Home > Writing Tips > How do you handle writer's block?

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Neptune But if you write something under sleep deprivation, make sure you edit when you're more awake before you put it up anywhere. Many typos could slip by otherwise. X3
Posted at 2006-04-09 05:54:31
darkener14 I think that most of these are ideas to just set the story aside.
I believe it helps to review everyone thing you've read in your mind and then thinking of later chapters or ideas and how you can reach those through the part of which you are stuck on.

Even writing out some dialogue will get the juices flowing again. It also helps to keep a reasonable time everyday to work on it (or try to in this case). Don't wait a month before working on it again because you'll lose popularity in that.

Nikki
Posted at 2006-04-26 09:55:14
helluin I just found two ways to overcome writers block.

One, I've wound up with a beta, or, really, just a friend who's writing a story with the same characters, so we're sharing bits back and forth and encouraging each other. I got really badly jammed for a while and kept talking to her about what wasn't working, what I wanted to do, where the problems were. I actually posted a chapter on ficwad, and we're set to story alert each other when something goes up. She reviewed immediately telling me it didn't "grab" her like the rest had. I pulled it back down before anyone else saw it. The next morning I woke up with an odd dream sequence that happened to fit right in -- taking the story and turning it on its head, seeing it from a new vivid perspective, breaking it into symbols and restless archetypes -- and suddenly the dead chapter had a very alive beginning. Holding onto it, I rewrote one more time (after 2 weeks of running my tires over and over the same slope trying to get up speed) and it carried me right through to the end.

So, having a trusted friend provided a jumpstart.

The other item that helped me today to keep momentum is that I went back through all the reviews for ALL my stories in this fandom. I have had a few readers ask me difficult questions. I copied them all into a file, examined each and every comment I'd gotten, fix the few typos and tweaks I hadn't gotten around to, reread earlier chapters with the comments in mind, and most importantly, tried to write out answers to all those knotty questions. Where people saw good insights, I wrote those out again too, applying them to where I am in the story now, if they would still be relevent.

Then suddenly I wrote a new chapter in an hour, and posted it by the end of the day.

So, if you're getting comments or feedback from anyone, use 'em.
Posted at 2006-04-26 18:46:44
darkener14 Sometimes using feedback from reviews isn't a good idea either. Reviews can be good or bad depending on what they say. It can say the opposite of what you planned to happen, then again there can be reviews telling you about your grammar and other such things.
Posted at 2006-04-28 10:25:40
Neptune Feedback helps a lot, because of the fresh set of eyes, but yes, they're not always right. On a Kids Next Door fanfic I wrote once, a lot of characters complained that I made one of the characters, Mushi, mean. However, she was acting that way because a lot of top-secret information could be compromised. Another reviewer reviewed and pointed this out.

It's good and bad, as far as review advice. But never dismiss anything someone says about your writing without at least considering it--it could be the solution to your block.
Posted at 2006-04-28 11:39:17
darkener14 Yes, that is true, but when the reviewer tells you that in the future you should consider doing something that you did not plan to do, then that's when you shrug off the review.
But like another writer, she suggested important things and I am going to take them into consideration when I am writing in the future.
Posted at 2006-05-11 11:17:59
PikaBot This may sound a little bit odd, but the way I've always dealt with Writer's Block is...to write. Force yourself to write. Just power on through. It doesn't matter if what you're writing is awful; you can come back and edit it later, or remove it if it has no redeeming features at all. But once you start writing again, generally it'll get the gears in your mind turning again.
Posted at 2006-05-17 14:03:39
Mercy
Writer's Block
There are two types, firstly the staring at a blank screen and wondering what on earth to type (probably not as politely as that either) and secondly a story reaching a dead end and/or the author getting tired of it.

If you're not writing through lack of inspiration, then find inspiration: read, what movies, listen to music, go for a walk, daydream, exercise... but don't beat yourself up for not writing.

If a story's hit a dead end, go back a couple of scenes and ask yourself "what if...?" or trying re-writing the story from another character's viewpoint.

If you're currently working on a story, always leave it mid-scene or even mid-sentence. Then when you come back to it you always know what you're going to write next to finish the scene. By the time you've finished the scene, you've warmed up and what happens next flows. If you finish a scene, you waste valuable time warming up and trying to remember what was supposed to happen next.

If all else fails, remember you can't edit a blank piece of paper: write something, you can always edit it later.
Posted at 2006-05-22 11:54:37
CodeWarrior Usually, if I find that I can't work any further on a story then I walk to university instead of taking the bus.

I'd like to say I listen to music which I do sometimes, but I quite often find myself singing more than letting ideas run rampant in my head.

Every now and then I'll get a completely insane idea for a story totally unrelated and I'll wonder if I can rip off any ideas from it and use it in my current story. (Before I started doing that, I was trying to juggle 6 or 7 stories at a time and I never finished any of them.)

All in all though, I do find that PikaBot has the right idea. Just write.
Posted at 2006-05-29 03:40:25
Pheonee I open a new Internet window and do something else for a while...the more tense you are, or if you're trying really really REALLY hard to pump a few words theough, the more of a writer's block you have. The quickest easiest solution is to close your eyes, lean back and think about what you are writing and what id so great about it. Then open your eyes and make yourself relax...think about soemthing else for a while if you have to...relax...realax...relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax...
Posted at 2006-06-01 02:31:18

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