Words flowing like a river, then drought. Argh!

[stickygirl]

Some time ago an author I was working with was impressed that I'd written 1,000 words in an hour or so. I shrugged "Is that a lot, then?"
At times my words run like a bath tap, then the pressure suddenly disappears and I'm watching the next drip bounce uncertainly at the rim, without ever falling.
I used to be terrified that it meant I'd lost lose interest in the project; the spark had gone; the wind had blown the seeds to the four corners.

Recently I started reading a huge tome - a collection of diaries and notes by Patricia Highsmith. I was fascinated to read how she went through the same highs and lows; angry that her words had dried; how she'd often spend weeks rewriting whole passages, uncertain if he had found the right tone.
Just now, I'm watching a recent interview of David Gilmour by Rick Beato and he describes how he and the band would struggle over songs for weeks, years even. Tunes that we all sing in the car as though the melody had always existed.

Perhaps what I'm describing is the difference between 'craft' and 'inspiration'? I think it reflects a confidence in one's ability "Don't stress - it'll come. Keep faith, keep mulling, keep the notepad open."

 

[EmilyMiller]

Some time ago an author I was working with was impressed that I'd written 1,000 words in an hour or so. I shrugged "Is that a lot, then?"
At times my words run like a bath tap, then the pressure suddenly disappears and I'm watching the next drip bounce uncertainly at the rim, without ever falling.
I used to be terrified that it meant I'd lost lose interest in the project; the spark had gone; the wind had blown the seeds to the four corners.

Recently I started reading a huge tome - a collection of diaries and notes by Patricia Highsmith. I was fascinated to read how she went through the same highs and lows; angry that her words had dried; how she'd often spend weeks rewriting whole passages, uncertain if he had found the right tone.
Just now, I'm watching a recent interview of David Gilmour by Rick Beato and he describes how he and the band would struggle over songs for weeks, years even. Tunes that we all sing in the car as though the melody had always existed.

Perhaps what I'm describing is the difference between 'craft' and 'inspiration'? I think it reflects a confidence in one's ability "Don't stress - it'll come. Keep faith, keep mulling, keep the notepad open."

I empathize

 

[StillStunned]

I think we all face it, at some point. Yesterday I wrote 2k words of a new story. Today I've rewritten one sentence of it.

Like all art, writing is a combination of inspiration and effort. Inspiration gets the story started, but it's the effort that gets it finished and published.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Some time ago an author I was working with was impressed that I'd written 1,000 words in an hour or so. I shrugged "Is that a lot, then?"
At times my words run like a bath tap, then the pressure suddenly disappears and I'm watching the next drip bounce uncertainly at the rim, without ever falling.
I used to be terrified that it meant I'd lost lose interest in the project; the spark had gone; the wind had blown the seeds to the four corners.

When you drip your word drops into a simple thread like this, it's such a delight to see them falling. You'll never run dry, Stickygirl!

Recently I started reading a huge tome - a collection of diaries and notes by Patricia Highsmith. I was fascinated to read how she went through the same highs and lows; angry that her words had dried; how she'd often spend weeks rewriting whole passages, uncertain if he had found the right tone.

Most poets have said the same - Sylvia Plath, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, immediately spring to mind

Just now, I'm watching a recent interview of David Gilmour by Rick Beato and he describes how he and the band would struggle over songs for weeks, years even. Tunes that we all sing in the car as though the melody had always existed.

Perhaps what I'm describing is the difference between 'craft' and 'inspiration'? I think it reflects a confidence in one's ability "Don't stress - it'll come. Keep faith, keep mulling, keep the notepad open."

That's my philosophy too - wait long enough, and if the words are there, they will come.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I was stuck for six months, producing almost nothing. Then I finished a novella and a novel (first draft) in about a month, writing something like 100 manuscript pages in that time.

I gather it happens to many writers.

--Annie

 

[Statius]

Where I'm at right now. No words. I think partly for me is I need to be in 1 characters head to write and I just can't get there right now, even with 2 drafts of well established characters. That and I've been going through a writing style change, that's been a huge pain in my ass adjustment, although a necessary one. So here I sit wasting time going through the threads I stead. *Sigh*.

 

[SkyBubble]

I'll have 6 things going on at once, then nothing for a month or two.

Working on a few stores for here, both new and edited, a potential novella, a Shakespeare parody or two, and a poem (longish, free verse) about love and grief. That kind of variety is good for me.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Yesterday, my “writing day,” when I had a whole 2 hours blocked off in the morning to write, I wrote a grand total of 31 words.
Didn’t even write that haiku I said I’d write lol

 

[SimonDoom]

This is very common. My writing pace is all over the map, but I'm not very disciplined so I'm a poor example. I can crank out a few thousand in a good day, or almost nothing.

Hemingway said he wrote about 500 words a day, so that's comforting, except he was disciplined about making himself write almost every day, so the result over time was successful. He also said that most of what he wrote was crap and had to be rewritten, so I draw some comfort from that, too.

 

[Statius]

Some time ago an author I was working with was impressed that I'd written 1,000 words in an hour or so. I shrugged "Is that a lot, then?"
At times my words run like a bath tap, then the pressure suddenly disappears and I'm watching the next drip bounce uncertainly at the rim, without ever falling.
I used to be terrified that it meant I'd lost lose interest in the project; the spark had gone; the wind had blown the seeds to the four corners.

Recently I started reading a huge tome - a collection of diaries and notes by Patricia Highsmith. I was fascinated to read how she went through the same highs and lows; angry that her words had dried; how she'd often spend weeks rewriting whole passages, uncertain if he had found the right tone.
Just now, I'm watching a recent interview of David Gilmour by Rick Beato and he describes how he and the band would struggle over songs for weeks, years even. Tunes that we all sing in the car as though the melody had always existed.

Perhaps what I'm describing is the difference between 'craft' and 'inspiration'? I think it reflects a confidence in one's ability "Don't stress - it'll come. Keep faith, keep mulling, keep the notepad open."

So what do you do? Force yourself to write? Or dwell on one story/ character point and wait it out? I've tried force writing, but that makes editing and deleting a pain when the words and story really do start flowing. So now I'm attempting dwelling on one crucial mood I need to permeate the story and how to layer that in before I continue

 

[sirhugs]

So what do you do? Force yourself to write? Or dwell on one story/ character point and wait it out? I've tried force writing, but that makes editing and deleting a pain when the words and story really do start flowing. So now I'm attempting dwelling on one crucial mood I need to permeate the story and how to layer that in before I continue

have you tried skipping ahead and writing a line or passage to write towards?

 

[iwatchus]

So what do you do? Force yourself to write? Or dwell on one story/ character point and wait it out? I've tried force writing, but that makes editing and deleting a pain when the words and story really do start flowing. So now I'm attempting dwelling on one crucial mood I need to permeate the story and how to layer that in before I continue

Probably my most common stuck point is sex scenes. Based on someone's advice here (I don't remember sho said it), I just wrote <<sex happens here>> and went on past it. I have started using that trick to skip parts I am struggling with and I will sometimes do it with discussions as well. I will usually come back and fill in some more details, like specific positions or sentiments or whatever. Eventually, I can write the missing chunk when I am in a better place mentally for it. Writing something else is my best medicine for getting past it.

If I can't write at all, I read other stories, which can help in a different way.

 

[AG31]

Can't believe I missed this thread.

There are two things possible here, that ideas dry up or that words dry up. I just posted a thread five minutes ago about words, about how hard it is, sometimes, to find the right one, and how great it is when, Aha!, it appears.

An aging author in a novel I read recently moaned, repeatedly, "My words! My words!" as he watched his abilities fade.

"Don't stress - it'll come. Keep faith, keep mulling, keep the notepad open."

And share your plight with buddies here in AH.

 

[stickygirl]

Can't believe I missed this thread.

There are two things possible here, that ideas dry up or that words dry up. I just posted a thread five minutes ago about words, about how hard it is, sometimes, to find the right one, and how great it is when, Aha!, it appears.

An aging author in a novel I read recently moaned, repeatedly, "My words! My words!" as he watched his abilities fade.


And share your plight with buddies here in AH.

Thanks. My particular project has changed gear: initially there was a lot of action, which is easy for me to conjure and write 20k at speed. I've had to move on to constructing an emotional labyrinth to which I know the exit, but I'm still figuring out the path. It's a tortuous process and, I'm realising, not one that comes easily to me.

I relate it to looking at a beautiful piece of furniture, or art, and being baffled by how it was done. We all suffer blank page fear and the only solution is one step at a time.

 

[PennyThompson]

As I said in another thread somewhere that I can't find now,

sometimes the words flow like water, and sometimes they ooze like overcooked boba through a straw.

 

[IWroteThis]

I'm trying to push through it, but seeing my stuff stuck in Pending has really put a damper on my creative juices. I know it's silly, especially since it's impacting my non-Literotica writing as well, but it is what it is.

 

[stickygirl]

I'm trying to push through it, but seeing my stuff stuck in Pending has really put a damper on my creative juices. I know it's silly, especially since it's impacting my non-Literotica writing as well, but it is what it is.

I'm inclined to get emotionally affected ( read: pissed off ) if things aren't moving forward so it becomes a self-fulfilling SoB. But then... I step back and say "Hey! Remember you do this for fun?" Don't forget the fun

 

[stickygirl]

I'm inclined to get emotionally affected ( read: pissed off ) if things aren't moving forward so it becomes a self-fulfilling SoB. But then... I step back and say "Hey! Remember you do this for fun?" Don't forget the fun

Goshamighty, I sound an upbeat kinda gal!

 

[crookedletter]

I have this anxiety every time I sit down to write: what if I can't do it anymore? It isn't very intense, I can often ignore it and push it aside and try anyway, but it's always there.

And sometimes I can't, the words won't come. Sometimes I can push through the initial block to get some inertia, and the dam finally breaks and they come free. But sometimes the dam holds strong.

But I've been doing this long enough -- not here, necessarily, just writing in general -- that I have some spark of faith somewhere in there that the words will come eventually. They usually do.

 

[IWroteThis]

Probably my most common stuck point is sex scenes. Based on someone's advice here (I don't remember sho said it), I just wrote <<sex happens here>> and went on past it.

I have several scenes with a very similar placeholder, but it's only certain sex scenes. In one story, I have several sex scenes. All but one were easy to write. The first one still is just that placeholder I added over a year ago.

Then, on the story I'm currently trying to focus on, the first chapter was basically nothing but back-to-back sex scenes that I had no problem writing. The second chapter is kind of an aftermath chapter and I'm struggling to write the transition scenes to link the key scenes together. They aren't even sex scenes, just minor time jumps of a week or month.

 

[CalBishForNow]

When I'm in a good mood and have a part of a story in front of me that's easy (e.g. I have the plan for plot in mind and can mentally conjure the details as needed, whether they're dialogue, description, or action), I can put 1500 words on the page in an hour.

When that's not the case, my words per hour would be single digits. Or negative, if I get stuck revising.

I'm generally more of a pantser, but I almost always start writing with the end and the conflict in mind, and sometimes I find myself going in the wrong direction towards one or the other of them and have to backtrack.

 

[Statius]

Goshamighty, I sound an upbeat kinda gal!

Yeah. Stop being so positive. I thrive on negativity. Your positivity is killing my MOJO!

 

[amitheotherone]

Heart and passion can not be faked in any craft, without those two the result has no life or soul.

 

[dirk2024]

As I said in another thread somewhere that I can't find now,

sometimes the words flow like water, and sometimes they ooze like overcooked boba through a straw.

eewww....

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I did a lot of writing in August to early October. Then, the wall....

I often work plots when driving and then rush to write them down as soon as I can after reaching my destination. Both of my parents have been ill recently and I've been on the road (a lot) going to see them, but what little plot development I've accomplished has basically been lost due to a combination of worry and lack of time. My writing has also been affected, with virtually nothing being written since I completed my Halloween tale a few weeks ago.

However, with the plot department closed, I have been enjoying Bob Seger, CCR, and some other 70s-80s rock when I got tired of the pavement noise.