The Writer's Block & Inspiration Thread

[Gwenevier Lotsom]

This was most useful, thank you : biggrin

[Ophelianime]

Okay, I have this idea
it's not really even an idea, more like the seed of an idea
kind of a sitcom idea about an ordinary mother, who happens to have children with an overlord/wizard/mad scientist ( I can't decide which yet )
I also can't decide wether they should be married, separated, or divorced
anyway the general trend is towards the zany comedy
but I'm stuck on some of the details mentioned above
help?

[xX DRACO ICE Xx]

I remember somebody telling me (I forgot who.... x.x)
That if you don't know what to write next in your story, go to a different part and work on it. Eventually you will find a way to connect where you stopped and where you are in your book. 3nodding

EDIT: Forgot to put in! Try listening to music that matches the moment.
This song makes you think of a sad moment:

Chrono Cross OST: Star Stealing Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoEMaWrQBQM&feature=related

But of course, there is different types of music that can influence and give a sense of adventure, danger, terror, etc. Video games have different situations, so the music in them should be useful for matching the moment in your story.

I hope this helps!
I bet somebody posted something similar to this... sweatdrop

[xX DRACO ICE Xx]

The ReTARDISed Whovian

I'm 120 pages into a story and the next plot point is a guy making a move on the person he likes, but I'm stuck as to how to write it down. XD I'm going to do what I call my writer's therapy, though.

Here are the steps I take to help myself - it has never failed! biggrin

1. Wait until sunset and look at the sky for a few minutes, breathe in the air, and let it chill/warm you.

2. Go indoors, shut the door.

3. Light some candles - I like tealights the best. Maybe if you have a glass shade for them, put it over them to cast colours.

4. Go on Youtube and play nature sounds - waves crashing, rainfall, rainforest, crickets chirping, etc. Maybe put in earphones or headphones to drown out background noise.

5. Open a reed diffuser or spray a little air freshener just above where you will be sat (but, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T SPRAY IT TOO CLOSE TO THE CANDLES.)

6. Take in the atmosphere, and sit down and write. If you use a laptop or desktop, that should be fine. But if you use pen and paper, you'll need a small lamp nearby to work with.

The atmosphere calms me and unclouds my mind so that I can think. Remember to take breaks to eat or rest your eyes.

WHOA. I done number four on your list, and my story became a movie in my head!! eek *Downloads the nature sounds*

[WhovianMadman]

xX DRACO ICE Xx

The ReTARDISed Whovian

I'm 120 pages into a story and the next plot point is a guy making a move on the person he likes, but I'm stuck as to how to write it down. XD I'm going to do what I call my writer's therapy, though.

Here are the steps I take to help myself - it has never failed! biggrin

1. Wait until sunset and look at the sky for a few minutes, breathe in the air, and let it chill/warm you.

2. Go indoors, shut the door.

3. Light some candles - I like tealights the best. Maybe if you have a glass shade for them, put it over them to cast colours.

4. Go on Youtube and play nature sounds - waves crashing, rainfall, rainforest, crickets chirping, etc. Maybe put in earphones or headphones to drown out background noise.

5. Open a reed diffuser or spray a little air freshener just above where you will be sat (but, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T SPRAY IT TOO CLOSE TO THE CANDLES.)

6. Take in the atmosphere, and sit down and write. If you use a laptop or desktop, that should be fine. But if you use pen and paper, you'll need a small lamp nearby to work with.

The atmosphere calms me and unclouds my mind so that I can think. Remember to take breaks to eat or rest your eyes.

WHOA. I done number four on your list, and my story became a movie in my head!! eek *Downloads the nature sounds*

Haha, that happens for me too. 3nodding I have a whole bunch of nature sounds on my iTunes that I got from YouTube.

[MamiPon]

I've just started writing recently and found out that it's definitely not my forte xD But I'd love to hone my skills and become a better writer. I ordered the book The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing by John Dufresne.

The ReTARDISed Whovian

Here are the steps I take to help myself - it has never failed! biggrin

1. Wait until sunset and look at the sky for a few minutes, breathe in the air, and let it chill/warm you.

2. Go indoors, shut the door.

3. Light some candles - I like tealights the best. Maybe if you have a glass shade for them, put it over them to cast colours.

4. Go on Youtube and play nature sounds - waves crashing, rainfall, rainforest, crickets chirping, etc. Maybe put in earphones or headphones to drown out background noise.

5. Open a reed diffuser or spray a little air freshener just above where you will be sat (but, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T SPRAY IT TOO CLOSE TO THE CANDLES.)

6. Take in the atmosphere, and sit down and write. If you use a laptop or desktop, that should be fine. But if you use pen and paper, you'll need a small lamp nearby to work with.

The atmosphere calms me and unclouds my mind so that I can think. Remember to take breaks to eat or rest your eyes.

Haha, thanks for this! Number four is definitely something I do on a daily basis. Kinda second nature to me now lol.

[captian esoteric]

op

[Kitve]

Wow, this helps.. A LOT. Many, many ideas in my head now.

[Reyairia]

something that helps me is to look at pictures of scenery that relate to the story. Something you can picture your characters in. does your story take place in 1700s Italy? Look at paintings of Italy in that time period
Alsl, read, but I'm sure that's been mdntioned.

[animal kid10]

take a break? TAKE A BREAK???????????? doesnt work for me, havent wrote in it for months ive read good books during that time i have had tons of relaxation time (just wasting my days on the internet or thinking in my room) so... i guess i ran out of material =/ that stinks!!! ive already made up what the ending is going to be like and have future books planned... any real good ways to fix this >_>

[LightsGreatTree]

talk to your friends or random strangers about story ideas. write down dialog. listen to music. do prompts (my fav was about the seven deadly sins and how they related to characters) i hiope that helps. it usually does for me.

[Jacob Sparks]

wow some really good and very useful ideas on here.

I usually find that just totally emptying my mind and letting it go its own way as I relax brings me ideas of varying usefulness. also going from one piece of writing to another and jumping between them helps me a lot since as the story for one progresses it gives me an idea for one of the others.

right now I have several novels I'm working on in the works, so I run into the writers block issue a lot.

[I Shall Grant You NoMercy]

i hate writers block! crying

[Once a princess]

Definitely reading other authors' work helps me "escape" and take some of the pressure off. So, does walking away from my work and doing something totally unrelated to keep my mind from over-thinking the story.