Kitten Courna

What silliness is this "writer's block" you speak of?

I usually solve my writers block by having such extreme amounts of different things to begin/elaborate/rewrite/expand upon that there's always something I'm in the mood for fiddling with. Either that or I spend sometime talking with my friends so that the drama of their lives scares me back into hiding, where everything's proper again.

And I avoid poetry. Nasty stuff, that.

Kitten
Whose loving advice is willingly given.

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Cadmus: Poor child, like a white swan warding its weak old father, why do you clasp those white arms about my neck?
Euripides; 'The Bacchae'

Kimberly Bird

Writers block, hmmm. Best thing to do is write 3 pages a day even if they don't make sense. That way your mind becomes focused again. Editing is another way to get the mind back on track.

Kitten
Either that or I spend sometime talking with my friends so that the drama of their lives scares me back into hiding, where everything's proper again.

Ha, that's funny.

larryta3

you hit a nerve there, kitten

I personally love poetry...children especially but getting into fantasy and a few short stories....

but that is just me I guess, soem people write about things I would not dare to like horror...

When I find I cannot do what I wanted I wait and go somewhere and even if it is a few weeks later I will get an idea or two and yes I have dreamed about it too..

Kitten Courna

Larryta3-

I regularly peruse poetry, however like any good cynic, I believe that no poet is as good as a dead poet.

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Cadmus: Poor child, like a white swan warding its weak old father, why do you clasp those white arms about my neck?
Euripides; 'The Bacchae'

Stefanie

Well, I did that a few months ago. I had no inspiration for that story at all. But I forced myself to add a part to it. The next day or so I thought that part was really bad and I deleted half of it. On other times, when I wrote something when I had no inspiration, I wrote something boring. I don't think I could force myself to write something exciting when I have writersblock. But I guess writing something that doesn't make sense should be possible when I have writersblock. The thing is that I always write less than I would love to write. In general, I have less ideas for my stories than I would love to have.

Fantasia

I still believe I wasn't able to beat my writer's block. It just let me win. :nods:

When I get stuck in the middle of a story, however, I've found that inspiration strikes when I've stopped thinking about it. I have no control whatsoever on the Powers that Be.

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Guineapiggy

IMO writer's block is:
A - Fear you can't continue to a certain standard
B - Fear that what you have written already isn't to a certain standard.
And not always concious. Sometimes a little confidence booster is all it takes. How you find that though is down to the individual.

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I'll sing along, yeah with every emergency. Just sing along, I'm the king of catastrophies. I'm so far gone that deep down inside I think it's fine by me that I'm my own worst enemy.

gabriella

If you want to get over writers block, then you're going to have to stop calling every little obstacle you come across writer's block. It makes it seem far bigger than it really is. Being uninspired or stuck is a completely different story than having writer's block - it doesn't take long to overcome them.

I encourage you to exercise to boost your creativity. It always makes you feel better about yourself when you're done, and happy that you've done something good with your life. It makes you oodles happier, refreshed, and it always sparks your creativity again.

Start a few paragraphs earlier and rewrite the scene. Backtrack to see where you went wrong. Start a new scene where your characters are out of that sticky situation, and edit later to figure out how. There are plenty of ways to help, but first let me say this: Sitting at your computer staring at the screen will never get you out of your rut. It'll only make things worse. It's a waste of your time, not good for your eyesight, and you could be doing something much healthier like going out for a jog. Wait five minutes at the screen. If nothing comes out, then nothing comes out. It's as simple as that. Staring at a screen is like sitting in front of a knot in your shoelaces and waiting for them to untie on their own.

One of the surest ways to help yourself get over writer's block, is to stop calling it writer's block. Also, stop staring at the ceiling or the screen for hours on end. If no words come, no words come. Do something. Exercise, go out to dinner, do homework, shop. Also, go see something creative. A movie, an art museam. Reading is great, but try looking at an art form different from your own.

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You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.

DL Ferguson

DING DING!
WE HAVE A WINNER!!

Stefanie

I really like this tip.

northerain

personally, i use something like what Spudley uses.i make a quick map of the story, and then i bypass the part that is giving me a hard time and write some scene that would be written(normally) later.its pretty effetive for me

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gabriella

Then it's not writer's block, is it? Writer's block is you can't write. Simple as that. Doesn't matter what scene you're on, you just can't get anything down. If you can bypass it so easily, by either toughing it out or skipping over it, you're just avoiding a rut, a glitch in fantasyland.

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You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.

speculative

Writer's block is just performance anxiety. As has been mentioned, if you still have the ability to write, you're not "blocked."

If you don't write, you know what you will come up with: nothing. If you do write, you might come up with something horrible, or something wonderful. Scary stuff!

The only way I can produce material sometimes is to use a trick I learned during NanoWrimo - write ahead! If you don't know what happens next, then write the part three scenes after that. If nothing else, you will have printed words in front of you. It might make you see things in a different light and help tap your subconscious, or it might be a path you don't want your story to take.

Also, I hear you on that sleep deprivation thing! I don't do it for my personal writing, but in college I always stayed up all night writing my papers. Best I ever did was write a 25-page term paper for English during the 36 hours preceding the class with only 1/2 hour of sleep because my eyes almost completely dried out.

-speculative

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Ellipses are my minions, they... do my bidding, mwahahahha!

gabriella

Oh! Oh! Nano! I participated, too 100k! BOO YA!

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You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.