Writers Block

[MillieDynamite]

@Annabelle1990, I can't tell you how many stories I have hanging around in my, Need to be Finished, folder. When I block, it's usually halfway through, and I abandoned it and come back later. Sometimes a long, long time later!

 

[MK_Whimsy]

I ran into this issue with a recent work. Came up with an erotic scene, but struggled to build a story around it. My approach was to just soldier through it, brainstorm ideas, and experiment until I had something that resembled a workable plot.

Once I hit on a few ideas, it was easy to translate that into more of a story. This also ameliorated the feeling that I had to write this big, complex, perfect thing, a feeling which can stymie any progress at all. The thing is, I didn't have to. I just had to write enough.

Stepping away from a work can have its place, but I think this can be a form of avoidance too. Stories don't write themselves, after all. I prefer to do this after I have already written a lot and need to come back with clearer eyes for a revision or something.

 

[Djmac1031]

Ive been struggling with it for awhile now. My urge to write comes and goes, and then even when I'm in the mood to write, I often just open up the document, stare at the few scribbles I've done so far then close it because no words are coming.

The only thing I've learned is you can't force it. It either happens or it doesn’t. But beating yourself up over it or stressing out about it only makes it worse.

 

[Duil2]

Personally, I've found it's best to write something, even if it's complete drivel. Not writing anything can become habit forming so best to trick your mind into believing that any time you open that document, words are going to hit the page. One day those words will actually be the kernel of a story idea and before long you have a complete story.
Definitely though, putting pressure on yourself to get everything perfect first time will stifle any flow.
Let go of the outcome and it helps you to relax and just enjoy the process of writing... good or bad now... it can always be made better later.

 

[yano2mch]

I never just sit down to write.

First, I find the idea. Then I build a detailed outline of the story, beat by beat. If a beat gives me trouble, I skip it and keep moving. By the time I reach the natural ending, I understand the story well enough to go back and fill in the missing pieces.

Only then do I write the first word.

Yeah, not something i can do. Too much overhead and planning and it needs refactoring. I'd prefer to just write.

Basic starting point, make 3-4 notes of where it's working towards and then just write. Well defined characters can just write themselves. Though my problem tends to be switching between characters or needing feedback since after a few paragraphs it just screeches to a halt.

But it's a lot like programming, i don't plan every API structure first, instead i'll start writing a function to solve the problem, then i'll make notes for the steps to solve the problem.

bool isPrime(int n) {
//check for impossible numbers. aka 1 and under.
//check if it's above 2 and even, break out
//big loop, go up to squareroot of number we're checking and see if it's divisible, going higher is pointless

//nothing flagged? It's prime.
    return true;
}

Then as it starts having duplicates or too complicated I'll subdivide the problem, maybe make an iterator or a Range and have it cycle through that. Or two or three functions, especially if it can be used for other data or problems.

As such I'd take a base point and write it so it naturally flows hopefully to the next scene to the next starting point. This does work really well for RP's and freeflow, and less for.... something with an actual laid out plan.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Part of the problem might be that people have told me I'm a good writer so now I feel like I have expectations to meet. The first two stories I just wrote.

*cackles* Welcome to the hell that is "people think I'm good? Oh shit, I have to write well."

I know it well. It's a near-paralyzing monster if you let it be. But you fundamentally haven't changed much as a writer. If anything, you've improved, but that improvement was a natural progression of getting your feet wet. Don't think about making the story absolutely perfect and amazing, trying to reach some nebulous standard. Just write the story as it wants to be written. That's one part, the other...

If you're at writer's block writer's block, i.e. legit words won't pop into your head vs. overanalyzing every little thing and making no progress (see above), then one of the best things I've found that works is just pure stream of consciousness writing.

Not all writing you do needs to be publishable. If you're truly stuck, have absolutely no stories, nothing works, then open a doc and just start writing whatever pops into your head. Don't think about it, don't analyze, just write. Puke your soul onto that sucker, every dumb thought, every totally useless thing, doesn't have to make a lick of sense. I for sure have done this and wound up with sentences like: "duck feathers yammer but feet don't have a small bit of sense for a child of two."

Legit that was my stream of consciousness just now (now I'm just psychoanalyzing that and realizing how weird I am and how much I don't like feet*). Does it make any sense? No. But I wrote something. Momentum is your friend when it comes to writing. When you get writer's block, it tends to compound as you start to think about how long it's been since you wrote something, which makes starting more intimidating. Believe me, as someone who didn't write for five years, and almost never wrote again after almost 20 years, that the lack of momentum is your biggest enemy, followed very shortly by your brain. Stream of consciousness deals with both. No forebrain oversight of the madness popping out, and you build momentum by doing SOMETHING.

*I say realizing, but I've known this for a while.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I'm not a plotter, but I do storyboard my projects ...

We must have different definitions of "storyboard". To me, a storyboard is more detailed than a script (because I storyboard videos). They include all plot, stage direction, SFX, etc.

 

[liliput1]

What @EmilyMiller said. But another approach that sometimes helps me, if I'm stuck on a story but can't seem to move on, is to just force my way through, write something awkward and contrived to get past whatever transition or setup or whatever is eluding me. With the knowledge that I'm going to go back and revisit it.

The hope is I'll get through the mire and find clear skies somewhere ahead, I'll get to a moment of clarity where it's obvious to me how I should have gotten there. Then I go back and scrap the misfire and redo it with all that in mind.

In other words, write forward, give yourself permission to write a shitty draft, then revise.

At work we called this straw-manning. Nobody knew what we wanted to write, but we knew it needed to be good. Eventually I just started telling someone to write a horrible version we all know is horrible and then we’d hit it with sticks until we figured out what we actually wanted instead. Everyone needs to be on the same page that this is the horrible version and not to dig at the designated victim for what s/he wrote. But if it’s just you and you… well you still have to look yourself in the mirror and agree to turn off the inner critic. Which is not nothing.

Things like that always pull me back to that apocryphal story about Michelangelo and David, chipping away everything that wasn’t the statue.

 

[liliput1]

@Annabelle1990, I can't tell you how many stories I have hanging around in my, Need to be Finished, folder. When I block, it's usually halfway through, and I abandoned it and come back later. Sometimes a long, long time later!

I’m literally writing a story I’ve been piecing together in the shower for seven years. No idea what I’ll write when it’s done. There’s a prequel and then I’ve got nothing.

Which makes me procrastinate in trying to finish because then what?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I’m literally writing a story I’ve been piecing together in the shower for seven years. No idea what I’ll write when it’s done. There’s a prequel and then I’ve got nothing.

Which makes me procrastinate in trying to finish because then what?

Go to the Story Ideas forum?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

We must have different definitions of "storyboard". To me, a storyboard is more detailed than a script (because I storyboard videos). They include all plot, stage direction, SFX, etc.

It's the same general concept, only it is more dynamic and develops along with the story itself.

I focus on plot, characters, dialogue, settings, and notes, with scenes bringing in the various elements as required to make them work. Depending on the scene, it might comprise an entire chapter, or there may be multiple scenes in a chapter.

I seldom write in a linear fashion, so I find that it is critical to me maintaining continuity as I compose a story from segments that get written in a sometimes random order.