NationStates Jolt Archive


How to get rid of/or help writer's block?

Tarayshia
26-02-2006, 20:11
Hi all!

I have writer's block that I can't seem to get rid of! I sit down to write a chapter of one of my stories that I'm working and nothing comes to me.
http://www.fanfiction.net/~sunrise19
I love fanfiction and I also write original stuff however I seem to write fanfiction even more.
(if you know what fanfiction is..skip this)
Fanfiction is when you take characters from a book, movie, tv show..etc and you write stories based on those characters from the book, movie, tv show..etc.
Any ideas anyone about how to get out of my writing slump?
Eutrusca
26-02-2006, 20:14
Hi all!

I have writer's block that I can't seem to get rid of! I sit down to write a chapter of one of my stories that I'm working and nothing comes to me.
http://www.fanfiction.net/~sunrise19
I love fanfiction and I also write original stuff however I seem to write fanfiction even more.
(if you know what fanfiction is..skip this)
Fanfiction is when you take characters from a book, movie, tv show..etc and you write stories based on those characters from the book, movie, tv show..etc.
Any ideas anyone about how to get out of my writing slump?
Change your enviroment. Read something totally different from what you normally read. Take a trip to someplace exotic ( for you! ). Start a physical exercise program. Write about something totally different from what you normally write about. In other words, shake yourself out of your normal patterns. That always works for me. :)
Revasser
26-02-2006, 20:33
The only method that as ever worked for me is pure, ruthless brute force. I sit and force my imagination to work. Sometimes it takes a while, but it's like (figuratively) straining until burst a vein and all the creative blood starts spurting everywhere.

Basically, I bludgeon my muse into returning.
Kamsaki
26-02-2006, 20:33
Isolation, variable lighting and lots of both coffee and alcohol. ^^;
The Nazz
26-02-2006, 20:33
Change your enviroment. Read something totally different from what you normally read. Take a trip to someplace exotic ( for you! ). Start a physical exercise program. Write about something totally different from what you normally write about. In other words, shake yourself out of your normal patterns. That always works for me. :)
All excellent ideas. You can also force the issue by doing specific writing exercises--force yourself to tell a story, any story, using nothing but dialogue; write a poem without using a single verb, do an imitation or parody of a work you love. Often times, the mere act of writing anything will help you break loose of the block.
Jenrak
26-02-2006, 20:36
Hi all!

I have writer's block that I can't seem to get rid of! I sit down to write a chapter of one of my stories that I'm working and nothing comes to me.
http://www.fanfiction.net/~sunrise19
I love fanfiction and I also write original stuff however I seem to write fanfiction even more.
(if you know what fanfiction is..skip this)
Fanfiction is when you take characters from a book, movie, tv show..etc and you write stories based on those characters from the book, movie, tv show..etc.
Any ideas anyone about how to get out of my writing slump?

Get pumped up. Knock someone out.
Tarayshia
26-02-2006, 20:41
I wish Jenrak! Haha..

All of these ideas are great!
Thanks so much for replying..keep them coming!
Revasser
26-02-2006, 20:44
You could try psychoactives, too. That's how they all did it in the 17-1800s.
Upper Botswavia
26-02-2006, 20:49
I find that when I get blocked, it is because I have started the characters on a path they don't want to go down (that is, my sense of who the characters ARE is getting in the way of the direction I am forcing the plot to go). So I back up and try to write a different part of the story. If I can let the characters inform me of where the story is going, it usually flows much better. Sometimes the ending you thought you were headed for is not as good as the one to which your characters take you.

Also, if you have any sort of deadlines, set a time schedule, like you would at any job. If you always write from 3-5pm, and you are just used to that, it helps. And if you sit down at 3 and can't think of anything, just start writing something, the story of what you had for breakfast, or anything to get you moving.
Tetict
26-02-2006, 20:50
A friend of mine had the same problem and she found that sitting in a cafe for a few hours watching the people go about their lives helped kick start her imagination by using some of the personalities she had seen for a story she was writing.

Just a suggestion.
People without names
26-02-2006, 20:52
i sold my writers block on ebay for about $60
Cahnt
26-02-2006, 22:39
Can't be done, Tarashyia. Either it'll clear up by itself, or you're fucked. Either way, there's little that can be done about it.
Cahnt
26-02-2006, 22:40
i sold my writers block on ebay for about $60
That thing by Jason Rekulak? Is it out of print now?
Tarayshia
26-02-2006, 22:42
i sold my writers block on ebay for about $60

Really?
*laughs*
No seriously, I've seen some wierd stuff go on ebay..so if something like that ever happens i wouldn't be surprised..haha!
Tarayshia
26-02-2006, 22:43
Can't be done, Tarashyia. Either it'll clear up by itself, or you're fucked. Either way, there's little that can be done about it.

I dunno, that seems harsh..but who knows..
Tarayshia
26-02-2006, 22:46
That thing by Jason Rekulak? Is it out of print now?

Was it a book or something?
*feels dumb and laughs at self..*
Soviet Haaregrad
26-02-2006, 22:48
Chronic!

But, the downside to pot is sometimes you get distracted from your writing, so maybe pot and energy drinks?
Cahnt
26-02-2006, 22:49
Was it a book or something?
*feels dumb and laughs at self..*
Yep. A square paperback (hence a block) that's supposed to help with your problem. It probably doesn't, but there's some interesting stuff in there.
Kilkenny Cats
26-02-2006, 22:50
I take a pin open a newspaper or a book close my eyes and point the pin to a line then take that line and write a short story with it in. This usually kick starts the process of thinking again. I also play guessing games in pubs and cafe's, I find when doing this if you put it in a note book, then when you get blocked you can refer to it.
Domici
26-02-2006, 23:51
Hi all!

I have writer's block that I can't seem to get rid of! I sit down to write a chapter of one of my stories that I'm working and nothing comes to me.
http://www.fanfiction.net/~sunrise19
I love fanfiction and I also write original stuff however I seem to write fanfiction even more.
(if you know what fanfiction is..skip this)
Fanfiction is when you take characters from a book, movie, tv show..etc and you write stories based on those characters from the book, movie, tv show..etc.
Any ideas anyone about how to get out of my writing slump?

It depends on what's causing your writer's block. For me it's usually anxiety making me too self-critical. I have a glass of wine, then sit down with another and start writing. Then I have another glass of wine per hour for as long as I keep writing. It's unusual that I'll write for 4 solid hours, so I don't usually finish a bottle that way.

If you've just run out of material to work with, then Eut's "read something different" might help you. I usually read the BBC news, so there's always something new there. But I use it less for shaking myself out of a rut than for just having something new to work with.
Tarayshia
27-02-2006, 04:50
All of these ideas are so creative, I wouldn't have thought of them.
I would _NEVER do drugs such as pot..never have never will.