Looking for muse

[Lolita30]

I've been suffering from writer's block for years; any idea how to get the creative juices flowing, a muse perhaps?

 

[PoppingTom]

Write only if you want to write.

If writing isn't fun for you, do other things.

Simple, but true.

 

[Lolita30]

Write only if you want to write.

If writing isn't fun for you, do other things.

Simple, but true.

I like writing very much; it challenges me it's just that ideas are not coming to me as freely as it used to...

 

[PoppingTom]

Most ideas come when you get involved with something. Collect everything to a theme.

You begin to write stories for yourself (I just speak for myself, as I got much too many ideas to write them all), if there's no more story that surprises you, so you begin to surprise yourself.

Fuck Realism, fuck morality, fuck make up oh so nice style, fuck everything that holds you back writing. Begin writing and, if the theme sucks atm, begin another one. Maybe you finish something just after time, even if its a year or so. Don't care about it.

 

[Lolita30]

Most ideas come when you get involved with something. Collect everything to a theme.

You begin to write stories for yourself (I just speak for myself, as I got much too many ideas to write them all), if there's no more story that surprises you, so you begin to surprise yourself.

Fuck Realism, fuck morality, fuck make up oh so nice style, fuck everything that holds you back writing. Begin writing and, if the theme sucks atm, begin another one. Maybe you finish something just after time, even if its a year or so. Don't care about it.

thanks a lot; so i will write and submit and not care what anyone thinks! if they hate it it meant they read it at least!

 

[PoppingTom]

That's one way to do it.

Or find an editor before posting. One who can give you a little advice of your story.

Keep in mind, that, for the sake of creativity, you can (and must) be as dirty as you want. If you got enough ideas for the story, the technical part begins. This part is much harder to take for most people. For me, too.

 

[_Lynn_]

I've been suffering from writer's block for years; any idea how to get the creative juices flowing, a muse perhaps?

Check out the subforum for fun ideas and challenges.

 

[Boxlicker101]

You may not like the idea, but I find it helps to watch dirty movies.

 

[SweetWitch]

I've been suffering from writer's block for years; any idea how to get the creative juices flowing, a muse perhaps?

The dastardly white page…evil in its truest form—for a writer, anyway. There are reasons for blocks and there are excuses. Sometimes we have to stop making excuses and find the reason.

Once that’s been ironed out, do something completely out of character. If you’re quiet and reserved, do something crazy—like dancing in a public fountain or walking through a crowded store talking to the voices in your head while your friends walk behind you and giggle.

Okay, so now you’re thinking, no way is that going to help. Wanna bet? It’s very liberating. It opens the mind and clears the cobwebs out. And it’s entertaining as hell. I once walked an imaginary dog, bending to give it pats and offer it treats. I even yelled at someone for stepping on its paw. I had two friends with me at the time who thought the looks on the other pet walkers’ faces were hysterical.

Then start small. Take out a pen and paper (say in a park or mall) and watch the people around you. Find someone who is doing something strange, someone who looks suspicious or angry and give that person a name and a back story. Write it out—even if it’s in the form of notes. Oh, and make the paper some fancy little notebook and the pen as ornate as possible. It adds to the mystique.

Soon these little observations start to take shape and a story is born. Once the creative process starts, one only has to set aside some portion of each day—no matter how small—to write. Even if what you write is a letter to a friend, make it creative and interesting. Write a poem, a limerick, a silly tune or even just paragraph about why you hate the color gray.

Suddenly it will hit you, that incredible idea. The people you observed will have some small part in the story, each character growing from those you created at the mall. The ridiculous man with the gold teeth will become a spy. The fat woman in the polyester double-knit will be the evil landlady. The nerdy little guy with the bowtie will become the unexpected hero.

Then write. Don’t worry about posting anything. Don’t think, “Is someone going to like this or are they going to be offended?” Write because you love the world you’re in when it takes you there. Write for the love of it, the sport of it, the joy of it. Write because it’s what you do.

When the dust settles and you read the finished product, if what you created is something you’re proud of, then—and only then—do you decide if you wish to share it with the world. If you decide not, it’s their loss and it’s on to the next.

Anyway, that's how I do it. It's a process.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have said this before when other writers have asked the same question...just sit down in front of the keyboard and start typing.

--------------------------------------------------

The sky was falling so hard the drops of liquid that pummeled my body actually hurt as I ran for cover. In my right hand was the picnic basket and table cloth we were using to sit on. In my left was the hand of my lover, Molly. As we ran, both laughing, we were being soaked by the deluge that had opened up without warning.

We finally made it to the lone shelter in the park, both laughing aloud at our condition. I immediately stripped off my shirt and wiped the cold water from my head and face. I then reached over to Molly and dried her face as best I could with an already wet shirt.

---------

Now I could go on and tell how both Molly and I get naked and build a small fire to dry our clothes. Then how we make love on the picnic table...whew...gotta go.

Hi Molly!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

And, as Molly has so accurately pointed out, never, ever believe that creativity isn't something that can be learned. Newton put it best. " If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." Read, read, read. Incorporate the ideas you like best into your own work and then, when your voice has returned, throw them out and use only your own.

 

[RunningJib]

PM Sent

I like writing very much; it challenges me it's just that ideas are not coming to me as freely as it used to...

I have the same problem

 

[DeeZire]

I would encourage you to go out and have a casual sexual encounter with a perfect stranger - preferably in the back seat of a cab, or on the dance floor at a crowded club, or perhaps in a laundromat with a college student. Or pose naked for a life-drawing class. (Check Meetup.org for one near you.) Then you'll have something to write about.

 

[Tarakin]

The dastardly white page…evil in its truest form—for a writer, anyway. There are reasons for blocks and there are excuses. Sometimes we have to stop making excuses and find the reason.

Once that’s been ironed out, do something completely out of character. If you’re quiet and reserved, do something crazy—like dancing in a public fountain or walking through a crowded store talking to the voices in your head while your friends walk behind you and giggle.

Okay, so now you’re thinking, no way is that going to help. Wanna bet? It’s very liberating. It opens the mind and clears the cobwebs out. And it’s entertaining as hell. I once walked an imaginary dog, bending to give it pats and offer it treats. I even yelled at someone for stepping on its paw. I had two friends with me at the time who thought the looks on the other pet walkers’ faces were hysterical.

Then start small. Take out a pen and paper (say in a park or mall) and watch the people around you. Find someone who is doing something strange, someone who looks suspicious or angry and give that person a name and a back story. Write it out—even if it’s in the form of notes. Oh, and make the paper some fancy little notebook and the pen as ornate as possible. It adds to the mystique.

Soon these little observations start to take shape and a story is born. Once the creative process starts, one only has to set aside some portion of each day—no matter how small—to write. Even if what you write is a letter to a friend, make it creative and interesting. Write a poem, a limerick, a silly tune or even just paragraph about why you hate the color gray.

Suddenly it will hit you, that incredible idea. The people you observed will have some small part in the story, each character growing from those you created at the mall. The ridiculous man with the gold teeth will become a spy. The fat woman in the polyester double-knit will be the evil landlady. The nerdy little guy with the bowtie will become the unexpected hero.

Then write. Don’t worry about posting anything. Don’t think, “Is someone going to like this or are they going to be offended?” Write because you love the world you’re in when it takes you there. Write for the love of it, the sport of it, the joy of it. Write because it’s what you do.

When the dust settles and you read the finished product, if what you created is something you’re proud of, then—and only then—do you decide if you wish to share it with the world. If you decide not, it’s their loss and it’s on to the next.

Anyway, that's how I do it. It's a process.

Interesting ideas... thank you, Molly

 

[oggbashan]

I like John Buchan's method:

Take three unconnected statements and try to think of a way to link them together in a story.

Here is an example:

A senior politician facing the Press; a dog racing across a field; a pimped-up car driving through a rough area.

Simple link: Dog finds the politician's daughter dead in a ditch close to her college. Her body is found to have a lethal overdose of cocaine. The pimped-up car is driven by the drug dealer who supplied the cocaine to the politician's wife who intended to use it to murder her husband who has been having an affair with a staffer who is known to use cocaine recreationally, but daughter accidentally eats the spiked food intended for her father...

The plot can be far more complicated and tortuous than that but once you have that sort of structure you can write to connect the apparently unconnected.

Og

 

[Brute_Force]

Either you can write or you can't. If you can't, then don't. Why torture yourself?

 

[PoppingTom]

Either you can write or you can't. If you can't, then don't. Why torture yourself?

Sorry to say that, but sounds like you can't.

 

[Brute_Force]

Sorry to say that, but sounds like you can't.

Wrong, my friend. I simply don't whine about it when I can't do it. My point is: Don't spend a lot of time and energy whimpering about it if you can't write. If you can't, then you probably weren't meant to do so.

A writer writes. A writer doesn't waste a lot of time talking about writing, which is why I almost never say anything here.

 

[PoppingTom]

A writer writes. A writer doesn't waste a lot of time talking about writing, which is why I almost never say anything here.

But you do say something here, and it sounds like "I'm a writer and you're not, noob!".

If you ever create a story and never had something like a creative hole or something that inhibits you from continuing, you're a lucky guy. But there are people who got that, and maybe an advice can help them.

Just really read the whole thread, maybe you get an idea of what I mean.

 

[Lolita30]

Either you can write or you can't. If you can't, then don't. Why torture yourself?

Wow, you are straight to the point, aren't you?

 

[Lolita30]

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses; I can now take everything with a grain of salt and create!

 

[SophieUK]

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses; I can now take everything with a grain of salt and create!

Just go for it girl.. express yourself!

 

[Stella_Omega]

Wrong, my friend. I simply don't whine about it when I can't do it. My point is: Don't spend a lot of time and energy whimpering about it if you can't write. If you can't, then you probably weren't meant to do so.

A writer writes. A writer doesn't waste a lot of time talking about writing, which is why I almost never say anything here.

One wonders why you've decided to break silence now.

 

[Brute_Force]

One wonders why you've decided to break silence now.

This place is just as boring as it was the last time I stopped by with the only difference apparently being that a butch dyke is here trying to run the show. That's boring too, only in a different way.

 

[SweetWitch]

This place is just as boring as it was the last time I stopped by with the only difference apparently being that a butch dyke is here trying to run the show. That's boring too, only in a different way.

Ooo, ouch. You sound like a very angry little person. Why so much hostility?