How Do You Refill the Creative Well?

[Callum_M]

I’ve been poking around the forums after being an avid reader for years and I first want to say, you’re all wonderfully creative people. I have gotten lost in so many people’s stories and characters. It’s truly been a delight

Okay, sappy part out of the way.

One thing I am curious about. It’s not anything I’m struggling with at the moment. I heard this asked in an interview once and the question has been with me since: what do you do to refill the creative well?

It’s not bottomless for anyone. Whether it’s something to recharge you after completing the latest project, something you do when you hit a wall, or things you do to avoid the wall. Anything really. What helps refill that creative drive for you?

I always wanted to ask a group of people this question and this seemed a good space to do it.

 

[AG31]

I don't. I'm pretty sure I wrote my last story a couple of years ago.

 

[RejectReality]

I wait until something grabs me out of the blue, because fighting it just makes it worse.

Once I get a flash of inspiration, I'm usually good for a while. How long varies, but I'm constantly writing for however long it lasts. Then I hit a wall, and it's back to the waiting game.

Feast and Famine.

Current famine at a year and five months. I've fiddled with a few things, gotten over a couple of humps with WIPs, but not enough to trigger. Pretty much always requires a new idea that grabs me and won't let me go. Then I blaze through several WIPs back to back to back.

 

[Rob_Royale]

As I get ideas, I write them down. After I finish a project I revisit that file to see if anything grabs me. Something always does.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Experimenting does it for me, hence I don't run out of ideas. Just putting random shit together to see what comes out. I just had an outline pop right onto me when I placed three completely different vignettes together, plus what's been going on in my life this week.

I get tired of writing, which is a different thing, but I get tired of not writing far easier than writing.

 

[sijopunk]

what do you do to refill the creative well?

• Research into history (learned this from the Scent of Jasmine Tea historical fiction event)
• General world-building with no constraints
  • Inventing small details about characters and trying to explain them
• K-dramas on Netflix
• DMing with other Lit authors and just kicking ideas around (this place is most useful when it's most social)
• Reading this forum and stealing @BryanRichardson 's leftover ideas using it for inspiration
• Write short prompts on Reddit to force myself to create on a timeline
• Reviewing past works to see what patterns emerge, this helps me identify tropes I overuse and also shows me common themes that continue to inspire me
• Getting yelled at by my mom, apparently (I have 3 stories in progress that all involve a first person protagonist struggling with maternal pressure)
• Free writing / "Morning Pages" (haven't done this in a while but I found some of my morning pages journals the other day)

I bolded the things that are most valuable for me.

 

[StillStunned]

There are always ideas to get excited about. Starting something new is the easiest thing in the world. The hard part is maintaining the excitement long enough to get to the end of the story.

I go for walks and let my mind wander. When it comes back it often brings little gifts that help me get past blocks. I also report on my daily progress in the Support Thread: it gives a dopamine boost and helps to maintain discipline.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm still at a point where my generation of ideas for stories has far outpaced my ability to write them. So I don't think I will run out anytime soon.

I can offer this, though. I find that the more I write the easier it is for me to come up with new things to write. Part of it is that with respect to erotica my interests are very broad. I don't confine myself to one genre, and that makes it a lot easier to come up with a new creative challenge.

The other thing is to read a lot. I draw inspiration from other people's stories. I'll see a germ of an idea in somebody else's story and think to myself that I'd like to try writing my own story based on that idea.

 

[StillStunned]

There are always ideas to get excited about. Starting something new is the easiest thing in the world. The hard part is maintaining the excitement long enough to get to the end of the story.

I go for walks and let my mind wander. When it comes back it often brings little gifts that help me get past blocks. I also report on my daily progress in the Support Thread: it gives a dopamine boost and helps to maintain discipline.

And in addition to this: I've written nearly 50k words over the past month. I'm going to take a short break.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

what do you do to refill the creative well?

Dreams.

Or nightmares.


When your mind (and life) is as broken as mine, you come up with some odd stuff.

 

[SmilingLez]

what do you do to refill the creative well?

1. Studying herd behavior for my dissertation. What makes them tick. Good or bad. Then using this information to predict their next step.

2. Being part of nature. Knowing that there are no 90° angles in nature, my words don't have to fit into anyone else's jealous narrow-mindedness.

YMMV

 

[AG31]

As I mentioned above, I no longer entertain ideas for stories. But I do keep track of ideas for posts in AH!! I post them as drafts in my email, all titles preceded by "Lit Post:" I bring one to life when it leaps out at me.

 

[IWroteThis]

While reading is my primary go-to when I'm struggling to put words on not-paper, I've found people-watching to be quite inspiring. I miss the malls of old, but a bench in a busy park works too. After a while, you start making up details to explain the behaviors, outfits, etc. Before you know it, they stop being random strangers and start representing new characters.

 

[BryanRichardson]

Reading this forum and stealing @BryanRichardson 's leftover ideas using it for inspiration

I have found that not having standards helps. I find some topic that interests me and I write something, post it, and move on. Of all the stories I’ve posted here I’ve done research for only a few. The Scent of Jasmine Tea event because I had to be somewhat historically accurate, Breast Pump for breastfeeding specifics, and Hacksaw Ridge for historical details about the Congressional Medal of Honor. For everything else I just make shit up.

Last years Survivor Challenge included a bingo card of different Lit categories and story prompts and I tried to connect several of them together in each story. It usually worked.

For this years Survivor I’m trying to write in every category including the same main character, and that is a big constraint. (I’ve probably already failed since I didn’t include “Randal” in my NonHuman story and won’t be able to get back to that category this year.)

Oh, also, I’ve got this whole document of story seeds. They are usually just a couple of words each. The last five things I added to the list were:
Blackout contacts
Midnight ballerina
Going acoustic - no vibrator
It’s not a ponytail, it’s a happy handle
The gay agenda - word of mouth
(I don’t remember the context of “midnight ballerina”, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something when I need a story.)

 

[MelissaBaby]

Uh...not one person suggested having more sex?

 

[Writer61]

It hasn't been a problem so far. I have probably added more ideas over the last few years than I have managed to write down. The ideas come from random inspiration to thinking about plots that would fit into categories I haven't written in before.

 

[EmilyMiller]

How Do You Refill the Creative Well?​

I don’t, not really. I have a list of ideas which I add too quicker than I check off ones I’ve written. If I finish something, and nothing of my list feels compelling, or if I don’t feel I have the energy to write, then I don’t.

I take a break. We go for a run or a walk. Or buy new running shoes; you can never have enough. I do some yardwork. I bake something. I read. I help him out with his hobby. In summer, we go for a swim, or drive to an ice cream place. I have to get back into doing some climbing.

Something always comes to me, or I feel reenergized soon enough.

 

[Voboy]

There are always ideas to get excited about. Starting something new is the easiest thing in the world. The hard part is maintaining the excitement long enough to get to the end of the story.

This.

For me, it's not about "refilling the creative well" in the sense of getting ideas. It's about "refilling the persistence well" when it comes to making those ideas into reality. I often go through periods where I just don't get excited about my stories; always, without fail, that spell eventually passes on its own and I get back to productive writing. "Forcing it" isn't something that I would try; I doubt it would work, for me.

Honestly, OP, your question is applicable to almost anything. We get into ruts at work, in relationships, as parents, as lovers... always, we're running low on creative ideas. Part of what helps me here, with my stories, is the reminder that nothing I'm writing here is all that important, in the great scheme of things.

 

[TheLobster]

And in addition to this: I've written nearly 50k words over the past month.

Geez! Leave some for the rest of us, will ya?

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Uh...not one person suggested having more sex?

Considering the rising levels of solitude worldwide, and the addition of a society that is turning far too deep into the hedonistic well it's becoming too painful to be pleasing, while simultaneously everyone wearing chastity belts out of shame instead of kink, such suggestion would feel like the kind of slap to the face that would be more a turn off than a turn on.

But what does this cat know anyway? Meow, meow! Meow meow meow.

 

[Samdesu]

Considering the rising levels of solitude worldwide, and the addition of a society that is turning far too deep into the hedonistic well it's becoming too painful to be pleasing, while simultaneously everyone wearing chastity belts out of shame instead of kink, such suggestion would feel like the kind of slap to the face that would be more a turn off than a turn on.

But what does this cat know anyway? Meow, meow! Meow meow meow.

Seems to be quite a bit.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'll just be honest here, porn is always good for some easy ideas or at times I'll see a clip that I instantly feel like I could wrap a more serious story around. The site Pure taboo has some really twisted ideas and despite the name its not incest, there's some, but they have videos in a lot of categories.

People watching while I'm having coffee has provided some ideas as well.

 

[TheLobster]

There is always r/dirtywritingprompts if you want some wacky ideas.

 

[Erozetta]

I’ve been poking around the forums after being an avid reader for years and I first want to say, you’re all wonderfully creative people. I have gotten lost in so many people’s stories and characters. It’s truly been a delight

Okay, sappy part out of the way.

One thing I am curious about. It’s not anything I’m struggling with at the moment. I heard this asked in an interview once and the question has been with me since: what do you do to refill the creative well?

It’s not bottomless for anyone. Whether it’s something to recharge you after completing the latest project, something you do when you hit a wall, or things you do to avoid the wall. Anything really. What helps refill that creative drive for you?

I always wanted to ask a group of people this question and this seemed a good space to do it.

Refill it? I'm fucking drowning in it at the moment.

 

[SimonDoom]

Uh...not one person suggested having more sex?

Uh . . . we decided to let you go first.