Writers Block

Just write- even if it seems like pure crap- sometimes the most amazing stuff comes out of crap

What are you writing? short stories, a novel? I know I also get stuck mid-novel- I think almost everyone does- I just push through it and then when it is done- I go back and shovel out all the crap and fix it up-

Pick one project and finish it. Do NOT jump to a new project. It's simple, but not easy! If you're working on a longer work, such as a novel, break it into chunks and focus on finishing one scene or one chapter at a time. Lather, rinse, repeat. Using an outline helps some people (it definitely helps me), but your mileage may vary.

For some tough love, check out NeuroFizz's posts on the subject. He started this thread as a loving kick to finish what we start:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118356

ETA: here's a sample of NeuroFizz's tough love:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3520081&postcount=10
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3618443&postcount=6

I have suffered from this problem before. I would feel the pull of a story and write and write until I hit a wall sit on it for a few days and then either go back to another story with the same issue or go to a new story ending in the same way.
Years back a friend challenged me to write a couple of short stories instead of the novels I had been trying for. I found that I was able to slowly work my way up from some flash fiction, where I would try to finish the story in one session to much longer works.
I also found that oulining helped. I don't otline the whole thing just key points to help with the flow. I'll keep that open in a window behind the work I am on, so when I get stuck I can flip over and see where I am suppose to be heading. This, I found, also allows for changes to be made to the outline if the story throws me a curve ball.

Hope that helps and good luck.

I had that problem until I started outlining before I start a project.

Writer's block (for me) tends to crop up when I reach a point that I feel is "vital" to the story. I get cold feet, fear I won't do that chapter/scene justice. Alternately, it also happens when I'm trying to force a character (or part of the story) in the wrong direction.

Learning how to write through the "block" and finish projects is oh-so-important. Letting a project sit for a few days while you think through the scene/chapter that's causing the problem is okay, but sometimes it's better to just muscle through. I will sometimes skip ahead to the next chapter until I regain my confidence to tackle the hard bit.

But you have to be able to write the difficult stuff. Good news: it's a learned skill. And you have permission to write crap the first draft (or two). That's what revising is for.

If your problem is more of having ideas jump out at you before the work is finished, that in it's self may be making you stop what you are doing on the WiP. Try jotting down the new idea into a three sentence story. It's easy and gets the idea out of your head to help you focus. Like this: She closes the door to the future and hell creeps under the cracks. It haunts her, the future she refused. Once again, she stands at the door, hand on the knob. It started out with me and doing synopses after the work was done. I whittled them down to three sentences of must know stuff and added other things that are need to know after that. It just kind of evolved from there to me using it to jot down intrusive ideas. It might work for ya, might not. But it's something to try.

I know a lot of people say stick with one thing, but I often have to have two projects going at once. When i get stuck on one I take some time on the other, then when I get stuck on it I go back to the first.

With my short stories this worked wonderfully. I was able to finish several and polish them off. With the novels this didn't work as well, but that was mainly because of other distractions in my life.

You can get a buddy to talk to you about your novel. Discuss the plot, the characters, and where it's heading. Likely this will spring board new ideas. If you don’t have a friend to chat with it about try a forum, or workshop you like. I had a great one, OWWW, which was perfect for this sort of thing, and always had great ideas to get past a block.

You do not have to write from point A to point B. Maybe today you have an idea for the ending, or for a battle near the middle. Maybe there’s a dialog that’s buzzing around in your head that needs an out. Let it out. Sometimes skipping ahead is the perfect cure for your block. I’ve never been able to write a novel from start to finish, but I have been able to write scenes, and come back to fill in the missing pieces. Somehow the pieces always fit together because my plots are character driven, and if your characters stay “in character” then the plot has no choice but to follow them.

When I get "stuck" I try one or both of the following methods for working through the problem:
1. Brainstorm plot ideas for the next scene, chunk, ending of the story. Brainstorm as many as I can, jotting down the key points. I aim for twenty. Usually around #12-15, I get the BEST idea on how to fix everything that's not working, the heavens open up and I can't write fast enough.

2. Figure out character motivation for the major character, and particularly those in the last (or next to last) scene I've written. For me, I often get stuck when I try to write characters in a way that's no true to them. When If force them, they may say they knew X character 4 years ago, but something's wrong. They wouldn't ahve known X under those conditions, or something. I figure out they're background and their role in the story to a greater depth, and, if this is the problem, then the damn break and the prose floods forth.

Either way, I keep working. I finish what I started. I hate, hate, hate having to abandon something I spent time and energy on. I work out and through the problem.

storylady-- there will always be more ideas for stories. But not all ideas are capable of being turned into stories. My advice on the "idea overload?" Jot them down, include the most important elements, and set them aside. If they are good ideas, they will wait their turn in the cue. (Or wait their turn to be abandoned part way through... ;-)

Oh, one other idea I've seen:

If you are in the middle of a project and you get an idea take a few moments, minutes, maybe an hour, and write the idea down so you can come back to it later, but once you have it down go back to your original project.

CrissyM said:

I know a lot of people say stick with one thing, but I often have to have two projects going at once. When i get stuck on one I take some time on the other, then when I get stuck on it I go back to the first.

With my short stories this worked wonderfully. I was able to finish several and polish them off. With the novels this didn't work as well, but that was mainly because of other distractions in my life.

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There is a huge difference between working on two WIPs and hopping back and forth vs. abandoning one WIP for the newest idea to come along. The former has a good chance of producing finished works while the latter will likely result in a collection of never-finished stories.

There's nothing wrong with any method of writing, unless that method fails to produce finished works.