Post by pizza on Jun 19, 2017 8:20:55 GMT -5
THE GREAT BIG THREAD
OF
OVERCOMING WRITER'S BLOCK
AND
FINDING INSPIRATION
also, the great big thread with the great big title, hahaha.
there's two ways we (that is, everyone, because feel free to contribute) can do this:
- we share personal methods and ways of thinking that we have developed to combat writer's block and finding inspiration, or
- we share links to articles, blog posts, and/or other resources about writer's block and finding inspiration with a little blurb about what each link is about because some methods just come from other people's methods.
that said i'm just gonna do both, and hopefully we'll have a thread as great and big as the title claims to be, like some curation of writing resources.
writing while depressed
depression happens to a lot of people, it's a pretty miserable thing and sometimes forcing yourself to write makes it worse. no one's brain is the same, but my way of coping (with any task while depressed, not just writing) is to just do a little bit. write a little bit, whenever you can manage it, so later when you actually have more energy to write, it will be easier. you could just write dot points outlining what you want to happen in your post. you could write just the dialogue. you could write just one descriptive phrase. anything will get you closer to a post than nothing.
handwriting vs typing
i keep both a notebook with a pen and a screen (i.e. phone, computer, tablet, whatever) around in my bag and at my desk. sometimes a word doc is too organised-looking and makes me over-edit as i type, which makes it harder to put something down. notebooks are great for drawing arrows and crossing out what you just wrote, but not completely deleting it so you can still revisit it later if you change your mind. there's flexibility. though i guess you could draw on a touch screen or with a drawing tablet.
free writing
it's the method that usually gets talked about in writing classes and on blogs and whatnot. basically you give yourself a time limit (e.g. 5 minutes) and write whatever with a topic in mind. if you can't come up with something just write that you don't know what to write until you do. allow the writing to freely drift from the topic if you find it's digressing. i hear about people who do this by hand but i like to do it in a word doc with the monitor shut off so i don't fixate on what i've already done. makes it easier to ignore misspellings. the idea is that after your time is up, you probably won't like much of what you wrote but you could potentially either edit it into something worthy, or find one thing you like enough to expand on. if not, you can try again.
always be writing
sometimes when you start getting into your rp your biggest enemy is stopping. your posts haven't been replied to and so you lose interest. well you can't really do much about other people, but you can always work on other stuff that could potentially be used later. afraid to work on a new character in case you lose interest in your current ones? work on an intro post for a new thread, or a description of an object that you know will come into play eventually, or some quips and zingers for those smarter characters. even if you don't get the opportunity to use it exactly as you wrote it, you can always hack off sentences or phrases you like. like before with the depression tip, it will be easier to pump out a post when you do get that reply.