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Getting very frustrated here

Started by Guest_Silver_* , Jun 20 2005 08:07 PM

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29 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Silver_*

Posted 20 June 2005 - 08:07 PM

Having a little problem regarding writing recently, and I'm posting here partly to let off steam and partly in the hope that some people might have been in the same situation and can give me some advice.

A couple of days ago, I was hit by an idea completely out of the blue. Usually I wouldn't complain about that...especially since it was a good idea and something I was keen to develop. So I thought about it a bit, jotted down some basic notes and tried to write a first draft.

I drew a complete and utter blank.

That wasn't a problem in itself - it's happened to me plenty of times before and usually getting away from the computer helps. So I left it for a couple of hours and then went back to try again, but still no luck.

Two days on, I'm stuck. The idea has been going round and round in my head and I've practically developed it into a whole short story, but I just can't seem to get it down on paper. I don't think it helps that it is a very emotional story too and I've always struggled with writing very heavy emotional stuff. In the meantime, I have a chapter for one story that I need to finish, another story that I need to finish editing, but this idea is so firmly fixed in my head that I can't even write anything else.

It's incredibly frustrating! :)

#2 Guest_Clight_*

Posted 20 June 2005 - 08:20 PM

Sounds just like about 90% of my ideas. I have to admit I haven't come up with any real solution yet.

#3 Guest_Kulyok_*

Posted 20 June 2005 - 08:25 PM

For me, doing some boring, tedious work for hours normally helps.

Nasty hint: you could put some of your older stories to the Cellar. :) For example, I am reading "Searching for the Truth" now, and I have to use "Search" feature, which is a bit frustrating. :)

#4 Guest_Daie_*

Posted 20 June 2005 - 08:34 PM

Hehe. My latest 'Dream' stories were exactly the same as what you're saying. I just made myself write them before I attempted anything else.

You just have to force yourself, I suppose.

ANyway, good luck with it. Post it here!

#5 Guest_Oyster Girl_*

Posted 20 June 2005 - 08:44 PM

For me, doing some boring, tedious work for hours normally helps.

Yeah. The last time I cracked the block on City was right after I spent three hours standing in the woods as a waypoint on a survey team.

Good luck, Silver.

#6 Laufey

Posted 20 June 2005 - 10:11 PM

As others have said, I also have found that doing something monotonous and totally unrelated usually helps, since it seems to clear my brain and help me see the story from a new angle.
Rogues do it from behind.

#7 Guest_Silrana_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 12:12 AM

I know the feeling. Sometimes Jarran and company flee for the beach and I can't get them back.

My biggest problem right now is that I have an idea for a novel, one that I think could easily turn into a series. The protagonist leapt into my mind, whole and breathing, and I've been designing a world around her.

The problem is, I find myself getting bogged down in the minutae. I have read too many authors who seem to have made up their worlds as they went along, leaving glaring continuity errors on the way. To avoid that, I have been trying to hash out the setting the way that a DM would design a new game setting - religion, economics, the map, the political interactions between power groups - but I think I've overdone it. I'm losing focus on my protagonist and the supporting characters that I came up with. Very frustrating.

My advice is to step back and leave it be for a bit. There have been times when I have the story, as clear as day in my head, but I can't seem to make the words come out of my fingers. When that happens, no amount of forcing will help.

#8 Guest_glAssbOy_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 01:01 AM

Writer's block?

One big problem there, sometimes that happens to me even if I'm not doing fanfic. A thing I do is to take a break for a while and do other things, watch TV, play a computer game, or just sleep. Sometimes a cigarette and a bottle of beer helps me - though I don't suggest that you do it.

Just try to relax a bit, and good luck on the story you're working on. :shock:

#9 Guest_Silver_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 11:01 AM

Nasty hint: you could put some of your older stories to the Cellar. :wink: For example, I am reading "Searching for the Truth" now, and I have to use "Search" feature, which is a bit frustrating. :shock:


Heh, I'd practically forgotten all about that particular story of mine. :roll: Yes, I suppose I really should think about putting all the chapters in the Cellar - but I'd probably have to edit it all first, because if I remember there was a lot I wasn't happy with, and right now I don't really have the time or the energy to do all that.

I'll get round to it one day soon though, I promise. :wink:

#10 Guest_Silver_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 11:22 AM

Sounds just like about 90% of my ideas. I have to admit I haven't come up with any real solution yet.


It is *very* annoying. I do have a few solutions for conquering writer's block that usually work for me, but just not in this case, it seems. Writing the story 'backwards', making extensive notes to the extent that I have almost the whole story drafted on paper before I start writing it up properly or talking through it step-by-step with a friend are all methods that I've tried before with success. But this time it appears that all my creative energy has just...disappeared somewhere and I have no clue when it'll decide to come back.

#11 Guest_Silver_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 11:34 AM

Hehe. My latest 'Dream' stories were exactly the same as what you're saying. I just made myself write them before I attempted anything else.


Sometimes that's the best way to do it. Unfortunately in this case...I try to make myself write and it just won't come and I end up getting more and more frustrated.

You just have to force yourself, I suppose.


Well, I'm not giving up on it. It's too good an idea to just abandon, even if I could get the idea out of my head. One way or another, it will get written.

Anyway, good luck with it.


Thank you! :shock:

Post it here!


Heh, I would...but it's just not an Attic story. :wink:

#12 Guest_Silver_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 11:46 AM

For me, doing some boring, tedious work for hours normally helps.

Yeah. The last time I cracked the block on City was right after I spent three hours standing in the woods as a waypoint on a survey team.


*briefly wonders if she should go and stand in her local woods* If I don't get anywhere with it today, I might just have to try that.

Good luck, Silver.


Thanks! No matter what it takes, I'm determined not to give up on it. And I know that eventually this block will lift, but waiting for it to happen is very frustrating.

#13 Guest_Serena_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 02:07 PM

Hmmm.

I don't know if this might help, but it sometimes does for me. Sit down in front of your computer, and make yourself write something -- not necessarily the story you want. Whenever you write something and you're not happy with it, for whatever reason, ignore it and keep going. It might not be what you want to work on, but I find it gets my brain back into a 'writing mode.' And if you end up with a whole peice of gibberish, that's fine. :shock: I know I have.

#14 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 03:35 PM

I'm with Serena on this one.

If I can't figure out what to say or where to start, I usually start with a peice of furnature. A table is fine, since it's probably right in front of you. Since most of the time, a desk or a chair or even a bookcase has no overwhelming bearing on plot, and you're just going to delete it anyway, you can write anything! But it gets your mind working, and set on writing. If nothing, else, just to prove that your main character is more interesting than a desk. :shock:

#15 Guest_theacefes_*

Posted 21 June 2005 - 05:06 PM

I have about 4 stories I want to start writing but I'm only halfway through my first one (Sacrifice). Usually when this happens to me, I go downstairs and raid my kitchen :) . That usually helps clear my mind so that it's easier for me to concentrate on what I want to write, and get it down on paper.

Another strategy I use is music. When I write, I try to pretend that I'm watching a movie of my story. Then I grab some movie soundtrack (usually classical music) and listen to it. This helps me picture in my head what I want to happen in the story and kind of pushes me to write.

#16 Guest_Serena_*

Posted 22 June 2005 - 02:57 AM

That's another idea, and one that's helped me often; writing to music. I usually favour classical, though not always, and any music that sets a scene or an image in my head -- I just start writing based on that.

A friend and I once worked out a whole story while listening (not watching) Disney's Fantasia. :) It was really interesting what came out of that . . . :)

#17 Guest_Kulyok_*

Posted 22 June 2005 - 05:29 AM

That's another idea, and one that's helped me often; writing to music. I usually favour classical, though not always, and any music that sets a scene or an image in my head -- I just start writing based on that.

A friend and I once worked out a whole story while listening (not watching) Disney's Fantasia. :D It was really interesting what came out of that . . . :)


You are lucky. :) If there is something that distracts me from writing, it is music. I automatically turn Winamp on, and after an hour, I find that I haven't written anything.

So, I have to work in silence. :)

#18 Guest_Silver_*

Posted 22 June 2005 - 07:06 PM

You are lucky. :) If there is something that distracts me from writing, it is music. I automatically turn Winamp on, and after an hour, I find that I haven't written anything.


So, I have to work in silence. :)


Heh, I can't do anything without music playing - even revision or essay writing. Though I can certainly understand why some people find it distracting, it tends to have the opposite effect with me and helps me to focus more.

#19 Laufey

Posted 22 June 2005 - 08:33 PM

Heh, I can't do anything without music playing - even revision or essay writing. Though I can certainly understand why some people find it distracting, it tends to have the opposite effect with me and helps me to focus more.


I always use music when writing - and I choose the music depending on what I'm planning to write. Angst, funny...and different songs for different characters too.
Rogues do it from behind.

#20 Guest_Theodur_*

Posted 22 June 2005 - 09:06 PM

Funny how we sidetracked this discussion to music, but oh well... I'll just say that I'm one of those peoples who can't write with music, I need my silence.

Having said that, one of my methods for getting inspiration is to listen to music before I start writing. My preferred music doesn't quite work as background music, because it demands a lot of my attention on its own, due to complexity of the lyrics, for example. But it gets my mind in the creative working gear. Certainly, the last of the CD's I've bought has been the most inspirational source of music I've ever had and it also helped me to deal with a minor block. :)

Oh, and good luck with breaking your block, Silver. :)
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