What did you do to cope with your creative block(s)?

Evading writer's block

OMG is easier said than done.

When I'm feeling particularly stumped, I know this may sound weird...but I write erotica.

I just sit down and write the nastiest, filthiest piece that I can, have a good laugh, and then carry on.

Sometimes we get so immersed in our writing that we forget about how much we love the writing.

I sleep it off. Sometimes it'll last for weeks. I'll just give up (but not really). Then when I'm ready (I'll "feel" it), I'll get back into it.

MissyLaRae said:

Sometimes we get so immersed in our writing that we forget about how much we love the writing.

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Well said! I used to write for pleasure when I was a teenager - stories, songs, poems, all sorts of stuff. This is what drove me to study English and then Creative Writing at university - while I was there I wrote some good stuff and even had a bunch of short stories published in mags and anthologies.

BUT doing the courses on writing turned it into WORK in my brain. It's been well over six years since uni and despite thinking about stories all the time, and thinking about (and wanting to do) writing, I have been unable to get anything done. I procrastinate terribly and generally just give up to play video games, etc. If I actually do sit down at a computer I have extreme difficulty in translating my story into words.

It's odd - I can think of the perfect way to write things when i'm plotting in my head in the car or the shower, but as soon as I sit down to actually do it - BAM, blocked.


I've only just started getting over this recently by scheduling time for writing - Wednesday nights, write 500 words OR write for an hour, whichever comes first.
And then trying to write at other times when I feel like it, such as early mornings.

Setting yourself manageable targets and plotting out your scenes really does help.


Also, I listen to soundtracks with headphones on - specifically soundtracks to fantasy movies or games. If I listen to the music I like, which has words, I immediately get distracted.

I have a bunch of strategies:

Sometimes, I just keep plowing through. I completely turn off my brain and just keep writing, even if it's nonsense. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if, during the revision of my current WIP I found a half page of just "boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs".

Other times I just let it run its course. Sometimes my brain is just exhausted and can't be impressed to give me what I demand. There was one point where I spent three days at my writing desk rocking back and forth muttering "must write... must keep writing... must write". This is not an exaggeration. It turns out I had a pretty high fever for those three days without realizing it. On the third day I finally gave up and just let myself have a week of blissful brain numbness.

Sometimes my brain just stubbornly won't stay on topic. Once during a bout of writers block it exhumed the skeleton of a short story I'd sketched and abandoned months previous and decided it wanted to run with it, so whatever, I let it have its fun.

Usually though, I walk when I have writer's block. I put on some music, shove my hands in my pocket and just walk. Something about being in motion with the scenery changing just shifts the state of my mind into 'free thought' mode and gives me the ability to ask questions of the elements in my work. I ask my characters questions, my plot questions, my setting questions. I bring my entire cast of characters together and let them argue with each other and usually in the jumble of what comes out, I find something I can use.

Other times I just set writing aside and immerse myself in reading. I cured my last bout of writer's block this way. I closed my manuscript and gave myself a week to read four books. It really brought me back into the right frame of mind and made me anxious to start writing again.

Though many don't try to "defeat" the block, that's exactly what I do. I don't particularly care if my subconscious doesn't want to write. He lives in my head and, last I checked, he isn't paying rent so he's damn well going to do as he's told.

If I get blocked, I find that I can sometimes break things loose by changing my scenery. I'll try going to a coffee shop or some other location and writing there.

If I'm just stumped on a particular chapter or scene, I'll write some other chapter or scene and come back to the one I'm stumped on later.

jp811 said:

If I get blocked, I find that I can sometimes break things loose by changing my scenery. I'll try going to a coffee shop or some other location and writing there.

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Yeah, I guess if you mostly write at home it's very easy to get distracted by your internet, making tea, kids and family, cats, etc

Taking yourself away from that is a great idea for getting work done.

I work 10 hr days, so sometimes, I'm just a brainwreck after work. Barely able to line up enough neurons to perform simple bodily functions. But I fire up the laptop and have it right next to me, open to the WiP. Maybe I'm gaming, maybe I'm wallowing in Doctor Who reruns... but that WiP is at hand, convenient, in easy reach. And usually? Usually it'll whisper to me and I'll get at least a few hundred words in, maybe outline some stuff for later... more often then not, once I type that one little nugget down, I realize that I just kept typing...

Seems odd, but I didn't see anyone else mention my favorite way of making it through block: I run. It is rare that I go out for a run wondering where to go next in a story and come back without an answer. Sometimes, it starts to come so freely that I run farther than I intended when I set out. If I don't write it all down before I do anything else when I get home, I forget it. Sometimes I run with a notepad.

Lest that sound annoyingly healthy, I will add this: my favorite way to solve the "omg my writing is boring" is whiskey (applied while writing). You'd think that this would lead to those moments where you think you're writing something wonderful but you wake up the next day hungover and with a bunch of pages of crap. Fortunately/unfortunately that is almost never the case.

I cry and whine to my writing buddies. I pet my kitty. Write to Uncle Jim. I go for rides by myself, mull my story over and start imagining the problematic scene, start talking as the characters, their dialogue. Seems to help.

Sometimes I poke myself with a pin.

Not really. Maybe I should, though, you know, working through the pain.

Something else that seems to work for me... I change PoV's. I restrict everything I do to one storyverse. It's all 1st person. The WiP is a story arc that'll probably take 3 books. There are times when I've jumped on a submission call for a short or novella and changed PoV's, not duplicating the story from another perspective mind you, just another story in the same world by other characters who's narrative might briefly brush up on the main.

I thought that the main benefit would be "well, at least I'm writing something."

Not the case.

It's let me flesh out those secondary characters, and in a few cases invent new, strong characters I didn't know I needed in the WiP. It's like a backdoor to working on the main story, engineering events that will effect my protagonist later. And when I wrap it up, I've got more to bring to the table with me to the novel.

So maybe doing some writing, but set from a PoV a few feet away from your protagonist(s). It's helped me spot things I didn't know I needed, and let me create some great characters who in retrospect felt kind of flat before.

Doing something new helps me a lot - going to a new place (a park, a farmer's market, a store I've never been in before) usually sparks ideas and gets the creative juices flowing I have a terrible memory as well, so I keep a small notebook on me to write down interesting props or people I come across on my adventures.

If it's a WIP, it's as simple as reading it from beginning to end.

If it's a fresh page and I find myself out of ideas, I'll write something rediculous. The worst story I can imagine. That usually leads to something that's actually good. Or i'll read through my idea folder.

King God Kong Zilla said:

If it's a WIP, it's as simple as reading it from beginning to end.

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As simple as this sounds, it's a very good idea. I recently just completed a novel--60000 words-plus--and got stuck at around 52000 a week or so ago. I just read it over, found out what was lacking in each chapter--character development, action, dialogue--and added what was necessary.

It's been said that it can be a mistake to put yourself in your MC's shoes and there is some merit to that argument, but I've found that by imagining myself in my MC's situation, I can usually--not always--take it to the next step, writing down what they'll say or do, and on it goes.

I don't want to give the idea that it's perfect--far from it--but once it's down on cyberpaper I can refine it and make it reader worthy.

I swear, my biggest hurdle is opening up the GDmmed text file and facing it. Then I force myself to write one stinkin' paragraph. After the paragraph is finished, I try one more. That usually gets the ball rolling. I don't have writer's block as much as I have extreme fatigue. Fatigue is what keeps me from writing my fiction.

Well, when I get depressed, I find it difficult to focus on writing for very long. Although, the defeating of that, given my mental state, it easier said than done & completely unrelated to the writing itself whatsoever...

I go and do something else (like come on here) and go back to it later.

I tell myself it isn't writer's block; I just didn't want to write at that particular time. This helps me feel better about it. I'm not retreating; it's a tactical withdrawal.

Sleep.

(I don't call it "block". I call it: "this isn't coming out right").

ReflectiveAcuity said:

I don't call it "block". I call it: "this isn't coming out right".

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That's what I usually tell myself two hours after eating a large, starchy dinner.

Seriously, though, sometimes you're not going to get what you want on cyberpaper. So, what I like to do--in addition to what I've written previously ITT, is to leave myself at least a couple of questions about the MC, his/her surroundings, reactions to other characters/situations and reactions from other characters. I put these questions in boldface at the point where I think it's not working, and then I shut it down and pick up where I left off a little while later.

I take a break and read a book. It usually helps gets my creative juices flowing again.

I'm an outline person, so usually when I sit down to write a scene I already know what it's supposed to accomplish. So when I feel blocked, it means I don't have a good picture of the scene in mind, I don't know what details it should contain, and I don't know how to accomplish what it's supposed to accomplish.

When that happens, the very worst thing for me to do is sit at the computer and try to bang out text anyway. It's a miserable experience, the prose always sucks, and then I'm just kind of pissed off when it's all over with.

Lately I've tried stepping away from the computer and pulling out my notebook and pen, and brainstorming and free-associating little snippets of details or dialogue or what-have-you that might pertain to the scene. When I'm feeling blocked, this is kind of hard to get started... but because I'm not actually writing a draft, I don't have an inner editor saying "that sentence is bad" and "that doesn't make sense" and "this is all out of order". It's just a mess of ideas scribbled on the page, and usually by the time I've filled up that page the scene is starting to take shape in my mind.

Sometimes actually writing the scene after that is still a bit like pulling teeth, but when I finish a sentence and my mind goes blank again I can look back at my notebook and pick out another detail and start moving in that direction. It rarely yields my best scenes, but it does get them done.

I think of Alec Baldwin's speech in Glengarry Glen Ross and then start typing. When that doesn't work I have a couple of drinks and then start typing like an idiot.

There was one teacher in the fiction writing department at my college who always said, "When you get stuck, throw in a gorilla with a machine gun."

That should get things flowing

Usually there is a lot of pacing involved. Then I watch Burn Notice or some other procedural until my brain doesn't hurt anymore.

I like to listen to music. If the scene is scary, I listen to dark music. If it's a love scene, soft piano takes me there. Just a suggestion.

MissyLaRae said:

OMG is easier said than done.

When I'm feeling particularly stumped, I know this may sound weird...but I write erotica.

I just sit down and write the nastiest, filthiest piece that I can, have a good laugh, and then carry on.

Sometimes we get so immersed in our writing that we forget about how much we love the writing.

Click to expand...

Awesome!

I've been pretty depressed lately. So I sat down and read all of Twilight. Then read it again. Now I'm writing Twilight fan fic. I'd feel guilty for having so much fun... but I'm having so much fun. And at least I'm writing something : )