I tried to sit down and type out a sentence. I couldn't do it. Literally nothing comes to mind. How do I overcome this extreme writer's block and start a story? Should I already have a concept that I really want to write about?
Writing is hard!
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Bugfatty300
Buddha Squirrel
Works for me most of the time:
Step one: Play a video game for a while.
Step II: Forget that you needed to write something.
Step tres: Start doing something else with your time.
Step one: Play a video game for a while.
Step II: Forget that you needed to write something.
Step tres: Start doing something else with your time.
It takes practice to make make writing come easily. The more you do any kind of writing, the easier most writing becomes.
Phrossack
Armored Fish and Armored Men
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I'm having the same problem. Successful writing, really successful writing, cannot be done because there will always be some fault with it that someone will find and point out. I've given up except for the writing that I'm required to do, and that I can barely manage. 
Sketch the story first. Just a rough format of what happens followed by what.
Then start writing in the middle of the story. You don't hafta write in a linear fashion.
Then start writing in the middle of the story. You don't hafta write in a linear fashion.
cybrxkhan
Asian Xwedodah
It just happens sometimes. I heard a story about one of those famous literary authors - his maid found him one day, writhing on the floor, and thought he was having a stroke or heart attack or something, but it turned out he was just struggjg for hours and days to find the right word. The one right word. He had some pretty bad writers block.
Anyhow advice I've heard is to just write even if it sounds like the most terrible thing you've ever read, better it's down there now and get it out of the way, for you can always return to edit and improve on it later.
Better to write than not write after all, for us writers.
Anyhow advice I've heard is to just write even if it sounds like the most terrible thing you've ever read, better it's down there now and get it out of the way, for you can always return to edit and improve on it later.
Better to write than not write after all, for us writers.
This is also good. If you're on a roll, keep on rolling. Its a lot easier to edit ideas you already have down than it is to put them down in the first place. It's also requires hella less time commitment.
Sometimes you have to learn to stop writing a piece and let it stand as it is. Perfection in writing does not equal success in moving readers. If you have to make sure your writing is "absolutely perfect" before it is finished, then that is an entirely different problem.I'm having the same problem. Successful writing, really successful writing, cannot be done because there will always be some fault with it that someone will find and point out. I've given up except for the writing that I'm required to do, and that I can barely manage.
Phrossack
Armored Fish and Armored Men
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Sometimes you have to learn to stop writing a piece and let it stand as it is. Perfection in writing does not equal success in moving readers. If you have to make sure your writing is "absolutely perfect" before it is finished, then that is an entirely different problem.
If my readers don't like my piece and make valid criticisms of it, I've failed. If I don't like it, I've failed. If I'm trying to write some thought-provoking, moving, enjoyable piece, and my readers point out problems it has, I'm not doing my job properly. My tastes and views are so different from those of others that there will always be a lot of criticism of whatever I write, so failure is inevitable.
sophie
Break My Heart
Get up and take a walk.
Often I'd find when I was stuck on a particularly tricky part of a paper, and writing inertia was overcoming me, getting up, going out, and walking somewhere outside for 15-30 minutes was the best cure. It allowed me to stop stressing about the writing part, and start thinking big picture, how things were structured, where this was going, what my arguments were. By the time I got home I had so many ideas buzzing around that I couldn't wait to get them all down.
Of course the obvious caveat is that everybody is different and deals with writers block differently. I had a friend in college who would type out 3 sentences, then stop, pick up a bass guitar, play it for 30-45 seconds, put the guitar down, and write another 3-5 sentences. I tend to enjoy banging out papers while listening to music. Another common tactic I did was watching tv or movies and segmenting myself. "I'll watch this tv show, but I have to get x paragraphs finished by the time it's done" or "I'll watch this episode, then I'll write x pages". Other friends of mine abhor even the slightest distraction (music, tv, anything) while writing.
It wasn't uncommon for me to push out an 8-10 page paper in one 3-4 hour sitting (incl. editing), whereas I had other friends who would break the same paper out over a week or more, doing one paragraph at a time, sometimes completely out of sequential order. People think in different ways. You just have to experiment until you find what works best for you. It's part of the writing process.
One moooore thing: I second other peoples' point that not taking the first draft so seriously can be helpful. Often I found the hardest thing was just getting started. This was because I'd build the project up in my mind to such a degree that the concept of completing the project was so far off and daunting that the mere thought of beginning was exhausting. However I found once I actually got that first word down things flowed very naturally. It actually happens on the boards quite a lot. Ask me to sit down and write a 15 page paper and I will procrastinate for the next two weeks. Ask me to just write a quick post about the development of the English language and a couple hours later you'll still find me tapping away at the keyboard. I mean hell. Look at this monstrosity. I originally intended it to be 6 simple words. Now I've rambled out another couple hundred. If you're really passionate about what you're doing, then the best piece of advice is to just start writing. Eventually your raw interest in the subject will take over and you'll find writing that paper/book/whatever to be the easiest thing imaginable.
I'm sure this is obvious to you, but you aren't going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. There are people out there who think The Godfather, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Citizen Kane, Pride and Prejudice, "Hamlet", and Braque are all terrible. Art is subjective. What matters is that you are satisfied with your ability to express yourself. Enjoying what you are doing is pretty much all you can hope to achieve when it comes to artistic expression. Pleasing an audience is a nice icing on the cake, but if you go in trying to do that and only that you're going to end up pretty damn disappointed.
Often I'd find when I was stuck on a particularly tricky part of a paper, and writing inertia was overcoming me, getting up, going out, and walking somewhere outside for 15-30 minutes was the best cure. It allowed me to stop stressing about the writing part, and start thinking big picture, how things were structured, where this was going, what my arguments were. By the time I got home I had so many ideas buzzing around that I couldn't wait to get them all down.
Of course the obvious caveat is that everybody is different and deals with writers block differently. I had a friend in college who would type out 3 sentences, then stop, pick up a bass guitar, play it for 30-45 seconds, put the guitar down, and write another 3-5 sentences. I tend to enjoy banging out papers while listening to music. Another common tactic I did was watching tv or movies and segmenting myself. "I'll watch this tv show, but I have to get x paragraphs finished by the time it's done" or "I'll watch this episode, then I'll write x pages". Other friends of mine abhor even the slightest distraction (music, tv, anything) while writing.
It wasn't uncommon for me to push out an 8-10 page paper in one 3-4 hour sitting (incl. editing), whereas I had other friends who would break the same paper out over a week or more, doing one paragraph at a time, sometimes completely out of sequential order. People think in different ways. You just have to experiment until you find what works best for you. It's part of the writing process.
One moooore thing: I second other peoples' point that not taking the first draft so seriously can be helpful. Often I found the hardest thing was just getting started. This was because I'd build the project up in my mind to such a degree that the concept of completing the project was so far off and daunting that the mere thought of beginning was exhausting. However I found once I actually got that first word down things flowed very naturally. It actually happens on the boards quite a lot. Ask me to sit down and write a 15 page paper and I will procrastinate for the next two weeks. Ask me to just write a quick post about the development of the English language and a couple hours later you'll still find me tapping away at the keyboard. I mean hell. Look at this monstrosity. I originally intended it to be 6 simple words. Now I've rambled out another couple hundred. If you're really passionate about what you're doing, then the best piece of advice is to just start writing. Eventually your raw interest in the subject will take over and you'll find writing that paper/book/whatever to be the easiest thing imaginable.
I'm sure this is obvious to you, but you aren't going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. There are people out there who think The Godfather, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Citizen Kane, Pride and Prejudice, "Hamlet", and Braque are all terrible. Art is subjective. What matters is that you are satisfied with your ability to express yourself. Enjoying what you are doing is pretty much all you can hope to achieve when it comes to artistic expression. Pleasing an audience is a nice icing on the cake, but if you go in trying to do that and only that you're going to end up pretty damn disappointed.
Terrance888
Discord Reigns
There're two really quick and easy "trash" practice writing you could set yourself to do, just for practice. I used to do it myself all the time.
1) Pick a time and pick a character. Narrate that character's every action during that time. Say, breakfast. This can both be a character/culture study as well as help sharpen description and conservation of detail (if you edit your trash.)
2) Write a journal entry fake or real. Just pour out yours, or your character's emotions onto the page. Similar to #1, except this works on internal monologue, anecdotes, and voice.
I put out a 5 minute timer for these exercises.
EDIT: These are both nonfiction excercises, of course. #2 can help you develop and reinforce a personal voice as well as do double duty as brainstorming or brainpouring.
1) Pick a time and pick a character. Narrate that character's every action during that time. Say, breakfast. This can both be a character/culture study as well as help sharpen description and conservation of detail (if you edit your trash.)
2) Write a journal entry fake or real. Just pour out yours, or your character's emotions onto the page. Similar to #1, except this works on internal monologue, anecdotes, and voice.
I put out a 5 minute timer for these exercises.
EDIT: These are both nonfiction excercises, of course. #2 can help you develop and reinforce a personal voice as well as do double duty as brainstorming or brainpouring.
This.
Eh, I have a much easier time writing stuff then editing my own work. Editing your own work is hard, it's much easier to edit other people's stuff.
Tahuti
Writing Deity
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- Nov 17, 2005
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- 9,492
I'm having the same problem. Successful writing, really successful writing, cannot be done because there will always be some fault with it that someone will find and point out. I've given up except for the writing that I'm required to do, and that I can barely manage.
Don't listen to such voices. I used to be a writer for a university magazine and the editors constantly changed it until it become unrecognisable. They even added their own names to their credit to my article!
Just write for yourself or under a paid commission. If you think you do well, you likely do well.
Phrossack
Armored Fish and Armored Men
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- 6,045
The trouble is that the voices of critics are stuck in my head. I can't get them out, and I'm constantly editing myself to avoid getting stung by them. It doesn't help that my mental critics don't agree with me about nearly anything. In terms of fiction, critics drool over things like symbolism, motifs, searches for "deeper meaning," allegory, and so on, and they think their opinion is more correct than the boorish and uncultured opinions of others. But I think completely differently, and can't stand any of that. So there will always be disagreement.
Or maybe I'm just a paranoid uncultured idiot. It's entirely possible, maybe even likely.
If you're satisfied with your self-expression, but most others seem to think your most deeply held values and beliefs are weird, wrong, or stupid, you'll also end up disappointed, unwilling to express yourself again, socially isolated, and dissatisfied with yourself. Reception is important. The winning strategy is to hold popular beliefs, but you can't just make yourself do that.
Tahuti
Writing Deity
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You have to learn to distinguish criticism out of spite from constructive criticism. If you can't learn from the criticism how to improve it, it is likely spiteful criticism.
i wouldnt know anything about writing why are you asking me about this go ask somebody literate
Yeah, all your alt-history is just terrible.
