I searched through the forums and tried to find a topic on this, but could not find one, so I'm hoping I didn't miss it. If I made a redundant thread, I apologize. Hi writers! Question for you all: What do you do for the dreaded "writer's block"? For those unfamiliar with the term, it simply means being unable to think of what to write for a period of time. There's not really a specified period of time, though. I have had writer's block for several months now, and it's killing me! I roleplay through a blog platform, and I've had to put several characters on a 'hiatus' status until I feel as though I can write as them again. Currently, I am down to writing as only one character, and even that is a huge task for me. Not only am I typically unable to come up with things to write about, I've begun to lack motivation and interest in writing altogether! It's awful, used to be my favorite hobby Perhaps we could start a writer's block support group here, yeah? So, yes! How do you all deal with writer's block? Any tips on how to get out of the funk?
There are a number of things you could do. 1. Take a break and stop worrying about it. 2. Stay up late, just lie in bed and wait for sleep to come to you. If you're lucky, ideas will come. Musical ideas often come to me at night. 3. Try harder. Do writing exercises. Limit yourself. Creativity explodes when you're limited by something. Write about a character with one arm. Write about a firefighter. 4. Exercise. 5. Go read a book instead. 6. Listen to music you don't usually listen to. I have an extensive collection of artists you can listen to if you don't know where to start. 7. Just start writing. Ramble. Do not procrastinate. Do not make excuses. Do not give up. You're just taking a break from it all at worst.
Take time to meditate, nothing religious, just simply stop focusing on trying to think, and let thoughts flow, probably in moments of peace and quiet. Listen to the sound of silence, the noise of a store, and simply observe nature. take a nuce hot shower (if possible) basically the same as meditation, but with hot water. steam the ideas out. Then just start writing, maybe not for a specific story, but just write out all the bad ideas.
Remember it's about baby steps; Rome wasn't built in a day and not too many stories were written in one day either. You're more likely to do things if they are written in a list. If you're at work during the day, keep a pen & paper/phone handy so you can write down blurbs of info. I have had great ideas in the middle of a shift but as soon as I sat down, I couldn't remember those ideas until later. When you think you're done writing for the session, make a final blurb at the end of your last word/sentence/paragraph to get back on track as soon as you open it up again. It doesn't have to be correct in SPaG but when you open it, you know what has to be done. Relax your mind the way you know how. I watch a lot of sports and mindless YouTube videos to decompress. I'm in a rut now and I've left my story minimized every day as opposed to closing it. It's a little reminder to keep poking at it so I don't forget.
Thanks for all the input, you all! For those of you who write, I hope you have not suffered from any writer's block since I made this thread! I'll have you guys know that I have been working on new characters, rather than force myself to write as a character that I have a lack of desire for at the moment. It has helped some; It has gotten me excited about writing again I've also wondered.. Perhaps it is the format I am using for my writing as well? I typically write on a blog that a myriad number of people can look at, comment on, etc. It doesn't bother me about how many people can view it, just more so the drama that can come with it. People just being poopheads because they don't like a topic you wrote about, etc etc. So maybe I need to switch up my writing environment? Perhaps I'll do some writing/roleplaying here on LV again soon. .
Yeah, one of the double edged swords of writing on the internet can be the viewers, some people take the power of ananimity too far, and it can result in some really negative stuff. This could lead to a lack of desire to write about things because you don't want to deal with the drama. It's totally valid to lose interest in something because of the anxiety, or worry, of dealing with the connected but not neccesarily related elements.
