not yet returned to, and don't honestly think I ever will.
Second, if I previously enjoyed writing the story but now don't, then I assume I've gone off track. I reread the story, then continue on (or edit and cut then continue on) in a way that I enjoy. If character A is now the antagonist, or dead, then so be it. Maybe A and B were going to get together, but something in me is pushing B and C together. Maybe the story needs a sudden left turn. Further edits will smooth it all out.
Sometimes you're not in the mood to write, and sometimes your brain is telling you something about what you are writing. My brain sometimes uses a hammer...

 

[pbbj]

Are you not in the mood to write, or not in the mood to write the finish to the series?

Yea, I'm writing another story now. I figured there probably isn't anyone on Lit counting the days until I finish the series anyway, so why not take my time?

 

[TamLin01]

I really can't understand the need to force yourself to do something that is just part of the "enjoying activity" of life. What is the need to agonize over doing something that isn't coming naturally? Would you feel the need to play golf just because there are golf courses in your city?

If you only write when it's easy, at some point you may end up never writing again. And the way you become a better writer is to write often--preferably every day, and that's certainly not always easy.

Just because something is hard doesn't mean it's not enjoyable--nor does it mean it's not good for you. Besides, like I said, what's more trying: A little hardship now that will produce something you'll be happy about later (surely we're all happier in the long run having written something?), or a lot of hardship later having written nothing at all?

 

[sr71plt]

If you only write when it's easy, at some point you may end up never writing again.

You "may" fall off a bridge someday too. Sorry, but that sentence is nonsensical. I didn't say that writing had to be easy to do it. I posted that, unless you are a professional writer writing on deadline (in which case you won't be writing to post it to Literotica anyway), there's no reason in hell why you should try to force writing erotica just because some folks here are pressing you to do it or trying to give you the false impression you somehow are not complete or worthy if you don't.

The answer to whoever says they just can't get it up to do a hobby is not to suck it up and get with the approved program--it's to go do something else until/unless you want to get back to doing the hobby.