I seem to have writers block, what can I do

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I never get writer's block because I do this: Write something, anything, a letter to a friend, a post at Literotica, a poem, directions to your house, ANYTHING other than what you should be writing it. Keep doing it, and the block will go away.

 

[Carl East]

I don't seem to be able to think up anything new, even my series have come to a dead stop. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I like doing other things on the site.

Like talking to all the friends I've made, but Dixon said something in an earlier thread that I think is true, we seem to go through stages, where we're in the chat room one day and posting on the board the next.

Has anybody else suffered from writers block, and if so how did you deal with it?

Anyway, back to looking at the keys.

Carl.

 

[Guest]

I wonder, Carl - are all your 'creative juices' being dried up with your new-found interest in cybersex? Heh-heh!



Try spending some time in one of the Sexual Roleplay Games. When you're responding to someone else's posts rather than starting from scratch, it seems to throw up some interesting new ideas and plots that you wouldn't otherwise think of. It's fun to do, too, which helps get the old creative side of your brain going. Obviously, when you write up your story you'll have to change all the other writers' characters, dialogue, ideas and plot-lines.

If you leave your keyboard for a bit and go off for a long walk, or a bath, or do some really mundane task like the ironing or washing up, you'll probably find that you start getting ideas.

My pals laugh at me when I say this, thinking it's a bunch of airy-fairy crap, but it's actually quite scientific: if you're right handed and you scribble for ages in a notepad with your left hand that can free up the creative part of your brain. (I'm not sure how it works with left handed people - but they're often more creative anyway.)

The right hemisphere of your brain is the creative, intuitive, illogical, playful side. It controls the left side of your body. So by scribbling with your left hand you can stimulate the right hemisphere.

No harm in trying it out.

 

[Guest]

Carl,

I have been writing for many years now, and writer's block is nothing new for me. It's funny, though, back when I was in high school I did most of my writing... but once I was exposed to the online world, my writing almost stopped. I found myself signing on "only to check my mail", then I had to see if a few of my friends were online (and if they were of course I had to talk to them for a while! ), and more recently (after finding Lit) the first thing I do online is check the new posts. It's like a drug! A while back I was talking to Gil and I asked him where he had been. He made a great point! He said he had been cutting his "online time" down so he could give more time to writing. Another good idea (as Roger mentioned) is to check out the role playing thread (or chat rooms). If you "cyber" or talk to others online, your creative juices may start to flow. With the exception of masturbation (for some), cybering is merely sharing a story that you and another have created. There's always great ideas in them. Good luck!

~Tiggs~

 

[Raindrop]

want me to send a nekked picture??

okay but seriously, don't worry mr. east, things will be just fine..... just enjoy your time here on the board, and it will come to you.... for all good writers (such as yourself) it always does.

I know it can be frusturating... but it WILL pass!!

luv
-raindrop

 

[Weird Harold]

Originally posted by Carl east:
I don't seem to be able to think up anything new, even my series have come to a dead stop. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I like doing other things on the site.

You might try being silly. Take the characters form one of your series, and run them thoguh the absolute silliest scenario you can imagine. It doesn't matter whether it's a sexual situation or not, just get them moving in any direction at all. Once you've got them moving, then let the story work it's way back around to the direction you want it to take.

Afterwards, you can edit out the detour into silliness and your readers never have to know just how you managed to get the story finished. (of course there might be some of the silliness that you want to keep.)

 

[Whispersecret]

Here are some of my suggestions:

--If you're writing in the third person, try switching POVs. Sometimes a scene is more easily written from a different character's point of view.

--Again, if you're writing in third person, try switching to first person for a little while. Sometimes you can trick your brain into believing that YOU are the character and things start to flow. You can go back and change all the pronouns back to third person.

--Sometimes I find that when a scene is really dragging for me and I can't seem to get past a certain point, it's because--duh!--it's OVER, and I just didn't realize it. Sometimes I'm just trying so hard to write that I don't realize the plot isn't going anywhere and the whole goodbye scene, or whatever, is completely unnecessary.

--I can't give any advice on continuing series because I have no idea WHAT you're supposed to do with those if you want to stop writing episodes. How does everything get wrapped up?

--You're probably already doing this, but I keep a box with index cards in it. On the cards I'll write ideas I get when I get them. Ideas about characters, plot ideas, character traits, plot devices, whatever. That way when I'm ready for a new project, I have those great ideas written down in a specific place. However, sometimes I go back and see that the ideas I thought were so great a while ago are actually pretty lame!

--Try skipping the part you're having trouble with and write a scene that you can really picture in your head. No one ever said you have to write your story sequentially. (Although I find I generally do.)

--Talk to another writer. With my current story, "The Artifact", I got a lot of great ideas while talking about the possibilities of a magic cockring with Wordmage. (Where the hell is he anyway?) We were just chatting and it got into a "what if" banter, where both of us were just tossing out ideas. What if the ring was actually killing his libido? What if he got stuck in one of the fantasies? What if he couldn't take it off once he put it on? That type of thing.

You might feel that you're "stealing" someone else's idea if you do this, or that the story wouldn't be yours. But YOU are still writing the damn thing, and most likely things will mutate as you write anyway.

I hope some of this helps.

 

[Jade]

whisper, wow good advice!

Luv
~Jade

 

[Carl East]

Once again I would like to thank you all, for giving me some good advice.

Roger: you have a good point about the cybersex, and I am always willing to try anything that may help, so thank you for the advice.

Tiggs: Your point about cutting down on online time while I am writing, is well taken. I was starting to think the same thing, although I loath the idea, because I enjoy it so much. But thank you.

Raindrop: Yes! and thanks.

Weird harold: I'm silly all the time Harold, but I see what your saying, and will even try it, thanks.

Sweet Whisper: A good idea, I will certainly give that a try, just to see if it makes a difference, thanks again.

Carl.

 

[ShyGuy68]

Carl

They all have given great advice here, and I agree with them. If you've been busy writing erotica, take a break, and soon you'll get new ideas again!


ShyGuy

PS:

Originally posted by raindrop:
want me to send a nekked picture??

Yes Please!!!!!

 

[Softly]

Perhaps I can contribute something here, only because my process of writing a story is
not the correct way to present a polished finished story. My professional background required that I write concise, precise, reports, in a legal setting, about 25 to 30
different matters on any given day.
From the time I start typing a story, until I submit it is never more then five hours.My first stories were full of typos because I did not know how to type a story off line.

To the point: I come up with one snippet of man/woman relationship that I have experienced or have been told about. I think of what may have occured before that event for the people to react in that manner, and then how would or could they react after.

To that mix, I try to introduce an element that the reader has never been confronted with before.

Example: Whispersecret enters a contest wherin the winner has a date with Brad Pitt.
She wins, but he has to go to Europe for a promotion, so he asks if she wants to go along.He asks if she wants him to treat her as a friend, girlfriend,or wife. Whispersecret, with a keen interest in people,says that she wants to be treated as his wife, hoping to penatrate the "show vaneer" and see the real man.

Your wife is working at the local hospital.
She meets and becomes a conspirator with a real life James Bond, who needs her help.

Your old boyfriends/girlfriends are a goldmine of "little plays." If you were to change history or dispence justice, what would have happened to those folks.

It is easy to tie yourself up in the exact mechanical structure of writing the story, and lose sight that you are telling your "good friends" a really interesting story that you know about.

< Quitely returns to my seat. >

 

[Deborah]

Hey Carl, try sticking your dick in an electrical outlet. That's what Roger the Rachel does. BTW, have you seen Roger's do? Talk about a bad hair day.

Hey Roger, congrats on selling your story. You keep rolling in the dough maybe you'll get laid again before next X-Mas.

 

[CreamyLady]

I have to say that I am in awe regarding your output to date.

I don't know how helpful this is, but I balance my writing with art. After I've finished a piece, I usually can't write again until I've done something in clay that makes me feel equally good, and has maybe stretched an idea further.

Some of my friends in school balance their paintings with wood carving. I think it has something to do with creating on different levels, and maintaining a kind of balance.

 

[Carl East]

YIPEEEEE!!!! Yesterday, I wrote a story in just 2 hours, thanks mainly to a talk I had with Rosebud, who inspired me to write a story for her.

I would like to thank you all, for caring enough to give me advice.

So watch out Laurel, stories coming your way!

Carl.