The need for inspiration

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:40 am

Oy. I want to write, but I'm having writer's block for some reason, and I've never been able to figure out how to deal with it other than waiting. It's not total writer's block, because I'm very much still coming up with ideas for my current campaign (as you see on the Trenches sub-forum), but it's enough...

TarkisFlux · Post by **TarkisFlux** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:22 am

Well, you're already doing most of what I do, but I can maybe help cut down the waiting.

I do the waiting thing as well, but it's not sitting around waiting generally. I find I make the least progress on stuff that I stress over, so I'm pretty quick to drop things temporarily when I hit a block. I make notes or write out whatever I've got in mind when I get stuck, and often as not it's disjointed and stops randomly and is generally crap, and then drop it and move on to whatever is flowing and on my mind at the time. It works better when I move to something tangentially related, but it doesn't have to be. Since I've generally got 6 or so things going, there's always something else to focus on. After a day or two I go back and read over the stuff I'm stuck on and see if anything new comes of it. Most of the time something does, and I get past the block after a couple of small breaks. If I don't get past it in a week, I dump it all and start from scratch after a few more days.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:12 am

I write starter sentences and fragments to begin sections that I intend to write but don't know how to complete. Then I scroll down to another thing and outline or flesh out another thing. The end result is that I can write stuff up really fast, but that I also have occasional sentences that

-Username17

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:26 am

Yeah, I noticed that a few times, Frank. I just assumed you had written "Squats" or "Candlejack" or somet

Absentminded_Wizard · Post by **Absentminded_Wizard** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:35 am

FrankTrollman wrote:I write starter sentences and fragments to begin sections that I intend to write but don't know how to complete. Then I scroll down to another thing and outline or flesh out another thing. The end result is that I can write stuff up really fast, but that I also have occasional sentences that

-Username17

I wish I could do that. Of course, I'm hampered by the fact that my creative juices flow better with pen and paper than with a word processor.

My best approach for dealing with writer's block is to have multiple things going at once, even if most of them will never see the light of day. If I'm blocked on a story, I either switch to another story, or to a D&D campaign world, until I start getting ideas for the previous project again.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:02 pm

I just read some more about whatever it is I'm writing about, you generally hit something that sparks the creative juices.

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:18 pm

Having a few projects at the same time can help with writer's block, in my experience.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 3:37 am

I go looking at art - whatever kind of art I'm into at the time (ballet, tomb paintings, anime, Michelangelo) - and usually something strikes a chord and evokes some sort of emotion and story that I get all reinspired about.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:45 am

Sylvestor Stallone once said the best thing which I've tried once. I succeeded only partially and not with creative writing. It was with meditating for a week straight. (That was tough -- digression aside)

He said: Lock yourself in a room, completely noise proof it as much as you can. Put All the food and water you need in there. Make sure there's an attached bathroom. noiseproof that, as well. Now, Take wooden boards and nail 'em to the windows.
That's how he wrote ROcky. Now if only he had that kind of zeal to get as much money for his own movie. :-P. He made $25 for the screenplay originally.
Now write.

I meditated in a locked room going out for water and food and sanitation. but i slept (barely) and kept meditating for most of the 7 days. it's tough.