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Writers block...

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_Jinx_

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Alright I am not sure if this is a common thing amongst writers but I seem to be having trouble with keeping my ideas from my story Mika coming.

EDIT: I took out the joke because every one is scared of a small sex joke :3
 
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TomGrimm

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Is writer's block common amongst writers? Yes. Of course it is.

I don't have a specific answer, because I've not found a cure-all to writer's block. I'd suggest you sit down each day and keep trying to write, no matter what. Doesn't have to be Mika. just sit down and whatever comes out comes out.

If that doesn't work? Try exploring new places? Go for a walk? Sit by a lake? I don't want to tell you to find your muse, because then you'd be waiting on a dream, but find something that inspires you to write.

Or maybe the issue is you're unclear where to go next? How strong is your outline, if you have one? Maybe a clear goal is what you need to get writing again? In that vein, maybe even have someone give you a deadline - I find I write most often when I know I have to have something due at a certain time.
 

Maze Runner

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For me, I don't get blocked, but locked, into an idea, a direction. This is part of the process, right? To follow a path that in effect rules out other paths. When I find myself on a path that doesn't thrill me, at least once I see where it was leading, I go back and take another path. My pill is in the form of a question- What if? It's like the advice that the great actor John Cazale used to give his friend at the time, Meryl Streep- "You know, there are a lot of different ways you could do it."
 

_Jinx_

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Is writer's block common amongst writers? Yes. Of course it is.

I don't have a specific answer, because I've not found a cure-all to writer's block. I'd suggest you sit down each day and keep trying to write, no matter what. Doesn't have to be Mika. just sit down and whatever comes out comes out.

If that doesn't work? Try exploring new places? Go for a walk? Sit by a lake? I don't want to tell you to find your muse, because then you'd be waiting on a dream, but find something that inspires you to write.

Or maybe the issue is you're unclear where to go next? How strong is your outline, if you have one? Maybe a clear goal is what you need to get writing again? In that vein, maybe even have someone give you a deadline - I find I write most often when I know I have to have something due at a certain time.

Well I dont really have an outline :/ because I am not sure how I want it to end *yet*. I am having a bit of trouble making a spider web chart :p... I normally do best when making a flow chart in my head...

Have Mika go to the mall?

If yes: Mika meets a girl she likes and becomes friend
If no: Mika stays home to study

and things like that... I think I need to figure out where I want to take my story next :/
 

dangerousbill

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So what would be my pill to help me?

My R[SUB]x[/SUB]:

Knock off writing for a couple of days.

Do things that don't fully engage your mind: walking, driving, yard work, etc.

Read a novel or two.

Give your subconscious time to brew At the damndest, most inconvenient of times, the next chapter or the solution to your dilemma will just pop into your head.
 

Hahnx111

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I use music to inspire me. Whenever I'm having trouble writing, I put on my headphones and listen to music. Find songs that inspire certain feelings or emotions and listen to those songs when you're writing.
 

Nugus

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I know where you're coming from. I'm the king of procrastination at the moment. I could call it writer's block or laziness, or even 'an end of the things that were'. My advice: keep on writing - no matter what!. Pen, paper, computer, crayon, blood - what ever it takes. I should have never stopped, but I thought a rest would be nice. Bad idea. Write on, always write.
 

_Jinx_

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I guess but can I watch my movie first? *large anime eyes*
 

Nugus

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Watch your movie, but remind yourself that you are learning from it and it will add to your art. It helps justify that you aren't doing any work.
 

Carlene

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Oy, there is no such thing as Writer's Block! It's a term made up by someone in California who was too lazy to write. (I didn't make that up - I read it ... somewhere).

I started my writing career working for small regional newspapers in New England. There are no writer's blocks in newsrooms! If the editor says he/she needs two column inches or the front page by such-and-such time, you write it. Period! Or...you don't have a job.

If you don't think you can write - start writing about how you can't write and....well, you're writing.

Carlene
 

_Jinx_

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Movies don't work for me. They engage too many senses and make the processor work too hard. There's no CPU time left for the subconscious.

If your running a rig from around 2003 maybe but not mine :p
 

Maryn

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Oy, there is no such thing as Writer's Block! It's a term made up by someone in California who was too lazy to write. (I didn't make that up - I read it ... somewhere).
I don't believe in writer's block, either. It's an indulgence of amateurs and hobbyists--when you've got a contract with a deadline and you either turn in a manuscript or return your advance (which you spent long ago), you may find writing difficult and your results unsatisfying, but you do it anyway, because that’s what professional writers do: write.

There are lots of ways to get yourself going again.

Give yourself permission to write crap. Lousy idea, poor grammar and spelling, stilted dialogue, predictable plot... Write it anyway. Written things can be revised or rewritten to improve them. The blank pages of the 'blocked' remain blank.

Change your writing environment. Try something radically different. If you write on your computer in a quiet room, try a spiral notebook in a park or coffee house, or ruled paper on your grandmother’s dining room table. (Not recommended: your blood on walls.)

Perform writing exercises. We've got plenty right here.

Move physically. Play a sport, go for a walk or run, swing on a playground, whatever you like, but get your blood pumping. When it's racing through your body, the brain gets plenty of oxygen--and ideas.

Give yourself blocks of unstructured time when you’re not likely to be sleepy. Find a quiet place, think about your current writing project, and let your mind wander. Rein it back to the subject as needed. This can be combined with physical movement--a long walk may be an idea wellspring.

Write daily, every day, no exceptions, for a set amount of time. If you can't write, you must remain in your writing environment for the set amount of time anyway. Your choices are write and don’t write. No games, no internet, no music, no nothing. Write or don’t write. (This is the BIC method--butt in chair.)

Stimulate your mind with new experiences. If you're a movie fan, see a play or watch street performance. Hear live music rather than CDs, or listen to something in a genre you know nothing about. Eavesdrop on or observe people unlike most of the ones you know. People watch (and invent lives for passers-by). Attend a sporting event (any kind, at any level) where you don't know anyone and watch the crowd rather than the players.

On waking, jot down the surrealistic snippets of whatever dreams you remember. They don't mean anything, IMO, but the odds are good that they're packed with drama.

Just do it. You don't want to be a self-indulgent amateur, right?

Maryn, who's shared this before
 

Layla Nahar

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If you don't think you can write - start writing about how you can't write and....well, you're writing.

Well, you may be writing, but how does help to write something besides your story? Some people can write about how they can't write for thousands of words. Try to get them to add something to the story - you'll be lucky if you get 50. I hear this suggestion a lot and I'd really like to understand how writing about how you can't write is a good way to help you write your story.
 

Architectus

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Day dream about what should happen next that best serves the story.
 

Robbie

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It doesn't have to be your best or your "A" game, just write. We only use our "A" game now and again, for most of us most of the time the process is difficult I think.
 

dpaterso

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Let me use a metaphorical situation...
What a bizarre and unwelcome metaphor.

Yeah you must have blinked and missed seeing the entire forum dedicated to writer's block (moving this thread there now). Take a peek at past threads, maybe there's something there that might give you ideas with solving your own problem.

-Derek
 

Ari Meermans

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Yeah, I gotta agree with Derek, there.

BOT Anyway. I've read all the threads on writer's block; hell, I've contributed advice to them. I have a writing buddy who's half the globe away, enjoying rich new experiences I can only dream about. Yet, every day she reports in with her daily word count and 'proof' of having written. But, for the past three days no tip, no technique worked for me. Every day, I reported zip and wailed about it.

Here's where I get all "The Celestine Prophecy" on you, jinx: I believe you started this thread for me and I thank you. For some reason, Carlene's and Maryn's words reverberated late last night. And, I couldn't rep them fast enough so I could go work on my WIP. Within an hour of reading their posts on this thread, I was able to email my buddy with a report and and provide the requisite proof of having written 485 words.

So, yeah, "Just write" works.

If it works, why didn't it work before last night, you ask? I was obviously wallowing in a morass of self indulgence. I needed to be reminded that, when you get more mileage out of complaining about not writing than you do actually writing, you won't write.
 

Maryn

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That last line is begging to be a signature line, Ari. Begging, I tell you!

Maryn, who knows the good stuff when she sees it
 

_Jinx_

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What a bizarre and unwelcome metaphor.

Yeah you must have blinked and missed seeing the entire forum dedicated to writer's block (moving this thread there now). Take a peek at past threads, maybe there's something there that might give you ideas with solving your own problem.

Of course I've read other peoples threads here too. I do not only use this forum to do research and discuss my story. Lately I have been reading a graphic novel called A.I. Love You (it ran from 6 April 1994 – 21 August 1999) to get some perspective for my story. /End Rant/

Also read you messages please.
 
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mccardey

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.. I needed to be reminded that, when you get more mileage out of complaining about not writing than you do actually writing, you won't write.

Oh, I'm so going to print this out and stick it on the wall - next to my other motivator which says "Write or don't write. But if you don't write, you won't have a book."
 
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