Writer's Block

Those words have spelt doom for creative writers and students waiting until the last minute to write that essay alike. Stories go uncompleted and essays are ruined. Of course, I'm talking about the dreaded writer's block. Here, we can discuss stories, tips on how to get over it, and the like. Do you get writer's block a lot, or are you a person that just dances around it?

Sometimes I see a writer's block as a blessing in disguise. While you won't be writing for a while, it gives you time to meditate if the path of writing you've chosen was right. In my experience, it has let me add ideas while I still could each time without impacting the story so much.

Remember this: writer's block doesn't exist. What does exist is a condition in which you don't really know what you're trying to say, and therefore are having trouble saying it.

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I came across that line by Susan Orlean the other day and thought that that was the best thing I'd ever read about writer's block. In the same article (which also contains lots of advice from other writers), she goes on to recommend what I think is probably the best way of getting around it I've heard of; it's certainly very similar to how I do it, when it happens to me.

But, to return to Slayr's question, it doesn't happen to me that often. Often I just don't feel like writing that part of the story, and I have no tolerance for that sort of mood in myself, so I make myself write it anyway. (The best part of that is, as someone put it - Neil Gaiman, maybe? Not sure - when you look back on it later, you won't remember which parts of the story you were inspired while writing and which parts you just slogged through.)

Sometimes I genuinely don't know what happens next, and therefore can't write it. If that happens, I either plug away at the problem until I have an answer, or I switch over to another project (I have dozens of stories clamouring to be written at any one time, so it's never too much of a problem) and let the answer come to me while I'm not thinking about it. Usually, though, I just hammer such walls with my face until I break through them: I'm the sort of person who compensates for lack of talent with persistence.

In stories, I never get this. I always am able to spit stuff up, but the problem is I get bored of my stories. I have two stories right now and I just don't have the drive to continue them.

Now when I'm writing music, that's when I get it. For some reason I'll either just not be able to start a song, or I can't find the right way to finish it.

Cutlerine said:

Usually, though, I just hammer such walls with my face until I break through them: I'm the sort of person who compensates for lack of talent with persistence.

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This pretty much sums up my technique. I don't work on multiple projects, so I can't simply work on another story until something has come to me. I'm afraid that if I start another story, I won't get back to what I was working on. Plus, I'm a stubborn person, so I won't accept defeat and keep working at it.

I don't get writer's block a lot, but I almost always get it in the same spot. In the middle of the story, I have to finally decide which direction my story will go. It's normally at this spot I encounter a wall where my ideas just end. If I can stick it out, most of the story will go well. However, this wall has spelt doom for several stories in the past that lie incomplete.

I hate having writer's block . (Though who doesn't?) I normally tackle it by writing down a list of random things that I might be able to work with and then make up stories with what I have written down. Other times, I'll take inspiration from video games or TV shows that I have a genuine interest in. It is difficult but if I get too frustrated, I'll take a break and come back to it another day.

The other day, I wanted to write, but the words weren't coming out correctly. My mother, who knits, told me that her project wasn't coming out correctly either. Our solution to pretty much the same problem was to forget about it and come back to it later. If I try to slog through writing, then the writing looks and reads like uninspired crap, and I delete it, feeling like I wasted time. When stuck on my writing, I prefer doing something else productive with the time and coming back to writing later.

I've actually been writing a lot lately (still lurking here, believe or not) and one thing I've learned about writers block is that you just have to keep on writing. The worst thing to do as an author is to let your story sit idle without any thoughts on paper (or in MS Word lol). That's something that I'm trying to prevent happen with my stories (and roleplays). I tend to have a lot of ideas but after a while they burn out. Write down your ideas as soon as they come to your head and put them to paper. Once you do that, imagine how you want it to happen in your writing.

Well for the past, I don't know, 6 months I've been having writers block. Like if there were different levels of writers block from Level 1 as less deadly to Level 6 as in give up on writing life. I'd be in border line Level 5 and 6. Because literally, every 2 paragraphs I get writers block. Even though I know what to type, and have the idea in my head...I just get reaaaaally lazy on the third paragraph. And that's 2 paragraphs every couple of weeks.

Wait is laziness a form of writers block?? Sort of? Kind of? Right? -___-' I'm alone on that one.

And when I do really get 'writers block'. I found a away to counter my odd form of writers block. Either do something really dumb. Like skydiving...(Yes I decided to go sky diving) Pulling off all nighters and OD on coffee and junk food while watching all seasons of Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Avatar: The Last Airbender/Korra, Criminial Minds, Red vs Blue, RWBY, animes, Roosterteeth stuff, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and more bull squat to playing GTA and doing really dumb stuff in the game, LoL, just to brainstorm some motivation, and ideas at the same time. Or plain having a nice normal, alcohol influence (sort of) life. But just a social life did the trick. And fortune to got feed back and ideas from people I know.

NOTE: I recommend anyone NOT doing what I pulled off.

But I bet other people do the same thing that I do. (No seriously, I feel like a low life just confessing that)

But anyway, just a simple, short or a while of break would do. Just do something. Dedicate a weekend at least to brainstorm stuff, unproductive physically, but productive creatively. :3

And BAM! This post was not affected by writers block.

Take that writers block! Suck. On. That. :)

Writer's block kills me. I get it way too frequently than I need. This past week or so, I've felt very little motivation to do anything at all (which bums me out because I don't like wasting time) and writing is at the bottom of my list right now. My current story is completely unfinished, and I've barely made it through Chapter 2 (which is actually a miracle considering that I usually don't even make to half of Chapter 1). I tend to have this issue where I can think of a strong beginning, but I lose power halfway through and it ends up being a terrible story.

So yeah. Writer's block + lack of motivation = I hate everything.

I'm not sure I believe in Writer's Block. I believe that people can run out of ideas, but it's a very rare occurrence. Forcing yourself to write is really what forces the creative gears to start turning. Watch something as well, Any form of movie, or show that excites the hell out of you. It can turn into inspiration (and inspiration turns into sick plot twists) which will ultimately get rid of the reason "Writer's Block" exists. The feeling of not wanting to write. You'll have something interesting to explore.

As much as I partly disagree with myself that I am, I am an artist. And all artists get blocked up sometimes. Whether it's a story that I'm writing, and rewriting, or even a song that I can't seem to get out. **** happens, and for one reason or another, we all wind up with writers block.

What do I do? It depends on what's causing the dilemma. And I've found as many weird solutions for writers block as I have causes. Disrupting my sleep pattern, spending hours outside, hyping myself up on caffeine, sugar, and less than healthy things.


Cutlerine, as much as I would love to say that writers block is just in your head, it's truly, and most spectacularly not. Writers block is the disconnect between what you want to say and writing it. It can come in the form of a subconsious rebellion against what you're writing, or in the shape of discontentment with how you're writing it. Even so precariously as a complete blank once the pen touches paper. Writers block is a bane, and the antidote. It can't be simply wished away by saying that it's all your own illusion.