Writer's block: When the Spirit is Willing, but the Flesh is Weak

[Semeny Licket]

"Help! I want to write something, anything, but I just can't!"

Often times, I've found myself thinking of stories I'd like to start, or scenes I'd like to contribute, but in spite of myself, I can't seem to reach the actual writing process. I have ideas, and I have the taste of the actual writing on the tip of my tongue. And yet, no words come. I just stare at the blank page, and nothing fills its iridescent purity with worldly being. Where do I go from here?

Writer's block comes in many forms, I'm sure, whether you're struggling for ideas, intimidated by how far along a story is, lacking in inspiration, or simply feel lazy in spite of time's inexorable march onward (this last point being my own source of ire). To my chagrin, I cannot speak of solutions. I'm hoping that here, we can each discuss our own motivations for writing, our own little solutions to these muddling problems of inaction, or even partake of a mutual empathy for the obstacles to our creative output. I hope we can help one another to overcome, so please, let's share our tips and advice for when we just can't seem to write.

My offered tip is that I maybe shouldn't force myself so hard to write. It frustrates me to no end to be repeating to myself like an incessant mantra, "Write something, write something, write something already! It's been so long since you've done anything!" I like the idea that writing should be free-flowing expression that we temper, and not some contrived obligation we force ourselves into. But perhaps some people just work better that way? How you write is a matter of style, even apart from the words themselves, so I think.

Other times, I feel like I get too ambitious and think too far ahead. In this case, maybe it's a good idea to try out an outline ahead of time to pace the story's chapters. This might conflict with the collaborative nature of story-telling, however--after all, part of the growth comes from sharing and working with one another, but the Chyoa that I see promotes growth in multiple directions. I find this kind of positivism encouraging.

What are your tips on overcoming writer's block and reclaiming our motivation and the will to do.

 

[TwiztidClown]

Would love to know the same thing

 

[Mr.B.]

Just consider yourself lucky you have only this type of issues, I often stare at the blank page because my english skills aren't good enough to find the proper expression

Anyway, coming to your question. My suggestion is to use the old and simple (but often reliable) method of trial and error. Don't stare at the blank page, write. Everything else will come in due time.

 

[Kaitou1412]

Sometimes free-writing can help, as Mr. B. suggests. However, sometimes writer's block is a sign of a distraction weighing on the mind. If there's no time constraints involved in the writing, I say feed the distraction and let the urge be satiated. And when that's done, take some time to get into meditation. A solid understanding of it can kill the distraction's urge as well as train the mind to circulate thoughts better. Writer's block can also stem from a desire to write something of quality that creates pressure, which results in fixating on the possibility of failure.

It's all about a clear mind. Clear the clutter inside, and the words seem to find themselves.

 

[GenocideHeart]

This isn't really a suggestion on how to help, as I can't rightly say I know how to solve the problem, just sympathy for those who can't write anything.

I think what KaitoKID said about the desire for quality creating pressure is dead on, for me at least. I'm saddled with cripplingly low self-esteem, and so my desire to create something acceptable is nigh-impossible on some days. Or weeks. Or months. And then I start to question whether I can really write at all, thus feeding my low self-esteem and turning it into a cycle.

We're fortunate though, in that the community has been pretty supportive of each other and accepting of newcomers (as far as I have experienced, in any case). If you haven't submitted anything yet and you're afraid of clicking that 'add thread' button, try to remember that it's all low-stakes here...no one's gonna ridicule you for writing badly. No one worth mentioning at least. We might critique and comment on your work, yes, and moreover it's up to you not to get upset just because we want you to get better, but there are few things that writers like more than seeing other new writers submit content. It's something about who we are, I suppose.

I can think of one thing that's more awesome though: That moment you get a positive comment. When someone comes up to you and tells you that they like what you write. That, somehow, what you have written has made their lives more bright and more interesting. That makes it worth it, and that makes writing worth it as a whole. So do it, whenever you can and whenever you can overcome your fears. We're eagerly looking forward to it.

 

[TerryTens]

Just write. Start writing about whatever comes to mind. If you find pieces you can use, that's great. If you're unhappy with all of it, write something else. The only way I have found to get past a block is to keep pushing against it. You can always edit later.

 

[RicoLouis]

One tool I use for getting around when I get blocked is I remove everything from the scene and just write the dialogue as if writing a movie, focusing more on what they or saying then what they or doing while I still keep that in mind what the characters or saying it is sometimes more important to me than the actual sex scenes then I go back and act like the director and fill everything in and may change the dialogue here and there to fit the scene. I find this easy because it’s basically you having a conversation with yourself which the voices in my head do all the time, though I wish they would involve me sometimes.


A can churn out the dialogue pretty quickly creating several pages and then possibly split it when one of the characters ask a question for the end of that thread and already know what I want the next thread to be about.


I get more blocked on actual scenes then on the story as a whole usually having more ideas then I can actually use. A thing that is also nice about this site is you can go back and look at what you already wrote or someone else did and think how could this be done differently or what is the opposite direction and work from there by creating a new thread and sometimes come up with stuff better then I wrote in the first thread.

 

[TwiztidClown]

I saw this and thought it might help.
http://learnthat.com/7-ways-to-break-through-writers-block/

 

[Beeble42]

There always seems a moment when I stop writing and it's normally over a trivial thing blocking the narrative. I find the best way is to start a fresh story until I get blocked with that and by then I have hopefully managed to sort out the original impasse. It's not like I don't know where i am going but sometimes that rock in the way seems awfully big.

 

[DoctorWhat]

writer's block is often a persistent issue for anyone that has a great imagination and has great ideas, but finds it hard to bring those ideas into fruition.

sometimes we put undue and unnecessary pressure on ourselves to make things perfect or to avoid utilizing cliches or stereotypes or hackneyed/cheezy dialogue.

sometimes I find it hard to find time to write simply because of my job, and also because of the many different ideas floating through my mind at any given moment.

One exercise I like to do is to just write things out, then go back and add to it, change things around, etc. and soon you find what you've written is precisely what you wanted.

 

[menoetes]

An old thread, I know but I've only now read it, there is lots of good advice here and I just wanted to put in my two cents...

I don't think there is any guaranteed way to get over writers block, god knows it plagues me far too much but here are a few things that have worked for me in the past;

Read somebody else's work - this can sometimes inspire you and get those creative juices flowing. It might now help you if you are stuck on one particular story but it can get you writing something new or adding to someones work which is a start. It's a bit of a double edged sword though, sometimes the reading can just be procrastination.

Go back over your own work - By re-reading your own work, not only can you fix those little mistakes you missed the first couple of times you read it and even fine tune it, you might get re-inspired for the piece of work you are currently stuck on.

Self-deprivation - not to get to lewd here (this is an erotica forum after-all) if desperate, I refrain from 'release' for as long as I can manage. A few days, maybe a week, by then I am so pent-up and full of beans that the words positively leap out of me... preferably before anything else does. I should mention I've always found the act of writing erotica as stimulating as reading it though, so maybe it's just me this works for...

I can't claim that all these work all the time but they do work for me more often than not. These days I have more trouble finding the alone time to write and have poor time management skills as it is.