Writers Block
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naudiz
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I can tell you what works for me, anyway. 
Set aside time to write. I have a bad habit of trying to sneak in writing around other things when it really deserves its own allotment of time and attention.
If you're not sure how to proceed with a storyline, write out a few possibilities. Don't worry about whether or not they'll work or if they're where you want to go. You can look them over later and decide. Sometimes I don't get inspired until I start to write something and then decide that it won't work. Then what will work comes to mind and I go with that instead.
If you're lacking inspiration, in addition to taking time out to write, take time out to replenish your ideas. Every time I go out to a movie, or read a book, or even just go for a walk in the neighborhood, I come back with ideas. When I've got writer's block, nine times out of ten it's because I'm not getting any outside stimulus to provide new ideas.
Sometimes I'll write little vignettes about my characters that have nothing to do with the story per se. Sometimes working out a little 'day in the life' snapshot of the characters puts me in the right mindset to write about them. The most important thing is to write every day. Write something. Even if all you write is a letter to yourself complaining about how you can't write, do it. Writing is like many other skills in life. If you don't use it, you lose it.
Again, these are things that help me. Your mileage may vary. I hope it helps.
Set aside time to write. I have a bad habit of trying to sneak in writing around other things when it really deserves its own allotment of time and attention.
If you're not sure how to proceed with a storyline, write out a few possibilities. Don't worry about whether or not they'll work or if they're where you want to go. You can look them over later and decide. Sometimes I don't get inspired until I start to write something and then decide that it won't work. Then what will work comes to mind and I go with that instead.
If you're lacking inspiration, in addition to taking time out to write, take time out to replenish your ideas. Every time I go out to a movie, or read a book, or even just go for a walk in the neighborhood, I come back with ideas. When I've got writer's block, nine times out of ten it's because I'm not getting any outside stimulus to provide new ideas.
Sometimes I'll write little vignettes about my characters that have nothing to do with the story per se. Sometimes working out a little 'day in the life' snapshot of the characters puts me in the right mindset to write about them. The most important thing is to write every day. Write something. Even if all you write is a letter to yourself complaining about how you can't write, do it. Writing is like many other skills in life. If you don't use it, you lose it.
Again, these are things that help me. Your mileage may vary. I hope it helps.
Axeltheswede
Literotica Guru
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block relief
I have one quick little jump start. It works for me.
Since you are working on a sequel, go back and read your first story. Try not to be critical. Just try to read it like you would some other writer's work.
Sometimes a little confidence builder like that is all you need to get back into your story.
I have one quick little jump start. It works for me.
Since you are working on a sequel, go back and read your first story. Try not to be critical. Just try to read it like you would some other writer's work.
Sometimes a little confidence builder like that is all you need to get back into your story.
DVS
A ghost from your dreams
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I don't know if any of this will work, but what will it hurt to try. Sometimes we stagnate in our creativity. There is nothing wrong, if it happens. Shit, we can't be creative all of the time. And, if something helps, all the better, right?
Some of this has already been brought up by naudiz, but maybe if my saying it in a different way, it will help. When you get the same thing from two different angles, it can be better drilled into your mind.
If you normally write with music playing, change the music you write to. If you don't normally write with music, try some. If you normally write with music playing, try it without.
Try reading someone else's story, to clear your mind, or to get the erotic juices flowing. Maybe watch some TV, or a movie you like, to do the same thing.
Try reading the end of the first part as it is a continuation, and think how someone else might continue the story. Don't think of how you think it would continue if YOU wrote it.
Sometimes, when you are forcing yourself to think, as if you are troubled by this lack of creative flow, it will get the better of you. FORGET ABOUT IT for a while. If necessary, forget about writing for a while. Don't dwell on it. It will only make it worse.
Keep in mind, the first part is usually the easiest, and a sequal is being somewhat limited because you think it has to conform to the first. Just start writing, without thinking about it. You may not end up saving it, but you may, too. It might take you a paragraph, or maybe a page to know if this is going to work.
If something in your life is bothering you, it could also shove your creativity into the back of your mind. If you can, clear up your present problems, and see if it makes a difference.
Some of this has already been brought up by naudiz, but maybe if my saying it in a different way, it will help. When you get the same thing from two different angles, it can be better drilled into your mind.
If you normally write with music playing, change the music you write to. If you don't normally write with music, try some. If you normally write with music playing, try it without.
Try reading someone else's story, to clear your mind, or to get the erotic juices flowing. Maybe watch some TV, or a movie you like, to do the same thing.
Try reading the end of the first part as it is a continuation, and think how someone else might continue the story. Don't think of how you think it would continue if YOU wrote it.
Sometimes, when you are forcing yourself to think, as if you are troubled by this lack of creative flow, it will get the better of you. FORGET ABOUT IT for a while. If necessary, forget about writing for a while. Don't dwell on it. It will only make it worse.
Keep in mind, the first part is usually the easiest, and a sequal is being somewhat limited because you think it has to conform to the first. Just start writing, without thinking about it. You may not end up saving it, but you may, too. It might take you a paragraph, or maybe a page to know if this is going to work.
If something in your life is bothering you, it could also shove your creativity into the back of your mind. If you can, clear up your present problems, and see if it makes a difference.
ilovewriting
Really Really Experienced
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I dont know about short stories, but i can tell you what i do when i get writers block working on one of my novels.
I go back to the begining and start editing it. Read it through and start editing it. After a while i find the block just dissapears and i can continue working.
I go back to the begining and start editing it. Read it through and start editing it. After a while i find the block just dissapears and i can continue working.
jon.hayworth
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Lolitta
A change is as good as a rest. What works for me is to leave the stuck story on the stocks and go away to write a short.
Last week my element of the Chain Story stalled - I had chronic block. So I laid it aside and wrote like fury on a new story (shameless plug "DOUBLECROSSING ISIS in First Times), finished the first draft in a day, editted it the next day and posted it.
Now I feel refreshed and ready to tackle the obstruction. As other people have already said there is no cure other than to write through it. My way is just one solution.
jon
A change is as good as a rest. What works for me is to leave the stuck story on the stocks and go away to write a short.
Last week my element of the Chain Story stalled - I had chronic block. So I laid it aside and wrote like fury on a new story (shameless plug "DOUBLECROSSING ISIS in First Times), finished the first draft in a day, editted it the next day and posted it.
Now I feel refreshed and ready to tackle the obstruction. As other people have already said there is no cure other than to write through it. My way is just one solution.
jon
NoJo
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Well, Lol, I'm not so sure whether you have a case of writer's block.
The term "burnt out" hadn't yet been invented, but that phrase seems to be a pretty good description of a serious case of writer's block my father had many years ago:
There was a period of over three years when he couldn't write. And he needed to support a family from his stories.
I think a "gestation period" for new ideas is natural. I would trust your hindbrain to work out stories at its own pace, what's the hurry?
Also, the more you write, the higher your own standards become, so it gets harder to satisfy yourself of the quality of your stories (I'm guessing that you're as self-critical as most of us writers seem to be!)
When I was a smart-Alec adolescent, I once told my English teacher that I hadn't done my assignment beacuse I was suffering from writer's block: She told me to write a thousand word essay about my affliction! Clever advice, really. Maybe you could try writing about why you can't write.
Joe
The term "burnt out" hadn't yet been invented, but that phrase seems to be a pretty good description of a serious case of writer's block my father had many years ago:
There was a period of over three years when he couldn't write. And he needed to support a family from his stories.
I think a "gestation period" for new ideas is natural. I would trust your hindbrain to work out stories at its own pace, what's the hurry?
Also, the more you write, the higher your own standards become, so it gets harder to satisfy yourself of the quality of your stories (I'm guessing that you're as self-critical as most of us writers seem to be!)
When I was a smart-Alec adolescent, I once told my English teacher that I hadn't done my assignment beacuse I was suffering from writer's block: She told me to write a thousand word essay about my affliction! Clever advice, really. Maybe you could try writing about why you can't write.
Joe
ladyphoenix
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Writer's Block?
I might get smacked for this, but here goes: I have found in my experience that what we call writer's block is usually something else entirely.
It's either procrastination (which I suffer from BIG time) OR, it happens when our story hits a wall. Let me explain.
Anytime I've run into "block" with a story, I end up realizing that the story died because I had done something I should not have with it. I tried to force the characters into behaviors/situations that they would not engage in, based on who I have created them to be. Or I am putting them in situations ONLY for the sake of what I think will make the story "sell-able" and NOT because that is where the story should/wants to go.
Most writers (myself included) will tell you that when you create characters who really breathe, they take on a life of their own. Think of block as them telling you that they're on strike because you're doing things to the story that don't ring true to them. Then go back and ask yourself, what was the last major turn in plot or situation, and ask if that turn was consistent with the characters and the true lines of the story. You will probably find that you've made a wrong turn. In those situations, I end up having to cut things out, go back, and re-do, but when I keep the story moving on the road it WANTS to be on, it starts picking up smoothly again very quickly. Good luck!
I might get smacked for this, but here goes: I have found in my experience that what we call writer's block is usually something else entirely.
It's either procrastination (which I suffer from BIG time) OR, it happens when our story hits a wall. Let me explain.
Anytime I've run into "block" with a story, I end up realizing that the story died because I had done something I should not have with it. I tried to force the characters into behaviors/situations that they would not engage in, based on who I have created them to be. Or I am putting them in situations ONLY for the sake of what I think will make the story "sell-able" and NOT because that is where the story should/wants to go.
Most writers (myself included) will tell you that when you create characters who really breathe, they take on a life of their own. Think of block as them telling you that they're on strike because you're doing things to the story that don't ring true to them. Then go back and ask yourself, what was the last major turn in plot or situation, and ask if that turn was consistent with the characters and the true lines of the story. You will probably find that you've made a wrong turn. In those situations, I end up having to cut things out, go back, and re-do, but when I keep the story moving on the road it WANTS to be on, it starts picking up smoothly again very quickly. Good luck!
wildsweetone
i am what i am
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personally,
i'm going to try ice cream or chocolate if i get hit with the BLOCK
i'm going to try ice cream or chocolate if i get hit with the BLOCK
The Brick Wall!
May I..even as a Newbie..make a comment?
I often suffer from "hitting the brick wall"..but what I found works for me is having 4 or 5 stories on the go at once. I can then bounce from one to the other...or I even go back to my 'novel' - it's now some 37,000 words - and do a bit on that.
To me, writing has to come naturally, not forced, not set timings.....the mood has to be right to write (poetic lol).
There are times when I go for days without writing..but then..I get the 'urge' the desire and bang...my poor fingers end up sore!
Anyway...for what it was worth, they are my ways of getting around The Block.
May I..even as a Newbie..make a comment?
I often suffer from "hitting the brick wall"..but what I found works for me is having 4 or 5 stories on the go at once. I can then bounce from one to the other...or I even go back to my 'novel' - it's now some 37,000 words - and do a bit on that.
To me, writing has to come naturally, not forced, not set timings.....the mood has to be right to write (poetic lol).
There are times when I go for days without writing..but then..I get the 'urge' the desire and bang...my poor fingers end up sore!
Anyway...for what it was worth, they are my ways of getting around The Block.
nitengale
Need a shoulder?
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- Nov 6, 2000
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Put your first piece to bed for a while, and start on another project. During this time, you *might* find something new for your characters to tackle or you might discover you have taken them as far as you could with the first piece.
Sometimes we just need to let the characters rest a bit.
Good Luck!
Sometimes we just need to let the characters rest a bit.
Good Luck!
clairepenn
Experienced
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- Mar 22, 2002
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*BUMP*
take a break for a while, go read a book or watch some brain candy for a bit whatever takes you away from what your trying to write. forcing it never helps
also i set aside a time that i write, ive always got pen and paper ahndy for when ideas pop into my head, but i sit down and fix them up at the same time every day.
also i set aside a time that i write, ive always got pen and paper ahndy for when ideas pop into my head, but i sit down and fix them up at the same time every day.
pinklipstick
Really Experienced
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Stream of Consciousness
Get a timer and set it for 2 minutes. Then start writing. Don’t worry about what you are writing or if it has anything to do with your current story. Just put down what comes to mind. If you can’t think of anything, repeat the last word or just write (or type) “blank blank blank” until something hits. What ever you do, don't stop until the timer goes off.
I find it takes very few of these sessions to get me back on track again. And even if I don’t directly address the specific problem story, something surfaces that is usable.
Don't be surprised if you are taken aback at what you read when you are done.
Get a timer and set it for 2 minutes. Then start writing. Don’t worry about what you are writing or if it has anything to do with your current story. Just put down what comes to mind. If you can’t think of anything, repeat the last word or just write (or type) “blank blank blank” until something hits. What ever you do, don't stop until the timer goes off.
I find it takes very few of these sessions to get me back on track again. And even if I don’t directly address the specific problem story, something surfaces that is usable.
Don't be surprised if you are taken aback at what you read when you are done.
ronde
Really Experienced
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If you didn't leave yourself a convenient "jumping off point" in the original story, read the original and search for something that can furnish one. I assume you have some destination to be reached, so look for an event that could logically begin the journey. You may find that a relatively insignificant happening in the original can induce your characters to procede in your desired direction. As ladyphoenix pointed out, if characters are well defined, often you need only to set the stage and let them lead you. Just keep asking the questions "what would this person do if...", "what would he say...", "what would make her...".
MasterDJs_pet
Experienced
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Writer's block is something I know all too well! lol Have you ever ventured over to Lit's Sexual Role Play board, or the Online Role Play board? Writing anything can sometimes help you get out of your rutt. If a role play story isn't for you, there is always journaling. Also, you could venture to the Story Ideas board, put your current work on hold, and try something new. If nothing more, I'm sure the story requestor will thank you! Good luck!
lol Have you ever ventured over to Lit's Sexual Role Play board, or the Online Role Play board? Writing anything can sometimes help you get out of your rutt. If a role play story isn't for you, there is always journaling. Also, you could venture to the Story Ideas board, put your current work on hold, and try something new. If nothing more, I'm sure the story requestor will thank you! Good luck!
