Coping with writer's block.

[Sumguy14]

To any and all that care to chime in I suppose. What coping mechanisms do you employ to deal with writer's block?

As many of you know, I have a few unfinished tales hanging out in the ether... I would like to evolve them into finished classics. However, I have had consistent writer's block for a VERY long time. Actually I don't know if it's persistent writer's block or a combination of average complacency and apathy towards writing in general (I write stuff that isn't SW related and I haven't done much of that in forever either.)

Hoping someone might have a tip, trick, or technique they have found reliable when the ideas come but the motivation to sit and get them on paper eludes.

Thanks in advance.

[Prof Sai]

:: Points an imaginary gun at Sumguy14's head. ::


Type! If you stop typing for even 10 seconds, I'll blow your imaginary head off!
It doesn't matter what you type as long as it is not repetitive.
Type for a full hour, and then read back what you wrote. You don't have to post it anywhere.

[Elana]

Careful with those imaginary weapons.
We don't want the thought police to search this place.

[Sumguy14]

:: Points an imaginary gun at Sumguy14's head. ::


Type! If you stop typing for even 10 seconds, I'll blow your imaginary head off!
It doesn't matter what you type as long as it is not repetitive.
Type for a full hour, and then read back what you wrote. You don't have to post it anywhere.

Not an approach I had considered... outside coercion!

I am honored (and frantically typing out of imaginary self-preservation)

[HHunter1]

One thing that helps me is having a verity of stories to work on at any one time. So I don't get board with one story. But that doesn't seem to be your issue. As you said you have several open stories.

Things that also help is reminding myself a typed page can be edited, a blank page can not. Also a paraphrased quote I think Neil Gamin said, Just write. Get your bad ideas out on paper so you can free them from your mind and access your good ideas.

Lastly, take a break. Do something non-writing related. Play a video game, hang out with friends, assemble a puzzle, go for a walk. Something that helps you relax. I often get concepts I want to explore when I'm not trying to force words on the screen. Sitting there looking at the void of a blank word document just allows that void to look into you.

HH1

[Dr.Minimizer]

My advice is, never write when you feel forced to. If it feels like work or drudgery, don't even try it. You'll hate every minute of it and what you produce will be crap.

I sometimes go months without writing because I'm not in the mood. I have a client right now trying to pay me guaranteed money to write a commissioned story for him and I can't get myself into it so I keep putting it off for exactly the above reasons. To me writing is something I have to enjoy and love, and when it's not those things, I don't do it.

During the pandemic I got the writing bug and wrote a 5 novel series over 400k words as a collaboration with another author and then promptly burned out. I still haven't quite finished that project yet. But when I'm in the zone...the words just fly onto the screen. That's where you want to be. Take the time you need, think about it, let it percolate on the back burner, and then when you're ready...it'll almost write itself.

[Prof Sai]

I sometimes go months without writing because I'm not in the mood.

:: Points an imaginary gun at Minimizer's head. ::

[Bloodthirstybutcher]

Drinking. It worked for Hemingway.

[Little Sally]

Drinking. It worked for Hemingway.

It certainly works for giving your head a rest from worrying about a writing block!

But I think you've had some good advice already Sumguy14, so take it on board and don't fret about it. When the "muse " returns you'll be just fine. I've got a few unfinished writing projects on the back burner myself but I'm not in the least concerned about it, I've no deadlines to meet and only myself to suit.

I often think we treat this pastime too seriously at times.

[Rocket]

Hi!

Some additional thoughts or suggestions ...

- Occasionally I might be stuck at a point where I'm not sure how to continue a story line. So I might skip ahead to work on another scene, knowing later I'll connect the dots and probably have to tweak it.
- Also I read a lot of mainstream fiction - probably a book a week - and I find myself sometimes borrowing or adapting an idea and placing it in a completely different environment. I also find I sometimes adapt some of the writing styles I see.

Hope this helps!

[slepytyme]

Strange as it sounds recently I have been using the a.i chatbot and found that my writers block is lifting.

[Captainsinbad]

You could try talking to Sally. I'm referring to the original Sally. The mean one. She reads your stuff.

[DrWonko]

Do a writing dump - just type or write for 30 to 40 minutes any and everything that is on your mind. Don't edit - just write. I find it helps me work past any blockage.

[Sumguy14]

Thank you everyone who responded. I'm trying the writing dump technique currently... even got a few paragraphs into two stories.

Seriously though, I appreciate everyone chiming in like that. As a YouTuber I follow likes to say "It's good to have people at your back."

[Prof Sai]

As a YouTuber I follow likes to say "It's good to have people at your back."

Thanks! Violence is the solution to everything.

[Flippity-Floosy]

Ah, writer's block... the surmountable wall that seems insurmountable.

Glad you've received a lot of feedback. I tend to get writer's block every now and then, and so far, I've got a few strategies that have been working for me.

One thing I realized about myself is that if I'm the sort of person that gets distracted very easily if I'm writing in the confines of my home, and just lose the motivation to write altogether if I'm doing something else. I have a library that's only about five minutes away from my house and depending on if I've got free time, I might spend a few hours there just typing since it kind of forces me to be in a position where I will focus on actually writing. The same if I go to Starbucks or something; usually, if I'm out of the house and on my laptop or the library computers, I'm going to be working on a story idea. It's a habit I developed in college to study because my roommates, as wonderful as they were (and still are, I'm still in touch with them), were distracting and I'd sequester myself at the computer lab or library on campus.

Now, in the case of when I just don't know how to proceed with a story, I tend to work on future scenes, but lately, I've been writing my stories "backwards<" or to put it bluntly, I know how I want my story to end, see what events leads to that ending proceeding it, and continue to write to the scene leading to it. But nowadays, because I have an outline of my story before I start actually writing it, I've been able to kinda push past the writer's block since, so long as I know how its going to end, I just got to make the scenes eventually flow into it. '

And, of course, if no matter what, I don't feel like writing, I just don't write. I get enough of the writing bug that inspiration will eventually spring up at some point or another, and when it springs up, I can write dozens upon dozens of pages in the span of a day or two. But if I'm just not in the mood to write, I just do something else.