Writer's Block

[Goldie Munro]

I read another thread recently about whether you write more when you are 'getting it' or not (sorry cant remember the threads starter!). At the time I remember thinking well neither really and I must admit to having a real writer's block. I haven't submitted anything for ages and everything I start to write I hate.

Im sure most people go through this but how do you get over it? What tricks of the trade do you employ?

 

[scriptordelecto]

I read another thread recently about whether you write more when you are 'getting it' or not (sorry cant remember the threads starter!). At the time I remember thinking well neither really and I must admit to having a real writer's block. I haven't submitted anything for ages and everything I start to write I hate.

Im sure most people go through this but how do you get over it? What tricks of the trade do you employ?

The biggest trick I hear from everyone and the one all of the books out there recommend, is to write every day, no matter what. Even if it's just freewriting (putting pen to paper, or hands to keyboard and just writing anything that comes to mind), journal entries, or story exercises.

I've yet to have the discipline required, so I can't really say whether or not it would work for me.

 

[CharleyH]

I read another thread recently about whether you write more when you are 'getting it' or not (sorry cant remember the threads starter!). At the time I remember thinking well neither really and I must admit to having a real writer's block. I haven't submitted anything for ages and everything I start to write I hate.

Im sure most people go through this but how do you get over it? What tricks of the trade do you employ?

A good writer writes and a great one writes better and takes longer. There is NO SUCH THING as writers block.

 

[Goldie Munro]

The biggest trick I hear from everyone and the one all of the books out there recommend, is to write every day, no matter what. Even if it's just freewriting (putting pen to paper, or hands to keyboard and just writing anything that comes to mind), journal entries, or story exercises.

I've yet to have the discipline required, so I can't really say whether or not it would work for me.

Yeah easier said than done! TIME!!

 

[scriptordelecto]

Yeah easier said than done! TIME!!

Precisely!

 

[Goldie Munro]

A good writer writes and a great one writes better and takes longer. There is NO SUCH THING as writers block.

I hear it! I just cant seem to write anything at the moment!

 

[mjl2010]

Try this Goldie.

Pick a story you havn't read and read the first ten paragraphs. Choose a writer who writes well anyway and in an area that interests you. Then stop reading and think about the direction the story was going. Then write what you think about it and how you think it should end. Not a whole story, just a few pages.

I've found by forcing myself to do this, I get the creative thing going again. Learned this in class back in high school.

MJL

 

[CharleyH]

I hear it! I just cant seem to write anything at the moment!

Maybe inspiration lacks, but then you must ask where inspiration comes from? Others or self?

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I read another thread recently about whether you write more when you are 'getting it' or not (sorry cant remember the threads starter!). At the time I remember thinking well neither really and I must admit to having a real writer's block. I haven't submitted anything for ages and everything I start to write I hate.

Im sure most people go through this but how do you get over it? What tricks of the trade do you employ?

I don't know. I'm still in it

 

[Boxlicker101]

Sometimes I go a few days with nothing much good. What I do is to go to a story in progress, where I know what I want to say, and start writing. It is absolute crap, but I can come back the next day and thoroughly edit it, and turn it into something usable.

 

[matriarch]

A good writer writes and a great one writes better and takes longer. There is NO SUCH THING as writer's block.

There are times, my dear Charley, when you can be such a pompous bitch.

But I still love you.

(Oh, and I inserted an apostrophe in your post. Tsk, tsk.)

 

[scheherazade_79]

If I can't write it's usually because I'm stressed about something. I've recently come out of a 2-year block. I could string the sentences together, but deep down I'd be bored with what I was writing, and would lose the energy and will to complete it.

I think I broke my bogey by writing something for myself - the kind of personal fantasy that you'd show to no one. After that, I concentrated on ideas that were interesting and exciting to me, in favour of the ideas that I regarded as 'good'.

It's a hobby. Hobbies should be all about enjoyment. Sometimes you can raise the crossbar that little bit too much, and it changes from being a source of pleasure to a chore. It's a very thin dividing line. Sometimes you just need to take a holiday away from your inner critics.

Good luck

 

[Goldie Munro]

If I can't write it's usually because I'm stressed about something. I've recently come out of a 2-year block. I could string the sentences together, but deep down I'd be bored with what I was writing, and would lose the energy and will to complete it.

:

That is exactly how I feel - I m stressed at the moment too!! I guess I just have to keep writing and hope that the inspiration returns soon!

 

[SimonBrooke]

I read another thread recently about whether you write more when you are 'getting it' or not (sorry cant remember the threads starter!). At the time I remember thinking well neither really and I must admit to having a real writer's block. I haven't submitted anything for ages and everything I start to write I hate.

Im sure most people go through this but how do you get over it? What tricks of the trade do you employ?

I have to admit that one of my tricks when stuck writing something serious is break off and write something very non-serious - some of my best fairy stories happened like that.

 

[SimonBrooke]

Yeah easier said than done! TIME!!

Time is a matter of priorities.

At a time when I was very blocked - serious psychiatric depression - my therapist advised me to spend one hour at my desk every single day. I didn't have to write (I was working on my dissertation at the time) but I wasn't allowed to do anything else. It worked. Eventually you write just because you're bored sitting staring at the wall.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I read another thread recently about whether you write more when you are 'getting it' or not (sorry cant remember the threads starter!). At the time I remember thinking well neither really and I must admit to having a real writer's block. I haven't submitted anything for ages and everything I start to write I hate.

Im sure most people go through this but how do you get over it? What tricks of the trade do you employ?

I've read all the suggestions and I think they give some pretty good advice. Just give yourself at least 15 minutes a day to just write something. If nothing comes to mind, find a picture that means something, a song that speaks to you, and write about it...

It will come back...

 

[Goldie Munro]

I've read all the suggestions and I think they give some pretty good advice. Just give yourself at least 15 minutes a day to just write something. If nothing comes to mind, find a picture that means something, a song that speaks to you, and write about it...

It will come back...

I agree the suggestions are great and I had a very nice train journey today that led my mind in all directions - I realised that it is not the inspiration or ideas that I lack its the writing of it - like Scheherazade says its to do its the feeling that what I am writing is worth it!

Maybe I lack discipline!

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I agree the suggestions are great and I had a very nice train journey today that led my mind in all directions - I realised that it is not the inspiration or ideas that I lack its the writing of it - like Scheherazade says its to do its the feeling that what I am writing is worth it!

Maybe I lack discipline!

I sometimes wonder if what I write is worth it as well. By the time I'm finished writing something it just looks like so much mush on a page. You just have to have faith in your own abilities. Maybe send it to someone to read over and get their opinions on it.

Sometimes the discipline to sit down and write is the hardest part, especially if you are like me and suffer from chronic procrastinationitis...LOL...

 

[Goldie Munro]

I sometimes wonder if what I write is worth it as well. By the time I'm finished writing something it just looks like so much mush on a page. You just have to have faith in your own abilities. Maybe send it to someone to read over and get their opinions on it.

Sometimes the discipline to sit down and write is the hardest part, especially if you are like me and suffer from chronic procrastinationitis...LOL...

Its not the writing of it - its not the ideas - but i hate letting anyone read what I have written - I even hate submitting - god Im a freak!! LOL

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Its not the writing of it - its not the ideas - but i hate letting anyone read what I have written - I even hate submitting - god Im a freak!! LOL

No, you're not a freak. I am in a near panic when I submit something new. I use a couple of test readers now that I trust implicitly to read something before it's submitted. Their comments and suggestions take a lot of the edge off now, I'm no where near as nervous as I used to be.

 

[Goldie Munro]

No, you're not a freak. I am in a near panic when I submit something new. I use a couple of test readers now that I trust implicitly to read something before it's submitted. Their comments and suggestions take a lot of the edge off now, I'm no where near as nervous as I used to be.

Next time Im ready to submit (in a few years) I'll call on you to be my reader!

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Next time Im ready to submit (in a few years) I'll call on you to be my reader!

Sure, anytime. Just send me a pm or something, I'd be glad to do it.

 

[Goldie Munro]

Sure, anytime. Just send me a pm or something, I'd be glad to do it.

Thanks I'll keep it in mind!

 

[Edward Teach]

I agree the suggestions are great and I had a very nice train journey today that led my mind in all directions - I realised that it is not the inspiration or ideas that I lack its the writing of it - like Scheherazade says its to do its the feeling that what I am writing is worth it!

Maybe I lack discipline!

Are you by any chance a perfectionist? It is difficult to write when you insist that every paragraph, every sentence, every word be perfect.

I have that problem.

Occasionally, I have to admit that I am never going to be completely satisfied, that my work is not going to go down in history as one of the classics and then I just go with whatever makes it to the page with only a few dozen edits.

Good luck,



Ed

 

[Goldie Munro]

Are you by any chance a perfectionist? It is difficult to write when you insist that every paragraph, every sentence, every word be perfect.

I have that problem.

Occasionally, I have to admit that I am never going to be completely satisfied, that my work is not going to go down in history as one of the classics and then I just go with whatever makes it to the page with only a few dozen edits.

Good luck,

Ed

LOL thanks Teach! You are so right! I never used to think about writing but now I suppose I am too self aware and I do worry about plot and characterisation and is this word right and by God i know my paragraphs will be spot on!

I need to lighten up don't I?!