Writer's Block - Writers Forum

Carrie · 11-19-2006, 03:03 PM

I love writing.
Yet I have a problem.
Lately I have had some serious writing block problems. I can figure out a story plot, characters, and everything just fine but when it comes to putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, I go blank and I just can't find that spark I've always had. I haven't written a good story in a while because of it.
So...
I was wondering if anyone else had this same problem, and if you did, how did you get over it? I am eager to write, so please help. I'd appreciate all the advice you could give me.
Thanks a bunch.
*Carrie*

Emerson Darkness · 11-19-2006, 03:06 PM

Okay, try to remain calm Carrie.

A lot of people have this problem so your not alone.
Are you having trouble getting started, or is it that
you just don't want to commit yourself to writing something long and drawn out?

Carrie · 11-19-2006, 03:21 PM

No, I love writing long, drawn out stories. The longer the better, actually.
I'm having trouble getting started. I have notebooks full of character ideas, so thats not a problem, and putting a plot together is easy...I just can't actually start piecing a story together.
*Carrie*

PAGEMASTER · 11-19-2006, 03:31 PM

I've also had this problem so I wrote a poem about writers block and it kind of helped but now I'm suffering with it again

Emerson Darkness · 11-19-2006, 03:33 PM

To get started i always consider the plot and all the sub-plots i can think of.
After that i consider my character's personality. (What makes him/her the way they are?)

Then i start things off putting my character in a possition that foreshadows the plot (in some interesting way) and at the same time emphasizes my characters personality.

In my current book i started things off with my character climbing a mountain. (Now he's not a mountain climber, but the mountain is significant, and i like putting him in tight situations.)

Once you get started hopefully you'll be okay.
Just remember, writers block has little to do with the story, and a lot to do with the writer.

Carrie · 11-19-2006, 03:33 PM

I guess it is a pretty common thing then...
I think I'm gonna sift through one of my old stories to help get me motivated. Hopefully I can begin writing soon.

Emerson Darkness · 11-19-2006, 03:41 PM

what would your character be doing at the beginning of your book?

Is she/he a lawyer, a hermet, a bear, an alien?

I can think of a lot of interesting ways to catch my target audience with such things.

PAGEMASTER · 11-19-2006, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carrie

I guess it is a pretty common thing then...
I think I'm gonna sift through one of my old stories to help get me motivated. Hopefully I can begin writing soon.

I've swaped from story to story in order to try and be rid of my writers block but its done me no good but I hope for your sake it works.

Carrie · 11-19-2006, 03:46 PM

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help.
Actually, I want to start writing a story with extreme fantasy. (Like elves and faeries, and dwarves and such)
Thanks again.
*Carrie*

Emerson Darkness · 11-19-2006, 03:50 PM

To a certain degree writer's block can happen for many reasons. The root cause of it is usually fear though.

A lot of writers here at the forum will tell you they're "Fans of WHAT IF"

We often think our characters are perfect when we first concieve them, so it can be difficult to 'put them through the wringer' so to speak.

It's easy to fall in love with certain characters, and deny the worst possible things from happeing to them.

But what if the worst possible things happen to them?
What if something horrible happens to them in the very first page?
OMG - I never knew that could happen!!!

Possibility is endless in our stories, because we are the ones making them up. We say what is possible. You can print tragedy on the first page and sale it to the highest bidder...Mwuhhaaaahahaha...

Emerson Darkness · 11-19-2006, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carrie

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help.
Actually, I want to start writing a story with extreme fantasy. (Like elves and faeries, and dwarves and such)
Thanks again.
*Carrie*

I kind of figured from looking at your avatar.
What if your gorgeous little elf got ugly in the first chapter?
Tragic? Certainly...but I might read that one.

Carrie · 11-19-2006, 04:10 PM

Actually my avatar is a character from a manga called "Chobits" She's a robot, not an elf, lol.
But elves always have facinated me...I was thinking my character could have been a changeling, that was switched with a human child, and then finds out later that she is not human, but an elf.
I think that would definetly be something interesting to do. Also, I've been trying to stray from vampirism. I'm always writing about vampires so it'll be a challenge to write about something so different.
Thanks for the help, again.

Emerson Darkness · 11-19-2006, 04:15 PM

Sorry to show you this, since your straying from Vamps and all, but...
http://www.chapelofresonance.com/main.html
It's a cool castlevania site i go to.
Love those games

Your story sounds interesting, and different than the stuff i'm used to reading.
Have you ever read Terry Brooks' Shannara stuff?
It's not my cup-o-tea, but i think it has elves in it.

Carrie · 12-27-2006, 10:06 PM

Carrie · 12-27-2006, 10:06 PM

I haven't but I should.
Heh. I'm a guilty Lord of the Rings fan.
There are PLENTY of elves in those books...
^^