I Really Hate Writer's Block

I've contracted writer's block... (._.) I barely have 1,000 words in chapter 32... (>_>) and there is no known cure. (x_x)

~A Dark Reminder

Comments

[TheOneAJ]

Brother, I can relate to you. Although to be far, mine are kore frequent ad worse

[ZhaoZoharEX]

Slow and steady wins the race. Just hold out and you'll get through it. Key is to get something down each day, even if it's just a sentence or two.

On a side note, this is relevant.
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[A Dark Reminder]

2354575
But every time I write a few sentences, I go "no that's stupid" or "does that sound right?" and sometimes "who talked me into this shit?"

[ZhaoZoharEX]

2354702 Sometimes, you have to go with what you've got and move on. When you are done with a scene or the whole chapter, you can go back and see if what you put works or not. If you spend too much time on one particular part, you never get anything done.

Just out of curiosity, when you sit down to write a chapter, do you have a summary or do you make it up as you go along? I've gotten into the habit of making a detailed summary whenever I come to a new chapter. I make the summary first, then start on the actual chapter after doing something else. It's not uncommon for me to make a summary and then spend a few days planning on how to write the scene.

As I am working on the Illegal Heritage sequels which each have about 30 chapters planned, I've made summaries up to chapter 10 on each story. With this setup, I have been able to plan ahead of time and write early chapters with later parts in mind. It does take a bit of work, but I've benefited from this. Corwin and I have done the same thing with Ein Sof Zealotry and we pretty much know what we want to do all the way to the epilogue and the sequel.

However, I only do this for longer stories. For one-shots or short stories, depending on long I plan to make the story, I will often just wing it based on the idea I want to write about.

[ZhaoZoharEX]

2354914 Of course, some gimmicks are hard to write regardless of planning. I'm working on a one shot story that is done entirely in rhymes.

[A Dark Reminder]

2354914
I kinda make it up as I go along, but I'll have the main events thought up. The problem I'm having is that nothing I really planned/thought of is in the first part of the chapter. I know just about everything that come next, but this opening isn't something I had much thought in.

A part of it is I'm not even sure I should be writing the opening I'm giving it, but at the same time, I don't want to just end chapter 31 with the rest of the day shrunken down to a summery and the beginning of the following chapter being a summery. You know what I'm saying?

[ZhaoZoharEX]

2354960 The summaries I write are more to give me a major idea of what the scene is about. It doesn't have to completely follow the script so to speak.

I like to follow a format similar to this.

Scene 1 Text

Scene 1 summary

---

Scene 2 Text

Scene 2 summary

---

Scene 3 Text

Scene 3 Summary

---

etc.

Let's say I decide I'm having a particular problem with a scene, let's say scene 1. If possible, I will skip it for now and move on to scene 2. Corwin had that problem a few days ago in the current ESZ chapter so he skipped ahead to scene 2. Then we noticed scene 2 would work better as scene 1 so we switched their positions and it worked out perfectly. We could do this because we knew ahead of time what the chapter was going to be about.

Point is, try skipping the opening and going on to the next part. This will give you time to think about what you want for the opening as well as help you decide whether or not to use it. Like I said, it's important to get at least something down each day, even if it's something simple as a couple of words or a full sentence. Writing is one of those things you can't force and you need to have a good flow going to get a lot of work done. The hardest part is usually the beginning.

[A Dark Reminder]

2355022
I see what you mean, and with it in mind I'll probably just scrap what I've made for chap. 32 and move to the next scene; it's just breakfast after all.

[ZhaoZoharEX]

2355034 Experiment with a few things. Use whatever writing method works for you as what works for me may not work for you and vice versa. I'm just trying to give some advice and whether or not it's helpful is up to you.

And on that note, I'm going to get something to drink and work on my own projects.
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[A Dark Reminder]

2355071
In real life, I have a plastic cup as big as my head and I only use it for water and ice.

[ZhaoZoharEX]

2355188 The way the Summer has been, water and ice is a blessing.

[A Dark Reminder]

2355239
In Maine, or at least my part of it, it hasn't been that hot. It was humid for about two weeks but that's about it.

[ZhaoZoharEX]

2355272 I live right in the middle of Kansas and it's been between 96 and 110 since August started.

[A Dark Reminder]

2355328
i.imgur.com/cxYv61e.jpg

[Phoenix Frost]

Dude, just feel lucky you are not me, ok. Very rarely does the time come around when I actually have the creativity to put something good into my writing. Even when I get a plot-line down on paper, I need to be "In the zone" in order to make something sound at least interesting. And It's been nearly a WEEK since I had a creative spark. If you want advice, I suggest lying down and trying to forget about the whole thing. Play some video games, listen to some music, or whatever it is you like to do in your spare time. Thinking about this little bump in the road will only make you more stressed.

[A Dark Reminder]

2358219
After I finished chapter 30 I took a vacation (every 10 chapters I take breaks) and I want the next 3 chapters to be ready before I publish one of them so it's less likely to be delayed. It's been more than 3 months since I've published a chapter and in those months I played A LOT of music and video games. Hell, I still play lots of music. I don't think stopping again after such a long time will be helpful.

[Phoenix Frost]

2358297 Look, It's no big deal. Your touch will come back in good time. Remember you have a shit load of content in your story already that will keep readers busy while you get back on track. Like I said, don't let this stress you out. We have all been there.

[A Dark Reminder]

2358335

[Phoenix Frost]

Hey is your writer's block clearing up, Reminder?

[A Dark Reminder]

2371039
Yeah, but it's been replaced by sheer procrastination and laziness.

[Phoenix Frost]

2371047 brotha, I feel you.