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My Writing Block

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Transformersfan123

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I can't count the number of times that I have had writers' block on some story or another. I'm pretty good at getting past it in my original works, but some of my fanfiction has been on hold for years. I've just recently been able to break through the intense writers' block and finish my stories. Some of my tricks include rereading it, which doesn't always work, focusing just on the part that is stuck, writing a different scene and filling in the details later, and, if nothing else works, deleting a bit of what had me stuck and rewriting it. I've gotten so many stories finished that had been sitting there for ages. Hope this helps!
 

AliceL

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I feel you! I didn't use to have issues with writers block before doing reports and school assignments, mostly because I got pretty good at just throwing stream of consciousness at the page and it ended up being good enough.

With my fiction writing now, I feel a lot more pressure to make it as polished as possible and do the concepts and themes I want to write justice, so I get caught in a trap of second guessing and getting stuck over trying to make something perfect.

I've been able to combat with a couple habits. Whenever I get stuck I put on music that I like or that fits the mood of the scene I'm trying to write, and even if I'm feeling uninspired I'll force myself to put down whatever comes to mind with the intention that I'll either edit or delete it later, so it doesn't matter if its good or not.

In extreme cases this still wont work for me. Like in my main story I'm writing now there's a big chunk of important exposition in chapter 5 that I've already written but hate, and whenever I try to go back and edit it I just can't think of anything to make it not suck. So instead of just staring at that bit I move to scenes immediately after and work on those until my creative juices become unclogged.

But yeah, thats the gist of my strategy. I've also heard it helps to have a dedicated Writing Station (TM) that you only use when you're writing and that allegedly helps get in the mindset, but I just write on my couch and wherever I am when an idea pops into my head.
 

blacbird

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Like in my main story I'm writing now there's a big chunk of important exposition in chapter 5 that I've already written but hate, and whenever I try to go back and edit it I just can't think of anything to make it not suck. So instead of just staring at that bit I move to scenes immediately after and work on those until my creative juices become unclogged.

This, reiterated for emphasis. I had to learn to do this, but it was a valuable lesson. The learning came about, I think, through the back-door of writing academic papers, which tend to be assembled in bits and pieces, and almost never written in the order they wind up in. From many threads that get posted here, I opine that the most common reason for blockage seems to be an obsession with the faux-necessity to write strictly from beginning-to-end. Some times that works for me. Some times it doesn't, and it's important for me to recognize when it doesn't, and I'm getting hung up because it doesn't.

caw
 

Ji'ire

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If I'm really stuck I try to write a plan of what my intention was and see how that matches up to what's written. Sometimes I think it is best just to leave it and come back, but I find it hard to pull myself away especially when it feels like I've made little progress.
Going for a walk really helps clear things up, though it has to be by myself.
 

Caffrey

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I tend to go and paint a room. If I have an idea while doing something mundane and requiring little to no thought I'm ready to write, and if I don't I have a newly decorated room. It's a win-win.
 

Dave.C.Robinson

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In the short term, taking a shower often works for me. In the longer term, skipping forward helps me a lot. Sometimes the skip forward helps me identify where I have to go to join the two pieces up. Other times it helps by letting me see that my problem was that I was trying do dig into a part of the story I didn't need to write.
 
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