I second the free-writing. I've been in a state of on/off writer's block for years, and have only just crawled out of it. It was mostly thanks to a writer named Owen Marshall, a local short-story bloke who did a two day workshop in my city just before I went on holiday. He was just a good guy in general, but his little exercises helped me to silence the inner editor long enough to get shit down on paper, and I've found since then that I'm doing a lot better. I actually finished a twenty-thousand word "short" story on the weekend, and am so happy I could just dance all day.

I ask for a homework assignment from another writer friend. This kind of thing makes me start thinking. Also maybe look into writing communities that do prompt challanges with a deadline. Dealines sometimes really help me get writing. 

Here is an example of a homework assignment.

Prompt: Blessings in the darkness

Include two or three of the following:
Candle
olive oil
pink ribbon tied around someone's neck
undone braids
fedora
green tea
"Everyone thinks they know me."
empty bottle of pills
a bizzare modern art piece

Take some musical inspriation from: Neko Case

People Got a lot of Nerve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXl870NoF4E

^
That's a good idea. I like a prompts for getting started, as long as they're short, under 1000 words.

spoon-san wrote:

Well, someone or I can make a thread for it if anybody wants it.

That sounds like a very good idea to me. Might even get rid of this goddamn writer's block.

Oh nice, good idea for a thread, hollow.

lex: Free-writing is good, I think of a random idea and just start to just write.

Forgive my ignorance, I don't really know what Free-writing is - is it what you described, lex? Just writing something about a random topic?

How do you get over writer's block?

For me a couple ways, none of them successful 100% of the time.
a) turn on a song that has the 'feeling' in it I'm trying to create in the piece
b) make an amv instead that is the same 'feeling theme'. This can put me in the mood. Maybe for other people (like artists or cooks) it could be doing something else creative to stir your juices (so to speak) in a different way
c) read old reviews for ideas and incentive
d) work on a different fanfic
e) give up and read other people's fanfiction. Which often puts me back in the mood

As you can see I find writing really mood-oriented and motivated by emotion (which I deliberately try to stir up in order to stir up my writing). It sounds so weird when I analyze it - is anyone else the same? I remember that someone here once wrote (I think it might have been Coco) that watching angsty AMVs actually blocked them from writing. So interesting.

Having said that I get so stuck on some pieces that they never get written and live on my computer permanently. Usually that's because I made the mistake of:
a) not forcing myself to write them in one sitting, or several consecutive sittings (which is my only way to get shorts done)
b) re-reading it too many times; compulsive editing has taken over
c) not being able to do the ending soon enough (I struggle with endings)
d) not finishing it within a certain timeframe. With that particular error 101 I then absolutely loathe the story the next time I read it - I see how crap my writing was before I made some increment improvement in it (which I will then see as crap a month later)

I reckon writers can be their own worse enemies. It was up to some of us we'd delete all our work and set our computer on fire in a fit of Tokiko-induced rage. Put your hands up if you feel me.

sharnii wrote:

Oh nice, good idea for a thread, hollow.

lex: Free-writing is good, I think of a random idea and just start to just write.

Forgive my ignorance, I don't really know what Free-writing is - is it what you described, lex? Just writing something about a random topic?

How do you get over writer's block?

For me a couple ways, none of them successful 100% of the time.
a) turn on a song that has the 'feeling' in it I'm trying to create in the piece
b) make an amv instead that is the same 'feeling theme'. This can put me in the mood. Maybe for other people (like artists or cooks) it could be doing something else creative to stir your juices (so to speak) in a different way
c) read old reviews for ideas and incentive
d) work on a different fanfic
e) give up and read other people's fanfiction. Which often puts me back in the mood

As you can see I find writing really mood-oriented and motivated by emotion (which I deliberately try to stir up in order to stir up my writing). It sounds so weird when I analyze it - is anyone else the same? I remember that someone here once wrote (I think it might have been Coco) that watching angsty AMVs actually blocked them from writing. So interesting.

Having said that I get so stuck on some pieces that they never get written and live on my computer permanently. Usually that's because I made the mistake of:
a) not forcing myself to write them in one sitting, or several consecutive sittings (which is my only way to get shorts done)
b) re-reading it too many times; compulsive editing has taken over
c) not being able to do the ending soon enough (I struggle with endings)
d) not finishing it within a certain timeframe. With that particular error 101 I then absolutely loathe the story the next time I read it - I see how crap my writing was before I made some increment improvement in it (which I will then see as crap a month later)

I reckon writers can be their own worse enemies. It was up to some of us we'd delete all our work and set our computer on fire in a fit of Tokiko-induced rage. Put your hands up if you feel me.

Yeah, exactly like that. You just go on a random tangent to get your brain like going. Sort of like how you warm up before you do exercises.

Yes, sometimes it's a great spring board for ideas and dialogue between people.

Sorry if this posts twice.

A note on grammar:

For a funny read on grammar -- yes you read that right -- I recommend Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. She's British so if you're American all the rules won't line up exactly, but she is hilarious.

Yeah, I agree about not getting too nitty gritty with details, but it's a good thing to keep in mind.  But that's more or less what I meant about not going overboard with it.

hollow_rose wrote:

For a funny read on grammar -- yes you read that right -- I recommend Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. She's British so if you're American all the rules won't line up exactly, but she is hilarious.

This book is awesome and I love it.  Being obsessive about grammar and punctuation myself, I can easily relate to the things she goes on about.

I have her book on manners, too (Talk to the Hand!), but I haven't read it yet.


I'm going through a bout of writer's block myself, so maybe some of the ideas in this thread can help me out, too...

hollow: Yeah mainly my problem with writing at the moment is revisions....I can't ever motivate myself to do them, because they feel so much like work.

Damn right. I concur 150%.

Ummmm suggestions? *looks blank*
I guess I remember that back in the swirling mists of the distant past...I used to have a beta.
And when I did, their comments and suggestions made revisions a HELL of a lot easier, and were a motivation in and of themselves. So there's an idea. Kinda.

sharnii wrote:

Ummmm suggestions? *looks blank*
I guess I remember that back in the swirling mists of the distant past...I used to have a beta.
And when I did, their comments and suggestions made revisions a HELL of a lot easier, and were a motivation in and of themselves. So there's an idea. Kinda.

I think that's a good idea, sharnii -- half the purpose of a beta is to check for continuity and sense, and they also tend to be a hell of lot more objective about extraneous content than the author themselves. Personally I enjoy revising with a beta in tow, because I've been lucky enough to have betas who are enthusiastic about the content of the story in the first place, and I love seeing how people respond to what I've written. It makes going back and changing things far more interesting and rewarding if you can see the reason why you're doing it, and have someone to guide you along the way.