Writers' Block, Any Advice Options

[Zalphon]

Any advice on how to beat Writers' Block?

[TheOtherRick]

I haven't been writing long enough to offer you any experienced advice. However, check out this post that was started almost 5 years ago in this forum. There are a lot of great tips in it, including dealing with writer's block. Good luck!

[mALX]

The only advice I can give is this: Everyone goes through it. Things happening IRL can disturb any inspiration or the mood for writing (like when my X died last summer, I didn't feel like doing anything - not even posting or reading - for months).

Sometimes nothing is causing it, but you just lack the inspiration. If you are writing about a game, just sitting down and playing the game can sometimes spark that.

(I won't mention any names, but a certain ... person had this happen over a year ago, they didn't have the time to play and it was hindering their inspiration. Making playing the game a priority and writing taking second place made a huge difference, because when the game inspires, the words flow).

Take vitamins, exercise outdoors - clearing your head can sometimes work. Or my personal remedy for absolutely everything that ails you - go to a beach and bask in the sun for ten days. The sun replenishes and refreshes you, replaces vitamins that stress depleted. Always works for me no matter what the problem.

If all else fails, sometimes just getting away from it for a while works. - remember Bobg last year? He came back with a vengeance.

[Linara]

What mALX said, but also, listening to some music can help. Or reading something of someone else's, things like that. I've found that the music one helps me the most, Mumford and Sons, things like that.

[Zalphon]

Could it be I'm working on a project? TES III: Morrowind Mod...Raynil the Forgotten (it's a mod thast's going to take a few months, but I hope it's fun)... SO could it be I'm devoting too much to that?

[Linara]

Wait, you have writer's block on the project?

[Thomas Kaira]

Quite possibly so. Serious modding takes about as much inspiration as writing, so you may just be exhausting your creativity working on that project. This is why you don't see very many serious modders also writing fanfics.

I'd suggest you take some time off writing to get that mod sorted and released. That will definitely help.

This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Feb 3 2011, 05:39 AM

[SubRosa]

I go through periods where I just get tired of writing and need to take a break for a few weeks and do something else. Play the game, watch t.v. work on mods, etc... A few weeks ago I finished writing 3 chapters in a row, and was feeling a little burned out. So I started playing Morrowind instead, and made a few little mods for it to improve the gameplay. Now I am back to writing another chapter again.

I have definitely found that if I am working on a big mod that I do not have the time and energy to write as well. So I do one or the other.

[Olen]

Personally I tend to find the root of a block I have is that I don't like what I'm writing and don't know where it's going, particularly the latter. Without some sort of map of what happens when I just can't write, so that comes down to planning. I've never had anything which wasn't carefully planned get past the 25k mark.

Take the fanfic I worked on after the last one I posted here, the idea seemed sound (I still sort of like it) but it just wouldn't go anywhere. After cough words I gave up halfway through the fifth revision and looked for fresh inspiration, in part the scale was too big, I prefer writing at a smaller level, so it just didn't suit, I didn't enjoy it so there was a block.

So it comes down to finding an idea you like, for setting/plot, character and themes. For this I browsed around:
http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Main_Page
http://www.imperial-library.info/ (particularly the maps and history sections)
and noted down things which seemed to fit what I wanted - room to play around, good scale, right setting, &c.

For example looking at the map I found Stirk - ever heard of it? I hadn't and there seems to be almost no lore. So what's there? Does someone come across it? Deliberatly? Why were they sailing there? ... That's an idea which never made it. Another was looking at the timeline and the origin of the Mages Guild, and there were others. So I gave them all a couple of days to brew and one was a clear winner, I put together some characters and a timeline then started writing and after pushing the first 10k (which will be a bundle of fun to edit seeing as my editor was off for it) it all started flowing.

So in short decide if it's the content of what you're writing which is putting you off and if so, however much you like it, ditch it and find something else. Then just write and push through until it clears.

EDIT: http://hollylisle.com/index.php/Writing-Li...ng-fun-yet.html , she often has fairly good points, it's a good site to check out too. Her other writer's block article has something I have also used - write something you normally wouldn't dream of, it shocks the internal editor into submission.

This post has been edited by Olen: Feb 3 2011, 08:37 PM

[Zalphon]

Quite possibly so. Serious modding takes about as much inspiration as writing, so you may just be exhausting your creativity working on that project. This is why you don't see very many serious modders also writing fanfics.

I'd suggest you take some time off writing to get that mod sorted and released. That will definitely help.

Okay...It may be a few months before I can write again...this is only my first mod and I want it to be good.

[mALX]

Quite possibly so. Serious modding takes about as much inspiration as writing, so you may just be exhausting your creativity working on that project. This is why you don't see very many serious modders also writing fanfics.

I'd suggest you take some time off writing to get that mod sorted and released. That will definitely help.

Okay...It may be a few months before I can write again...this is only my first mod and I want it to be good.

Definately don't short concentration on the mod over a fic !!! Will it be a lich mod? WOO HOO !!

[Zalphon]

No, Malx. It's a mod focusing on an ancient war between two factions (The Atran Order and the Order of the Dragon).

No, I will not go into more detail.

[Zalphon]

Gah, it got so buggy I couldn't fix it. I have to restart

[Zalphon]

And now I have mod Writer's block...

[Destri Melarg]

I know how you feel, Z. I have just come through a month long period of writer’s block myself. I wish I had some concrete advice to give you, but I always subscribe to Mark Twain’s solution:

“When the well runs dry, all you have to do is leave it alone and it will fill back up again.”

I find that when we try to chase down the muse we just end up blocked . . . and tired! Of course such pursuits are a good way to lose those annoying pounds that accumulate when we sit at the computer pounding Cheetos and Mountain Dew for long stretches of time, so the time need not be wasted.

For those who do what we do, control is as fundamental as breathing. It is ironic then that our best work comes when we allow ourselves to lose control. Don’t try to coax your story (or your mod) into being what you want it to be. Allow it to reveal itself to you as it becomes what it wants to be. I guarantee that it will surprise and inspire you, which is exactly what helps remove a block.

Good luck with it.

[SubRosa]

I know how you feel, Z. I have just come through a month long period of writer’s block myself.

Does this mean that the Second Interregnum of Interregnum is over, and that the King has Returned to the end of the Second Era?

[TheOtherRick]

...we sit at the computer pounding Cheetos and Mountain Dew for long stretches of time...

I hadn't realized my webcam was on...