I haaate being faced with a blank Word document...

Spend the weekend with my ex-wife?

If your writing is very short, then write a very short piece. Try your hand at flash fiction. Seriously, a little story, beginning, middle and end, in under 1,000 words.

Get thee to Suddenly Fiction.

You will feel amazingly satisfied that you have finished a project. Warning: Flash is addictive once you start.

SpookyWriter said:

Spend the weekend with my ex-wife?

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Stop trying to make people date the wench. Bad Spooky. No cookie.

Type one word.

Then type another.

Then another...

maestrowork said:

Type one word.

Then type another.

Then another...

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By word four you should almost have a complete sentence. What is the meaning of fore besides folk lore or fore play.

Soccer Mom said:

Stop trying to make people date the wench. Bad Spooky. No cookie.

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I can dream, yes?

I have to type a full page of crap, just so I can get to the second page and think, whew, I'm glad I'm not on The Terribly Intimidating Page One anymore. Of course the first page usually doesn't make it through revisions...

The first page is the easiest. I can pump out a page in about four minutes. It's doing ten pages which is harder. Doing ten pages everyday is even harder.


Os.

Set up Word's "normal" template with a small generic tidbit that will work for any story (and can get edited out after you finish the first draft).

Voila! You already have the first part completed, and you're well on your way to a finished novel.

Not TIO material; porting this to the Roundtable.

You're welcome, Lori.

Get rid of the internet.

I don't write on my desktop because of it.

I have a laptop for work, that I don't write on at work. I take it out and go to my car where I can't pick up the wireless signal. In essence, I'm forcing myself to write.

Not much you can do on a computer without the Internet...I suppose I could play Solitaire, but that went out of style in the late '90s. Since it is my work laptop, I can't install games or anything. It basically becomes my portable notebook.

You could always get off the computer and write a little longhand. I do this when I'm stuck as well. I've gotten to the point of about a half page before I start getting flooded with ideas and need to switch to the laptop for a faster result.

"There is nothing more terrifying or exciting than a blank page." - Me

Write in a notebook, it's a different format, you have to sit differently, you have to think differently, you can still see stuff when you've crossed it out, your notebook won't crash and lose your one true perfect paragraph.

Plus you can go sit outside, which can be a nice break sometimes.

Copy and paste are your friends. You can fill up a page in almost no time:

I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document... I haaate being faced with a blank Word document...

Try what works for the masters, like Hemingway. Write down a few words.

Rain.
Death.
Rum.
Havana.
Gun.
Death.
Rain.

You've got a bestseller just waiting for you.

Open up a previous document or two and start editing. Doubtless while in the process you'll start getting some ideas about what to do, what to change, how awesome it would be if this person did that, and before long you might have gotten the semblance of a new work.

As an added bonus, you're already fired up to write when the moment comes.

Stick with writing crap for about 20 pages and pray for it to start getting good...

Like Stormhawk, I use a notebook so I can write out my stories by hand. If you spend half a page making character outlines or a time line then you've already blown half a page and it's been used to organize your thoughts so you have a better chance of writing well.

Or you can blow half a page making a dino/dragon chase stick figures behind the three dimensional cubes and tic-tac-toe boards. Not that I blow half a page doodling. >.<

-An

TomoeMichieru said:

For the past year and a half I haven't really been able to write for crap. I haven't done it as avidly, so I don't think it's a break that I need. I participate in character development roleplays, but I only seem to be able to make little one-paragraph posts. Really pisses me off. Every time lately I start to open up a document to actually write something, part of my mind just goes 'to Hell with it' and I go back to surfing the internets or going to the canteen to get food or something, anything to avoid/procrastinate writing, it seems like.

I think this qualifies as a case of writer's block from Hell. How do I get rid of it?

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Like others have said, try writing in a different format, preferably one that does not require a long period of time to load up. A notebook might be just the ticket for you, because you can open it up, jot your ideas down with a pen or pencil, and have it on paper, in tangible form, before the thought leaves you.

But don't give up hope just because Writer's Block has hit you. It happens; the best remedy I've seen is to write despite the Block.

Also, do you read a lot? I find myself much more capable of coming up with good storylines and characters when I have been reading a good novel or two. If you're not reading much, might I suggest finding something you thoroughly enjoy, and reading it, cover-to-cover? That will feed your imagination like little else can.

Switch to pen and paper, even if only temporarily.

I love the blank page. It's the ones I've written on that terrify me.

Birol said:

Switch to pen and paper, even if only temporarily.

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This tactic helps me sometimes, with poetry anyway.
I have many more unfinished word documents than pen and paper ones. My M.O is to open word with some GREAT idea, put a few lines down, then stop. Often I open a second or even third document in the same setting. I rarely go back to finish these, but never send them to the trash-once in a while they show up in other pieces. This accounts for about 60% of my Word docs. But I'd guess that about 85% of my handwritten work makes it to a final edit..and then into a Word doc.

I would switch to pen and paper as well. It has the added bonus that you won't be looking at an empty page, but one with lines.