Beat your writers block!

[Rowan Dalton]

BEAT THAT BLOCK!

Here is a list of ways to get around and/or beat back writers block. I hope you’ll find it helpful.

-Go through and write everything that the character wouldn't do or just something random and pointless. It's nothing that has any point at all other than to get you past the stuck point.

-Watch some TV; sometimes a quote or a situation, or even a commercial would inspire a topic or some writing..

-Go to word, words processor, anything you have. pencil ad paper work too. Type "There." or another starting word(s), such as "it was. "
From that word or phrase, you can get almost anything.
"There was a great moon on the night that they met"
"There was a large lump in her throat"
"It was late that night when the chills began, despite the tropical climate."
"It was this that made him so alien, so unreal."

-Listen to music or read a book

-PUSH yourself to come up with interesting ideas

-Join more threads. You can't dismiss any possibilities until you're in the middle.

-As you go--from the day you create your character, keep list of 'key words' that you'd love to do a thread on. This can be added to as you go, and tackled whenever you feel at a loss. It's really, really important to keep talking about your characters and keep pouring over your ideas. Do it ANYWHERE, but keep on going so that when/if you do hit a wall, you have some ways to get around it or break through it..

-Don't think too hard. Go do something else that's completely unrelated, like physical activity to distract yourself. If you think too hard you're going to just mentally over0exert yourself and you will not have much good to show for it. Brain storming can work, depending on the Mind of the person.

-What you won't write. Look back at your last few posts- especially the narrative monologues, and if it seems that you keep rambling about the same topic in all the narration, ban it from your writing to force yourself to think of new ideas.

-Go through and make a list of all the topics you want to cover, the things or situations you need a character to respond to or act on, what you want them to do, anything

-Try really hard to just put yourself in the shoes of your character. Imagine yourself (as them, that's important, don't break character!) in their situation; what would be going through their head, how would they feel, etc. Sometimes looking at it from that perspective helps, but ALWAYS make sure the character STAYS the character, in other words, don't let it turn into YOU.

-Keep away from distractions. Other windows, sometimes music that is very loud or music you are SINGING to. Maybe you have a million windows open on your computer at once. Try to shut them out. ALL of them.

-Challenge yourself to write a set amount per day/post.

-WRITE THROUGH THE BLOCK. write something you aren't happy with. Write a one-liner. just write SOMETHING. force yourself, no matter how long it takes.

-Try eating almonds and blueberries. Thinking food.

-Meditate and stretch. Calm your thinking down to a manageable output, some people have too many ideas that they don’t realize they have, and so it seems that they have none.

-Look for a photograph/draw the scene your characters are in for inspiration.

-http://www.seventhsanctum.com/ A writing ideas website.

-Try playing some executive games, drive a car in someone’s office, or pop some balloons.

-Laugh. Go look at something funny, or try to think of a funny way for you to proceed in the roleplay.

-Think back to things that have happened in the past week, or longer, than really have sparked your emotions.


Preventatives:

-Write often and exercise the creative part of your mind, do some art, or sculpting, or something hands on. that can help.

Created by:
Rosalieart of RPG-D

[hanabi]

I'd just like to add the post on writer's block I wrote for Phoenix Tears.

We all get it eventually, that evil time when you can't think of a creative idea to save your life. How do you get out of the deep abyss that is writer's block?

I do a couple of things:

If it's a plot problem I'm having, write the problem down on a post-it note and stick it up somewhere. (I put mine on my bathroom mirror.) Believe it or not, the answer will come. I go this tip from a book* that said the answer would come something like, "be it three hours or three days later." However, when I have used this technique, the answer came something like a couple weeks to many months later. But it came!

Read fan fiction. I recommend this more than regular books because they are usually pretty short, and so you can get a bunch of different stories into your head in a relatively short period of time. I like fan fiction because it is very easy to see what does and doesn't work. Often times they are about some sort of strong emotion, and you can look at it and say, "This seems unrealistic because...." Real books work too, but because fan fictions usually aren't the best thing you've ever read, they are really good for looking at characterization, etc.

Write fan fiction (or post here on Morsmordre ). Even if it isn't about your story, you are still writing. You are still telling a story and learning about what works in your writing. And for me at least, I've written things in fan fiction (or at least went over it in my head) which I have adapted for a completely unrelated story. You're also getting your brain working on something, and inspiration for your story may come.

Listen to music. I know this one seems like a, "Duh!" but it can really help. Look for hidden meanings in your favorite songs. If there are some lyrics in a song that are just like, "Why are these even in here? Totally irrelevant!" find meaning in them. For example, when I was going through my Twilight phase, I was listening to "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon. I really started listening to the lyrics, and I came up with meaning to lyrics that seemed completely random. Admittedly, the meanings were New Moon-related, and I never ended up writing anything down that was remotely related to that, I still think it shows hidden meanings can be found.

Watch movies. This is kind of related to reading. This especially works if you're watching cheesy Disney movies, etc. Often times, movies like that come up with a point (often the most emotionally-trying point) when, because it is a kid's movie, they can't go further into the angst or other emotion too dark/whatever for young children.

Go to YouTube. People like to get songs and put them to movie clips, often messing with the plot in the process. The videos are often vague with the story line (unless they give you a plot summary, in which case ignore it), which means you can come up with some interesting interpretations of your own.

Write when you only have about five minutes. You are forced to pick a direction to go in when you're allotted such a small amount of time. Believe it or not, you can actually come up with a lot when you are rushed.

Write a different scene. I've been stuck on the same scene for long periods of time, but moving on to another scene makes sure that you don't just stop writing. If you're lucky, something will happen in your New Scene, which will help with Old Scene.

With a lot of these, you may be saying, "But with this 'inspiration' you're talking about, it seems like the idea I come up with will be completely irrelevant to my story." Remember those ink blots you see in movies for therapy? It's kind of the same concept. In the back of the mind, your story will be sitting. It will relate itself to your idea. (Yes, I know that doesn't really make sense, but I can't think of a better way of putting it.)

So, those are my tips! Post your anti-writer's block tips.

* The book is Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine. It's kind of cheesy at parts, but there are some good tips in there for pretty much all aspects of writing a story.