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Writer's Block Busters; Post your ideas and tips HERE!
Topic Started: Dec 23 2006, 02:08 AM (618 Views)
LoveSong
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I didn't see any threads like this one, so I thought I'd go ahead and open this topic; a general place to go to post your tips to help fight writer's block. If there IS a topic like this and I overlooked it, then feel free to do what you want with this one.

Anyway, I'd like to share a new technique I've started to play with, which is proving helpful: "interviewing" your characters.

I've been having a hard time trying to get over my writer's block for my Neville fairytale. It was so much easier writing my Drarry fic because Harry and Draco "helped" me along the way and "told" me how the story should go. But with this new story, Neville and Isabel (my OC) have been awfully quiet. I couldn't figure out why this fic is so much harder for me, so I decided to try "meeting" with them to discuss the story. I know you're probably thinking I'm crazy, but just listen first.

Here's what I did: At night before going to sleep (or in the morning after waking up), I closed my eyes, relaxed and imagined Neville and Isabel sitting across from me. Then I proceeded to ask them questions. Instead of trying to control or think up their responses, I just went with the first response that popped into my mind, even if it wasn't necessarily the answer I was hoping for. I'd go into detail about what happened, but I don't want to bore you, and this is already a long post. But anyway, there's a technique to try.

Now please share your writer's block fighters with the rest of us :) !
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Little_Plebe
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Tahi, teh CrazySupreme Ruler of Everywhere. Resistance is Futile

Anne, that's a brilliant idea!! I never do it that way. When I have writer's block, I just quit writing for a few days (or a few months in my previous case), read some good stories and relax. Then, on its own, I start getting ideas about what to write and I even sometimes dream about the fic and my characters. It happens so that once you take a break from something, after sometime it isn't so boring anymore and you start getting ideas and it becomes interesting for you again. Sometimes, music also helps me get over my writer's block. But most of all, I would recommend movies - watching movies helps me a lot. They are so full of ideas. You even find brilliant cliches there ;)

However, I liked your idea very much, Anne, so the next time I go through a writer's block, I'll be sure to try it.
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LoveSong
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Thanks, Tahi! I'm glad you liked my idea. Yeah, I agree that movies and music are good inspiration. I wish I could have dreams about MY stories!
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Little_Plebe
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Tahi, teh CrazySupreme Ruler of Everywhere. Resistance is Futile

Well, if you are really into your stories, if you know what I mean, then you'll have dreams too. It's this way - if you think about your story more often, worry about it...like you are worried if you haven't written a single word since ___ or you haven't updated in a long while, if you are very attached to your characters, then you'll start having dreams about them. And you know, good thing here is that your idea seems to be a ladder to having these type of dreams. By interviewing your own characters, you are trying to understand them, trying to get more close to them. Once you get nicely attached, it'll be easy for them to invade your dreams ;)
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dragonwriterhp
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Okay, here is what I do. I have been majorly blocked on the first fan fic that I ever started and I think that it is awful so I have started to rewrite it. As I am rewriting I am getting excited about the story again and I keep on getting more ideas for chapters to write. So that is what I am doing for this fic. When I get just normal writer's block I will usually work on something else. I will either start a story that I have had an idea for and haven't written yet, do a challenge, or write on one of the stories I have that I want to write on. Well those are my solutions. I don't know whether they will help anybody else but they help me.
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Colleen403
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Usually when I get writer's block I read some good fanfics from my favorite stories. It gets my mind off of the block and might even give me some new ideas.
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meridith
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Sometimes when I'm in the mood for writing but nothing good comes out I just write a bunch of nonsense. Like, one time I just went on describing a 'crush' I had on a water bottle from the point of view of a girl water bottle. Or just wright short tidbits of a cliche or original plot using barbies or pencils and markers or something like that. Lol, it's silly but sometimes it can put you in a good mood and help your writing. And sometimes it's just better to step back from writing over all. I left a story alone for four months and recently ideas for it have just been popping up like crazy ^_^
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its Joana


me? i write and stop all the time, but what i do is kinda the same as you guys. i just stop writing, read some stories to get me going, sleep more than often :cad: and usually, i have these weird dreams that i turn into stories :)
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OneoftheWeasleys
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I found the best way to get out of my writers block lately is to skip the chapter or section I am stuck on and skip ahead. I usually have an idea where my story is going, so I just write and go back to fill in that gap. Also, music helps me so much. I just put my zen on random all play and boom, the ideas of where chapters should go begin to come together. I love the idea that harrystrulove had about interviewing your characters. I have never thought of doing that but I think with my interview, I might write it down or type it. Just to have it.
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Jessi
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DOES SOMETHING

(hehe, love that avatar :lol:)

Busting through the proverbial brick wall usually takes me a few days. Most of the time now, it's not that I have writer's block, it's that I lack time to write. However, when I do suffer from lack of words, I usually find that listening to music helps tremendously, drinking coffee to stimulate my brain and reading poetry/quotes online help tremendously. Word wars, word of the day, fifteen minute ramble-writing, engaging in prompt fun, writing drabbles, making a graphic, chatting with friends about random things... mostly all of the things I used during NaNoWriMo.

Develop a playlist of songs that jog your creativity. Find a website to visit that will let you indulge in someone else's mind for a while *cough*SAYS*cough*.

... Yeah. That's what I do, anyway.
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LoveSong
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OneoftheWeasleys
Jan 2 2008, 11:11 PM
I love the idea that harrystrulove had about interviewing your characters. I have never thought of doing that but I think with my interview, I might write it down or type it. Just to have it.

OMG, I totally forgot that I even started this post :cad: I'm so glad you guys have been adding more ideas to this thread, and I like what you've come up with. OneoftheWeasleys, yes I strongly recommend writing or typing your character interviews. That's what I do now, so that I can have it to refer back to, like you said.

Recently I've found YouTube to be a valuable way to get inspiration. There are hundreds of Harry Potter fan vids you can watch to get ideas! For me, the combination of music and HP movie clips gets the gears in my brain turning. Some of them tell a story, while others are just clips set to music. There are some fan vids in the Parodies section of SAYS, go check em out ;)
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StoryLover3095
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I FINALLY MADE 1000 POSTS

Oh, I love all of these ideas! ^_^ They'll help me alot I know. :P

What I do is usually stop writing for a couple days at least. During those days, I think about the story I'm writing and listen to music and watch movies. Usually the music is really helpful. :)
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