Writer's Block

[starlightqueen]

Okay... so I am a lit author, I guess, and big time forum lurker. I posted a story more than a year ago as the beginning of a series, and it was pretty well received. I've been working on the next instalment since, and I just can't seem to get going. I'll open up the document, write a line or two, then go to bed and not pick it up until a week later.

My question is this, prolific ones: How do you get momentum? And once you have it, how do you keep it?

PS - the problem isn't planning. I know exactly where things are going. I'm just having trouble writing them there.

 

[slyc_willie]

Okay... so I am a lit author, I guess, and big time forum lurker. I posted a story more than a year ago as the beginning of a series, and it was pretty well received. I've been working on the next instalment since, and I just can't seem to get going. I'll open up the document, write a line or two, then go to bed and not pick it up until a week later.

My question is this, prolific ones: How do you get momentum? And once you have it, how do you keep it?

PS - the problem isn't planning. I know exactly where things are going. I'm just having trouble writing them there.

Perhaps it depends on how you write. Not the process, but the environment. I'm always alone when I write. I need to be. No distractions from friends, neighbors, kids or animals. Then, when I get on a good roll, I loosen up a little. Have a beer or two. Turn up the music.

In order to write about characters losing their inhibitions, the writer needs to do likewise.

Just my take.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Okay... so I am a lit author, I guess, and big time forum lurker. I posted a story more than a year ago as the beginning of a series, and it was pretty well received. I've been working on the next instalment since, and I just can't seem to get going. I'll open up the document, write a line or two, then go to bed and not pick it up until a week later.

My question is this, prolific ones: How do you get momentum? And once you have it, how do you keep it?

PS - the problem isn't planning. I know exactly where things are going. I'm just having trouble writing them there.

Yes, the problem for me is picking up momentum. Sometimes I have to psyche myself into the right frame of mind. One method I have is to go do something mindless, like washing dishes, so I can picture the story in my head. Once I see what is going to happen, I can write it down.

The other point for me is to give myself permission to write the worst crap in the world. I can edit and revise later.

Have you created an outline of the story? That's a help to me but it can also stifle me. Don't hold yourself to it if you have, if it wants to go in a different direction, tag along for a while.

Another method I have is to tell someone about the story, either over the phone or on IM. Just the act of talking about it can trigger the creative juices for me.

 

[SweetWitch]

I find that writing characters that I love helps. I create them, their world and issues. When I write a character with no chemistry, I tend to lose interest. Then I start to hate the story. That's when I find myself in your shoes.

 

[secretme]

I force the write out. I know a lot of people don't do that. But if you're writing with deadlines you have to do something. A lot of the time I just put stuff down to get it on the page. Then I go back and read it and delete or edit half of it. But it gets me where I'm going in the end. Block an be a... well you know what. I think everyone has their own way of dealing with it... Good luck with that!

 

[TE999]

Okay... so I am a lit author, I guess, and big time forum lurker. I posted a story more than a year ago as the beginning of a series, and it was pretty well received. I've been working on the next instalment since, and I just can't seem to get going. I'll open up the document, write a line or two, then go to bed and not pick it up until a week later.

My question is this, prolific ones: How do you get momentum? And once you have it, how do you keep it?

PS - the problem isn't planning. I know exactly where things are going. I'm just having trouble writing them there.

Been there--done that.

I suddenly realized that I was bored with the story's plotline and the characters.

You may be in a similar situation.

When I get fired up on a story I can't rest until I finish it.

Just sayin...

 

[tickledkitty]

I'm not actually that prolific, but I agree with Magica about writing crap. Just do it. Write the story that is in your head without worrying about how it will read or any other "writerly" stuff. Just get it out there.

When I do that, I'll realize somewhere along the line that I've slipped out of crap mode and into writing mode. Then I can go back another time and fix whatever I've mucked up in the beginning.

Welcome to the AH.

 

[secretme]

Another method I have is to tell someone about the story, either over the phone or on IM. Just the act of talking about it can trigger the creative juices for me.

That one never worked for me... I had a friend once call it a "creativity leak". Saying it out loud seems to give my brain permission to forget something good about what I was thinking. Then I'll sit down to write it and I end up saying to myself. "That seemed like a better idea when I was telling suzy about it." *scratches head in confusion* Hmmm... I always do better when I keep it to myself until it's on the paper (or screen as the case may be). To each her own!

 

[starlightqueen]

Oooh - replies. Thanks guys

@willie - yah... I usually write right before bed when my roommate isn't going to interrupt to ask for wardrobe advice. The only problem with this is that I can be too relaxed and fall asleep.

@MagicaPractica - Thanks! I forgot how helpful talking about it with someone is. Dabbling in erotica is my little secret in RL, but I could always post on Lit to get feedback, couldn't I?

@SweetWitch - I do really love the characters. Though, I know where they develop in the long run (I've done quite a bit of outline) so I find them a little frustrating now... writing is so much SLOWER than outlining and there's none of that seeing-them-grow gratification.

 

[cantdog]

Okay... so I am a lit author, I guess, and big time forum lurker. I posted a story more than a year ago as the beginning of a series, and it was pretty well received. I've been working on the next instalment since, and I just can't seem to get going. I'll open up the document, write a line or two, then go to bed and not pick it up until a week later.

My question is this, prolific ones: How do you get momentum? And once you have it, how do you keep it?

PS - the problem isn't planning. I know exactly where things are going. I'm just having trouble writing them there.

You look at what you wrote and you say to yourself, "That's crap." I know the feeling.

Firstly, let me tell you that it really does help to have a deadline. If you are writing for money, a deadline and a rep for reliability to build and uphold will make you type.

Lacking that, you may as well know that most of us pass through phases, like breathing. In and then out. Maybe I'm just bipolar? No, I'm going to assume I'm not alone, here. There are times when a man withdraws into the cave to sit and think. You take shit in, you process shit. This phase is followed by an outgoing and productive phase. Like later. It's all right, you can't write well if you never think. Let it happen. Quit fighting it, and read, talk to people close to you, introspect.

The time will come.

On the other hand, if you have a deadline, for God's sake write anyway.

 

[starlightqueen]

Writing right now ... thanks for all the ideas, guys. *kisses*

 

[MagicaPractica]

Oooh - replies. Thanks guys

@MagicaPractica - Thanks! I forgot how helpful talking about it with someone is. Dabbling in erotica is my little secret in RL, but I could always post on Lit to get feedback, couldn't I?

Absolutely, the people I tell about the stories over the phone or on IM are people I've met here.

 

[slyc_willie]

@SweetWitch - I do really love the characters. Though, I know where they develop in the long run (I've done quite a bit of outline) so I find them a little frustrating now... writing is so much SLOWER than outlining and there's none of that seeing-them-grow gratification.

Something I've found is to think of an imminent scene, something compelling, that you can, and want, to write, right now! Imagine the characters, not through a writer's eyes, but perhaps a cinematographer's. See what's going on and think about how sweet, wicked, cruel, hot, whatever it would be to make the characters do what you're thinking.

 

[tickledkitty]

Absolutely, the people I tell about the stories over the phone or on IM are people I've met here.

Yep, same here, and they always have their own great ideas to add, as well.

 

[Frank Noir]

If you get stuck in a scene, work on another scene.

If you get stuck in a story, work on another story.

The change of scenery may give you momentum to come back and continue what you were doing.

I know that working on several stories at once can be a slippery slope, leading to not finishing anything ever - but having two stories going at the same time worked for me at one point. I seem to remember jumping back and forth between "Michiko" and "The Experiment" and they both got finished eventually.

 

[rgraham666]

For me, the only thing to do is wait. If I try to force it, my block only gets worse.

I do not want my writing career to end up like my computer programming career; over because I cracked under the stress.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Writer's Block isnt limited to composition. I get it with everything, including my paid employment.

When I'm blocked I do something I enjoy that isnt blocked.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I've never had writer's block.

I've had times when I couldn't think of what happened next. Times when I couldn't think of how to say certain things. Times when I was sick of what I was working on. Times when I was discouraged, or embarrassed, or tired, or bewildered. Times when I just had no idea of what to write about, or rtimes when I just was sick and tired of writing. But I don't really know what "writer's block" means.

I picture myself sitting down at the keyboard and there's a piece of granite over it.

It seems to me that if you're having trouble writing, either you're having trouble deciding either (a) what you want to say, or (b) how you want to say it. That is, either with content or with form. I guess the first thing I'd do was try and figure out which I was having the problem with.

Then, whichever one it was, I'd drink to excess.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Just write.

It's the commitment to doing it that matters. Making the time and DOING it. Not surfing the net, not watching TV, not playing computer games.

Writing.

You may throw out the whole day's work eventually, who knows... but you wrote something.

Someone asked William Stafford how he wrote a poem a day - he said, "You lower your standards."

Don't be a perfectionist. That's for the editing phase.

For now - just write.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I (The Insane Porn and Mystery Writer) have little snippets of stories all over my desk. Some are just good lines I've thought of. Others are plot outlines for stories I will never get around to writting.

Something I learned from Seinfeld: Stories are everywhere. "I went to the store. That's a story." Stories don't have to be interesting when you start out, they become interesting as you develop them.

Characters need to be interesting. I have a population of character floating around in my head. There fight with each other, argue, play nawty tricks on each other. Most of all they become as real as real people. That makes them interesting. Then the ones that fit into a story are all fleshed out and ready to go.

At least it works for me, but then I'm crazy. Ask anyone.

 

[hmmnmm]

I set self-imposed deadlines, sometimes.
Say, this much by that day. A generous spread of days ahead but near enough to create concern.

Then switch to 'fuck off'

Do other stuff. Lurk. Post. Play with old passages. Jerk off. And stuff.
Sometimes something comes during the procrastination stage, which may fall well ahead of the self-imposed deadline. Other times, it's nothing until the last day or hours.

 

[tickledkitty]

Characters need to be interesting. I have a population of character floating around in my head. There fight with each other, argue, play nawty tricks on each other. Most of all they become as real as real people. That makes them interesting. Then the ones that fit into a story are all fleshed out and ready to go.

At least it works for me, but then I'm crazy. Ask anyone.

If you're crazy, dear Jenny, then so am I. There are characters populating my brain, as well. I was just telling someone the other day about one of them who is sitting in the corner of my mind pouting because I've not written his story yet. He doesn't speak to me or sing to me anymore or play his guitar for me, but I know he's there, just the same. Pouting and waiting.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Bandler & Grinder made an interesting observation. The difference between schizophrenics and engineers is what they hallucinate. Schizophrenics hallucinate monsters, engineers hallucinate bridges and dams.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

No, I'm serious about this. How come there's no "Painter's Block" or "Musician's Block" or "Dancer's Block"? No Baseball Player's or Cab Driver's or Teacher's or Actor's block? Butchers don't get blocked, nor do stock boys or plumbers. Why only writers?

Why? Because no one ever calls it what it really is!!! Now, either you can't think of what to say, or you can't think of how to say it, or you simply don't want to do it. It's one (or all) of those three. And until you figure out which it is, no one can help you.

I'm going to start the Mabeusian Writer's Block Gulag where for $5000 I'll get a bunch of convicted Blackwater Security felons to tape electrodes to your testicles and we'll get results

 

[rgraham666]

I'm going to start the Mabeusian Writer's Block Gulag where for $5000 I'll get a bunch of convicted Blackwater Security felons to tape electrodes to your testicles and we'll get results

It will never be popular.

And I suspect most of your 'clients' won't be writers.