I used to think writer's block was a myth

[bthrowsnaill]

It seems to me that being blocked only happens to me when I don't feel like I have something cool to write about. My answer to that scenario is to simply not write until something cool comes to me. That is the luxury of not writing full time (for a living), I suppose.

[mjhudston]

Well what do I say. Its got to be three years since I touched my latest story and still its not gone anywhere.

Head! say hello to brick wall!

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by mjhudston

Well what do I say. Its got to be three years since I touched my latest story and still its not gone anywhere.

Head! say hello to brick wall!

...going back to the first reply to this thread:

JUST WRITE.


Turn off your inner editor and just put words on the page (or the screen). Take a notebook and your ipod to a local coffee shop or a library. Take your laptop to the park.

Just write. Stop worrying about how good or bad it might be; you can always fix it later. Just push onward.

Reassess what you wrote before--did you write yourself into a corner? Either write your way out of it or trash the corner and go in a different direction.

And monkeys. Add monkeys, they always help. Even when they're typing the works of Shakespeare on a thousand typewriters.

All kidding aside...try the change of scenery and if you write on the computer, try writing longhand instead (and vice versa). Above all, just write. Because it's what a writer does.

[Lazybones]

Agreed completely. Some of my best stuff has come out of being utterly blocked, and just throwing words up onto the page. Sometimes it even takes the story in an entirely unexpected direction, for the better.

Anne Lamont's Bird by Bird has some good suggestions for writers in this vein. Remember that your first draft is supposed to be crap; most of us can't spin gold on the first try.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by mjhudston

Well what do I say. Its got to be three years since I touched my latest story and still its not gone anywhere.

Head! say hello to brick wall!

Bin it off and write something else. Write random scenes where nothing happens. Write about yourself sitting in front of a computer trying to write something.

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Bin it off and write something else. Write random scenes where nothing happens. Write about yourself sitting in front of a computer trying to write something.

Also good advice. I had a really bad writing slump last summer and ended up sitting down at my desk and freewriting--by hand, on real, loose-leaf college-ruled notebook paper.

Fourteen pages in, I figured out who and what I was writing about. It was a universe I'd already created, but from a totally different perspective.

...come to think of it, I should do something with that...

[ekster]

I love writing, but never find a moment when I have both the time and mood for it. As a result, I have 3 novels that I started, and haven't finished any. :\

But one thing that I find helpful when I have time but no mood, is that if I can't write anything that I wanted to, I just put it all away, and come up with something completely new and fresh. It doesn't help me finish what I was writing before, but it does get me back in a writing mood pretty quick!

[M T McGuire]

I find it difficult to write if I'm excessively tired, or ill - writing with a cold is tricky and there are certain times of the month when my imagination goes on holiday and (the little git) doesn't take me with it.

I am also a stay at home parent with a 3 year old and no outside help. So the times when my head is in the right place for writing and the times when circumstances allow me the time are few and far between - about 10 minutes a month and of course, in school holidays it is not possible to write at all.

It took me 8 years to write my first book and although I'm 60,000 words into this one it will probably be another three years, at least, before I get this one done. Considering it's a sequel, I'm sure that's made my readers really happy (not).

Cheers

MTM

[Nancy Fulda]

An online friend once said that writer's block (when not the result of external life events) is often an indication that you have made a mistake farther back in the story, and that you are now paddling up the wrong creek with a rake instead of an oar.

I've found this to be true. When I'm stuck, the solution is almost always to back up and take events in a different direction at the last crisis point.

[VydorScope]

So I am coming late to this thread, but I would suggest maybe the story you are trying to finish is not worthy? Maybe you need to abandon it completely and start a completely new one?

What I have done in the past if I felt stuck is start editing what I have already. That helps get me back into the story. Another thing to do is... READ. Go read books in the same genre you like, it helps get the mind working again.

BTW way, this was mentioned earlier in this thread and I completely agree go buy and read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Stephe.../dp/0743455967

[Nancy Fulda]

I agree with VydorScope. Stephen King's On Writing is an excellent resource. I also consider Donald Maass's Writing the Breakout Novel and Nancy Kress's Beginnings, Middles and Ends to be excellent resources.

[M T McGuire]

Originally Posted by mjhudston

I'm trying to write other stuff as well, I.E my blog which is turning into a rant session of late.

how do people write their stories. do they use story boards, note books or anything else? I tend to make notes in my notebook when they come to me, but as I said nothing of late.

I'm on a roll at the moment and I write this, not to gloat, but because for the last year, I could write nothing at all. There were a number of things messing with my head and I had no thought collection time. It wasn't a good scene because I'm creative and when I'm not creating, I go a bit mental.

So for what it's worth I've discovered these things.

1. As many people here have said, don't push it, you can't force something but just writing any old cobblers, even if it's how you can't write, will help unlock.
2. Writing is subconscious and for me at any rate, it comes from other stuff. What I mean is, my brain can come up with lots of wacky ideas and I can write reams and reams but only if I'm putting other things into it. If I stop listening to music, or the radio or stop reading other books then slowly but surely it dries up.
3. The story will come when it is ready. So while it's fermenting, don't be afraid to step away from the keyboard. I've been fannying about with my second book for ages. I had lots of scenes written and lots of ideas but I couldn't get them to go together. I took some time off and then, suddenly, last weekend, the whole sequence of events fell into place.
4. How full is your life? Sometimes there's just too much going on. Using me as an example - my writing stopped completely (apart from the stuff I did at work) for the four years I had a decent job. I don't work now, but I'm a stay at home parent with a 3 year old so my writing still grinds to a halt in the school holidays. After a day entertaining a 3 year old, even one who is very good at amusing himself my brain is too fried to write. Indeed, I usually spend the first few pre-school sessions of term listening to music and generally defragging my brain.
5. If you are down, or tired, or too busy you may have to accept that there is no room for writing right now. Don't push it. Stop, step back and when you do write, remember it isn't a race. It doesn't matter if your work in progress takes years to finish, take the time to enjoy it. What's important is not how fast it comes but whether or not, when you've finished, you're proud of what you've written.

It's probably all cobblers but that's been working for me!

Cheers

MTM

[mjhudston]

I've put it down to the stress of my full time job. My block started when I was involved in some bid work for a customer of the Consultancy company I work for. The Bid was lost (15 Million Pounds Sterling). The customer refused to tell us if it was our input that was part of the reason they lost or not. We still get a lot of business from them, and I am one of the regular consultants working for them, but I just cant get out of my head that something I did wrong or did not do lost them the contract.

Or maybe its just a coincidence.

Anyway, what I have decided to do, is re-work an exitsting story which was completed as I have had some ideas for that one, to see if that can get my limited creative jucies flowing.

[David Munch]

Go somewhere you haven't been before, or do something you haven't tried before. You might get inspired, and get the ball rolling again.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I've never had writer's block... just writer's disinterest ("I just don't feel like writing right now"). When I'm ready, I don't have a problem writing.

I attribute this to creating detailed outlines and notes before I write, getting the major (and most of the minor) pieces together before you start on the real manuscript. Then once you start, your outline tells you where to go, and you can concentrate on being creative along the way... or just pound out the scene, and be creative during later re-editing passes.