Writers Block...

[LadyClaire]

Gah... ironically I’m stuck because I can’t choose between one of three ideas.

I’d be better off flipping a coin than staring at a blank screen not writing any of them!

 

[glynndah]

Gah... ironically I’m stuck because I can’t choose between one of three ideas.

I’d be better off flipping a coin than staring at a blank screen not writing any of them!

You have a three-sided coin?!?

 

[LadyClaire]

You have a three-sided coin?!?

I’m a writer, I have artistic licence... if I want a three sided coin I can have a three sided coin!

Maybe it’s Canadian?

 

[AlinaX]

Can't put the url here, but google "d3 dice".

 

[bushyTrail]

Can't put the url here, but google "d3 dice".

That's so cool! Far better than lamely taking the integer part of the division by 2 of the result of a 6-faced die!

 

[SamScribble]

Too many ideas is always better than too few ideas. Have fun.

 

[oggbashan]

I would start all three and see which one progresses best.

But then I usually have at least ten in progress at any one time...

 

[LadyClaire]

Well I had a bit of a play with one of the ideas...


I started working for English Heritage last summer and, before you start getting excited no I can’t get you free access to the famous Northumbrian castles or the historic sites in the south. What I can do is tell you a story about a young university student who managed to completely humiliate herself one summer’s night.

I work in the gift shop of my local castle during the holidays. To call it a castle would be somewhat over generous. Areas of the keep are still intact but large areas of the curtain wall have fallen away into the sea. Cromwell’s canons and british weather have taken a toll on the building since it was last used as a residence in 1643. There is a restoration fund, but we’re not really on the tourist trail and the obscure historical building seems destined to see out its days playing host to elderly day trippers during the day and drunk teenagers overnight.

However, once a year things are a little different. On the second Saturday of June, every year English Heritage forgoes it’s entry fee and opens the castle up to food stalls, entertainers, and the general public. All the staff from the local sites are called in, dressed in medieval costume and told to say “Ye” in stead of “The” (which is of course completely historically inaccurate). Ye Castle opens its doors and the locals spend their money, eat an ice cream, and often go home either soaking wet or with bright red sunburn.

Last year we’d convinced once of the local craftsmen to build us some props so, dressed in my medieval garb spent most of the day either in the stocks or locked in a cage.

The gibbet has been a horrific torture device in its day. Locked in a small cage and left to rot suspended in the air. However, the gentleman who made it thickened the bars on the bottom and ensured that there was at least enough space to move from a foetal position, to sitting with dangling legs, and back again. Unfortunately the Health and Safety officer wouldn’t let us suspend it from the keep, however we were allowed to suspend the cage outside the visitor’s centre so that it could only be accessed via ladder. The hardest part was clamouring in an out in my velvet dress without ripping it!

Needless to say I didn’t find the day overly erotic. However, as I hung there in my little bird cage, swinging back and forth and watching the ice cream truck more and more inappropriate thoughts entered my head.


It was Tuesday night. The weather forecast was good and the number of drunks should be at a weekly low.

Silently I unlocked the visitor’s centre and deactivated the alarm. There was a full moon and there was no need to turn on the light as I picked my way between postcards and plastic swords to where we kept the stepladder.

I’d brought a bag with me. Looking the bag onto the top of the ladder I carried both out of the shop and underneath the gibbet.

Stripping off my clothes in the cool moonlight I climbed the ladder and made sure that the door to my birdcage was unlocked. Fishing my favourite dildo from among the supplies if brought with me I ascended once again and squeezed myself inside.

The padlock clicked into place and I took a deep breath before kicking the ladder over and out of reach. The metal steps fell silently onto the damp grass and I smiled. It had been a while since my high school gymnastics days but I was fairly confident that I wouldn’t have any trouble getting down once I’d let myself out of the cage.

However, there were more important matters at hand.

 

[Franglais71]

Well I had a bit of a play with one of the ideas...


I started working for English Heritage last summer and, before you start getting excited no I can’t get you free access to the famous Northumbrian castles or the historic sites in the south. What I can do is tell you a story about a young university student who managed to completely humiliate herself one summer’s night.

I work in the gift shop of my local castle during the holidays. To call it a castle would be somewhat over generous. Areas of the keep are still intact but large areas of the curtain wall have fallen away into the sea. Cromwell’s canons and british weather have taken a toll on the building since it was last used as a residence in 1643. There is a restoration fund, but we’re not really on the tourist trail and the obscure historical building seems destined to see out its days playing host to elderly day trippers during the day and drunk teenagers overnight.

However, once a year things are a little different. On the second Saturday of June, every year English Heritage forgoes it’s entry fee and opens the castle up to food stalls, entertainers, and the general public. All the staff from the local sites are called in, dressed in medieval costume and told to say “Ye” in stead of “The” (which is of course completely historically inaccurate). Ye Castle opens its doors and the locals spend their money, eat an ice cream, and often go home either soaking wet or with bright red sunburn.

Last year we’d convinced once of the local craftsmen to build us some props so, dressed in my medieval garb spent most of the day either in the stocks or locked in a cage.

The gibbet has been a horrific torture device in its day. Locked in a small cage and left to rot suspended in the air. However, the gentleman who made it thickened the bars on the bottom and ensured that there was at least enough space to move from a foetal position, to sitting with dangling legs, and back again. Unfortunately the Health and Safety officer wouldn’t let us suspend it from the keep, however we were allowed to suspend the cage outside the visitor’s centre so that it could only be accessed via ladder. The hardest part was clamouring in an out in my velvet dress without ripping it!

Needless to say I didn’t find the day overly erotic. However, as I hung there in my little bird cage, swinging back and forth and watching the ice cream truck more and more inappropriate thoughts entered my head.


It was Tuesday night. The weather forecast was good and the number of drunks should be at a weekly low.

Silently I unlocked the visitor’s centre and deactivated the alarm. There was a full moon and there was no need to turn on the light as I picked my way between postcards and plastic swords to where we kept the stepladder.

I’d brought a bag with me. Looking the bag onto the top of the ladder I carried both out of the shop and underneath the gibbet.

Stripping off my clothes in the cool moonlight I climbed the ladder and made sure that the door to my birdcage was unlocked. Fishing my favourite dildo from among the supplies if brought with me I ascended once again and squeezed myself inside.

The padlock clicked into place and I took a deep breath before kicking the ladder over and out of reach. The metal steps fell silently onto the damp grass and I smiled. It had been a while since my high school gymnastics days but I was fairly confident that I wouldn’t have any trouble getting down once I’d let myself out of the cage.

However, there were more important matters at hand.

This sounds very interesting Lady Claire, and I wonder what followed...

 

[gunhilltrain]

Gah... ironically I’m stuck because I can’t choose between one of three ideas.

I’d be better off flipping a coin than staring at a blank screen not writing any of them!

Are you really saying that you have three ideas and you don't know what to do with any of them? I don't know; you tell me. But that would be true writers' block, I think.

Usually people with more than one idea work on several at once, or sort of randomly chose one to start with.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I had that dilemma with a story so I wrote all three versions and published them. There was a forth... I didn't really like that one so I left it out there in limbo.

I have been suffering from writers block for the past month. I just can't seem to write at all. I have about fifty stories I could finish... but, nothing.

 

[Privates1stClass]

The padlock clicked into place and I took a deep breath before kicking the ladder over and out of reach. The metal steps fell silently onto the damp grass and I smiled. It had been a while since my high school gymnastics days but I was fairly confident that I wouldn’t have any trouble getting down once I’d let myself out of the cage.

However, there were more important matters at hand.

How about another option?

...just as I was about to pleasure myself with the dildo, three drunken sods showed up asking why a naked lady was stuck in a gibbet. Then they offered to stand the the ladder so I could get down.

 

[Emirus]

Well I had a bit of a play with one of the ideas...

I started working for English Heritage last summer and, before you start getting excited no I can’t get you free access to the famous Northumbrian castles or the historic sites in the south.



It was Tuesday night. The weather forecast was good and the number of drunks should be at a weekly low.

Silently I unlocked the visitor’s centre and deactivated the alarm. There was a full moon and there was no need to turn on the light as I picked my way between postcards and plastic swords to where we kept the stepladder.

I’d brought a bag with me. Looking the bag onto the top of the ladder I carried both out of the shop and underneath the gibbet.

Stripping off my clothes in the cool moonlight I climbed the ladder and made sure that the door to my birdcage was unlocked. Fishing my favourite dildo from among the supplies if brought with me I ascended once again and squeezed myself inside.

The padlock clicked into place and I took a deep breath before kicking the ladder over and out of reach. The metal steps fell silently onto the damp grass and I smiled. It had been a while since my high school gymnastics days but I was fairly confident that I wouldn’t have any trouble getting down once I’d let myself out of the cage.

However, there were more important matters at hand.

First of all a recommendation for English Heritage and the National Trust to British readers. Well worth the annual memberships, especially for the more mature who have more time on their hands than those who have to work for a living.

As for the story:

I had twisted around to enable me to descend the ladder safely when I heard a polite voice come from below me. “Excuse me, Miss, but could you help me, please? I write imaginative stories for an erotic site called Literotica and, at the moment, I have a problem with writer’s block. I understand a young Lady named Claire, who is a volunteer here, had a similar problem. I was hoping to ask for her advice which is why I’ve called to look her up.”


With your three story problem, which actually I had recently, I began writing all three and quickly became aware one was progressing faster than the other two. So I stuck with that one but, as ideas for the others popped into my mind, diverted but just to add the basic details in case I forgot them. I’ve now completed the first story and adopted the same attitude with the others and found one is taking precedence over the other.

 

[gunhilltrain]

With your three story problem, which actually I had recently, I began writing all three and quickly became aware one was progressing faster than the other two. So I stuck with that one but, as ideas for the others popped into my mind, diverted but just to add the basic details in case I forgot them. I’ve now completed the first story and adopted the same attitude with the others and found one is taking precedence over the other.

It's actually a blessing to have more than one story idea going at any one time. Usually it's possible to leave one fallow / unfinished for a while and get back to it later.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's actually a blessing to have more than one story idea going at any one time. Usually it's possible to leave one fallow / unfinished for a while and get back to it later.

Agree this. I'm in the endgame of a long story, and obviously my subconscious wants to mull over the last few sections, because I've just jumped sideways into a quick side-project which is coming on short and fast. They're a handy relief while the other one sits. It's not writers block for me, though, just knowing the main one is still cooking, and will rise when it's ready.

 

[LadyClaire]

How about another option?

...just as I was about to pleasure myself with the dildo, three drunken sods showed up asking why a naked lady was stuck in a gibbet. Then they offered to stand the the ladder so I could get down.

You may be on the right lines here

It's actually a blessing to have more than one story idea going at any one time. Usually it's possible to leave one fallow / unfinished for a while and get back to it later.

Yeah, but it leaves endless half finished projects and wasted effort in your wake

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, but it leaves endless half finished projects and wasted effort in your wake

Well, yeah, I've let too many of those happen. It's not endless; I haven't counted but I think it's about eight. I have some patience; I'm pretty sure I'll get back to them eventually if I just plug along, but not all at once. I'm not going to start anything new for a while.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Agree this. I'm in the endgame of a long story, and obviously my subconscious wants to mull over the last few sections, because I've just jumped sideways into a quick side-project which is coming on short and fast. They're a handy relief while the other one sits. It's not writers block for me, though, just knowing the main one is still cooking, and will rise when it's ready.

Yes, one does have to set priorities and not try everything at once, as I implied in the post above. Having two active projects sounds fine to me.

 

[SimonDoom]

Well, I can sympathize with having many partially finished projects. I have loads of them.

As for your story: great concept.

How about this wrinkle: She takes the key with her and locks herself in, and then to give herself an added challenge she drops the key to the ground. She has a magnet tied to a string with which she intends to retrieve the key when she's done.

But a young man comes upon her and picks up the key, and insists on a show before he gives it back to her.

 

[LadyClaire]

Oh I am so stealing the fishing game idea!!!

 

[davion2308]

YOu and me both

I would start all three and see which one progresses best.

But then I usually have at least ten in progress at any one time...

This is my curse. I have 8-10 stories floating around that have stalled for one reason or another and I don't want to burn them down but I don't find the enthusiasm to check in on what they're doing. They could be good stories but both time and effort keep me from getting after them.

 

[jehoram]

I've got two or three stories that I haven't finished, because while they're good, I think that they could be better. My solution is to set them aside for a while and write something else. Anything else. An essay, a poem, a song. I've even copied a couple of pages by another author verbatim, just to free up the log jam (Hunter Thompson is said to have done that, too).

 

[mfan2112]

I would start all three and see which one progresses best.

But then I usually have at least ten in progress at any one time...

I have a couple projects I am working on, and flip between them when I get stuck somewhere. Or I write a section for way later in the story.

Now to figure out how to link these blocks together...