Ex-Writer ? I feel perma-blocked

[Xrisqu]

Well where to start.

Ive been reading the fiction here for years and it amazes me how many people have a gift for prose and sparking the imagination.

As someone who was in a loveless marriage for 20 years and finds himself returning to ,for lack of a better word,"normal", I feel stuck.

I wrote for years for fun the occasional Sci-fi short story and blurb for the local paper , but it seems the creative juices have dried up.

Any suggestions or am I just needing to give it a little more time?

I feel I have some things to contribute but my muse is silent and its very very disconcerting.

Look forward to what I hope are constructive responses

Xris

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Well where to start.

Ive been reading the fiction here for years and it amazes me how many people have a gift for prose and sparking the imagination.

As someone who was in a loveless marriage for 20 years and finds himself returning to ,for lack of a better word,"normal", I feel stuck.

I wrote for years for fun the occasional Sci-fi short story and blurb for the local paper , but it seems the creative juices have dried up.

Any suggestions or am I just needing to give it a little more time?

I feel I have some things to contribute but my muse is silent and its very very disconcerting.

Look forward to what I hope are constructive responses

Xris

My honest advice, as someone who is returning to writing (hopefully soon) after a long hiatus as well: It's already there somewhere waiting to come out. You just gotta relax and let it go when it's ready.

Maybe the best thing to do is start writing something retarded (no offense intended). Something that you can't take seriously on any level. Just pop the words on paper, and don't bother giving a shit what they are, as long as they move forward. No one has to read it but you.

Maybe (like in "Finding Forrester") you should start by copying someone else's words and waiting to see if they get your mind moving in another direction.

In the meamwhile, keep reading.

Q_C

 

[Xrisqu]

Thanks for your response Quiet Cool.

I understand what you are saying . I have written some. It's just ,well, Shit.

It's like sitting down to knit a quilt you've made a hundred times.
You've improvised designs before,used different materials, and yet when you sit down to knit... all you can make are those god-awful Pabst Blue Ribbon beer can and wool hats .

Just hard to look at .

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm writing a gardening manual for novice urban farmers. Its a challenge to make complex ideas simple and clear, and lotsa fun. I'm reviewing a new book thats set for release in the near future. The author is Muslim and I dont like Muslims, so its a challenge to be fair and balanced.

Or you can impose an ordeal on yourself. Try this....if you fail to hatch a nifty writing idea in 24 hours commit yourself to writing 5000 words about soybeans or maybe an article about Readers Digest Magazine.

 

[oggbashan]

Try writing something for the current Winter Holidays Contest. Last possible entry is on December 7.

It doesn't matter whether it ends up as rubbish and you don't want to enter it. Just writing - anything - even a simple description of a place you know, a What If? about someone you see in the street, a fifty-word story - anything at all is the best way to start writing.

I have suggested the Winter Holidays contest because it gives you a limited range of themes and a deadline. It is easier to start writing if you have an objective.

Og

 

[sr71plt]

If your writing is blocked, why even try? Are you under contract to produce x number of words by a deadline? If not, go do something else. When/if you are motivated to write, you will.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I heard a rumor that pilot is writing a porn story about the recent election. In a nutshell the story is about how the voters fucked the Democrats. I get a boner just thinking about it.

 

[sr71plt]

I could do that if you like, JBJ. Tell you what. You go off the parasite roles and post your first story to Lit.--it can certainly be on this topic--and I'll write a story about it too. I've done that on Lit. before. No problem. (For me, at least, because I don't lie about being a writer.)

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Try writing something for the current Winter Holidays Contest. Last possible entry is on December 7.

It doesn't matter whether it ends up as rubbish and you don't want to enter it. Just writing - anything - even a simple description of a place you know, a What If? about someone you see in the street, a fifty-word story - anything at all is the best way to start writing.

I have suggested the Winter Holidays contest because it gives you a limited range of themes and a deadline. It is easier to start writing if you have an objective.

Og

Exactly; and the extremely short stories and simple descriptions are a good place to start. Writing (and any other task) is often a point of habit. Like exercising, if you try to run a marathon to start, you'll get nowhere. If nothing else, stretch a bit, and allow yourself failures instead of being discouraged.

It'll come in time.

Q_C

 

[JackLuis]

Try drafting a plot using Campbell's "Hero's Journey" form.

It is a little cumbersome for Short Stories, but fun to try to work out.

Or if you want something short to loosen up the brain cells, try Guy meets girl, Girl is attracted, but has a boyfriend, Guy gets creative and provokes a fight with the boyfriend, but not so the Girl sees it. Boyfriend beats the shit out of Guy, the Girl freaks and dumps boyfriend, because "he is a beast!"

Or something like that?

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Try drafting a plot using Campbell's "Hero's Journey" form.

It is a little cumbersome for Short Stories, but fun to try to work out.

Or if you want something short to loosen up the brain cells, try Guy meets girl, Girl is attracted, but has a boyfriend, Guy gets creative and provokes a fight with the boyfriend, but not so the Girl sees it. Boyfriend beats the shit out of Guy, the Girl freaks and dumps boyfriend, because "he is a beast!"

Or something like that?

Yeah, something generic and not at all interesting. It'll keep you from worrying about the audience, as this type story deserves none in the first place.

Q_C

 

[TE999]

If you've written Sci-Fi before, go read collections of stories from the pulps like John Campbells' 'Astounding'...the old space opera stuff...that should get the wheels turning...no worries about pesky ol' reality either.

Happy writing.

 

[SweetWitch]

Well where to start.

Ive been reading the fiction here for years and it amazes me how many people have a gift for prose and sparking the imagination.

As someone who was in a loveless marriage for 20 years and finds himself returning to ,for lack of a better word,"normal", I feel stuck.

I wrote for years for fun the occasional Sci-fi short story and blurb for the local paper , but it seems the creative juices have dried up.

Any suggestions or am I just needing to give it a little more time?

I feel I have some things to contribute but my muse is silent and its very very disconcerting.

Look forward to what I hope are constructive responses

Xris

You're putting too much pressure on yourself. Stop it.

Have you ever walked outside to your mailbox and been surprised to find a hand-written letter from an old friend? It's an archaic thing, but something that always brings a smile. Could you imagine writing such a letter to someone else?

Forget the computer. Don't do email. Write a letter--with a pen and a piece of paper. It doesn't have to be to a friend or family member. It could be to the manufacturer of your new coffee maker, or the guy who invented velcro. Make it nonsensical. Make it fun. Make it insane.

Tell them how fabulous the invention is. Tell them how your socks have never been cleaner than when you put them through the coffee machine, or how your dog thinks your vacuum is possessed and the reason you're starting to agree. Go crazy.

But stop trying to write the greatest thing since A Tale of Two Cities. Stop putting pressure on yourself. Therein lies the block with most people. Sit around with your buds and talk plots. Put a scenario out there and let them come up with ideas. Bouncing off the heads of others can often set a spark.

Or, get drunk, get laid and forget about it until it comes naturally.

 

[sr71plt]

You're putting too much pressure on yourself. Stop it.

Have you ever walked outside to your mailbox and been surprised to find a hand-written letter from an old friend? It's an archaic thing, but something that always brings a smile. Could you imagine writing such a letter to someone else?

Forget the computer. Don't do email. Write a letter--with a pen and a piece of paper. It doesn't have to be to a friend or family member. It could be to the manufacturer of your new coffee maker, or the guy who invented velcro. Make it nonsensical. Make it fun. Make it insane.

Tell them how fabulous the invention is. Tell them how your socks have never been cleaner than when you put them through the coffee machine, or how your dog thinks your vacuum is possessed and the reason you're starting to agree. Go crazy.

But stop trying to write the greatest thing since A Tale of Two Cities. Stop putting pressure on yourself. Therein lies the block with most people. Sit around with your buds and talk plots. Put a scenario out there and let them come up with ideas. Bouncing off the heads of others can often set a spark.

Or, get drunk, get laid and forget about it until it comes naturally.

I think that's even too much pressure. If you feel the pressure to write overwhelming you to the point that you can't do it, just don't. Go do something else. When the motivation to write returns you can return to writing.

 

[driphoney]

Thanks for your response Quiet Cool.

I understand what you are saying . I have written some. It's just ,well, Shit.

It's like sitting down to knit a quilt you've made a hundred times.
You've improvised designs before,used different materials, and yet when you sit down to knit... all you can make are those god-awful Pabst Blue Ribbon beer can and wool hats .

Just hard to look at .

That was very creative!

 

[Darkniciad]

I think that's even too much pressure. If you feel the pressure to write overwhelming you to the point that you can't do it, just don't. Go do something else. When the motivation to write returns you can return to writing.

That's me. I just took several months off, goofing around and playing games. When I try to force it, it just becomes even harder, and what I do write is complete crap that never sees the light of day.

If I just walk away, the ideas eventually build back up and I get amped to write again.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

That's me. I just took several months off, goofing around and playing games. When I try to force it, it just becomes even harder, and what I do write is complete crap that never sees the light of day.

If I just walk away, the ideas eventually build back up and I get amped to write again.

You may have a point, but not exercising the creative muscles can lead to atrophy, which may be the problem he's having to begin with, after such a long hiatus.

I guess the question is: Are the intellectual words there, the ability to put words down, to make them flow, or is the creativity there, but the words don't want to take form around the ideas. I would say the knitting example would imply the ideas are the struggle, but maybe not.

Either way, such a long break would imply that something has to be done, and that more time off may only worsen the problem.

Q_C

 

[sr71plt]

You may have a point, but not exercising the creative muscles can lead to atrophy, which may be the problem he's having to begin with, after such a long hiatus.

I guess the question is: Are the intellectual words there, the ability to put words down, to make them flow, or is the creativity there, but the words don't want to take form around the ideas. I would say the knitting example would imply the ideas are the struggle, but maybe not.

Either way, such a long break would imply that something has to be done, and that more time off may only worsen the problem.

Q_C

Writing is not the only creative pursuit. Painting, singing, reading, cooking, gardening, connecting with friends and relatives, volunteering in a soup kitchen. All of these are creative pursuits--and I've found that all of them provide inspiration for writing too.

There is no inalienable right or need to write. If it's not coming, it may not be meant for you, but if it is, it will come back--more quickly and with better quality if you shelve it and do something else than if you sit there in front of the computer and grunt. Writing is one of the very few renewable resources.

 

[Toqueme]

.....

 

[KillerMuffin]

I find that when I'm blocked, it's about stress. The more stressed I am, the less I'm able to write and the more blank my brain is.

I do a little yoga, a little meditation, and then write, even if the only think I write is "I have no words to fill this page." And then perhaps expound on the whys and wherefores of an empty brain. I write essays, prose, and poetry, so if one format isn't working, I can usually work with a different one.

I don't know how it works for anyone else.