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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Blockage


I know we don't like to talk about it. I know we all like to just pretend that it doesn't exist.
But Foot Fungus is here, and you really should use that cream.

So too for Writer's Block. Wouldn't it be great if there were a cream for that?

Breaking out of writer's block is hard. Generally I set things aside and wait. And wait. Things will stew in my brain, for lack of a better term, all on its own. And suddenly the plot point that was sticking will wake me up at f'ing 2am and not let me get back to bed until I write it down.

However. Sometimes. I find that if I write about something completely different and totally trivial and 'throwaway'. Something that has less importance. Something that doesn't make me feel like the whole balance of a world I'm creating is going to get thrown off kilter if I screw it up. I get my rhythm back.

In the Less Technical Days of Yore, I would sit and write really horrible poetry. Angsty love poems. I was a very angry lover apparently. Or maybe I was just having a string of bad days. Hence the writer's block.

NOW, however, there are some Great sites that you can go to that provide you with writing prompts. For Book ideas even! (If you can't come up with one on your own...) These three are the three that I go to most regularly. Where do you go?

Creative Writing Prompts!

One Minute Writer Blog!

Tumblr Writing Prompts!

My favorite is the tumblr. Mainly because, along with everything else, I'm a very visual person. So seeing a giant picture is great for getting my creative grey matter pulsing.

What do you all do when that giant wall of writer's block doom looms? Besides curl up in a ball, muttering to yourself about the evil leprechauns in super tight pants that stole your brother from his crib.

Should NOT have watched that movie last night....

6 comments:

mshatch said...

Writer's Block doesn't bother me like it used to because I've figured out how to get around it and why it's there (for me). It took me a while but I finally discovered that the reason it's there is because I missed a turn I should have taken and am now following the wrong path. Sometimes it means just going back a page or two and placing my characters in a slightly different setting. Sometimes it means re-arranging who comes on or off stage or or even going back further. But it's always because where I am in the story isn't where I'm supposed to be. I think of Writer's Block like a detour sign except the actual road I need to take is one I have find on my own, if that makes any sense, lol.

Still, knowing all this doesn't mean I don't still get stuck cuz sometimes those detour roads are tiny little paths hidden by thick trees and brambles.

Unknown said...

I mostly just write through it maybe bunches of flash fiction.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

I have some writer's block going on. But I've no doubt I'll work myself through it. With a pending move to another apartment, I don't have the frame of mind to sit down and start writing anyway. I'm concerned about where I shall live.

Liz A. said...

I sit down and write about the writer's block. What I should be writing. What I want to be writing. Why it's not working. Where I want the story to go. And I explore various scenarios that might work.

Huntress said...

Excellent sites! but I'll skip the evil leprechauns if it's all the same to you.

Sean McLachlan said...

I don't get writer's block. I may have to stop and think about a project for a while, let my subconscious mind untangle the threads, but that's different.
In the meantime I write something else. I always have a couple of nonfiction and a couple of fiction projects going at the same time so that I can jump to another project as I think on the first one.
If you really must work on a particular project, try scanning. You read the last page your wrote, don't change anything, and then continue where you left off. Nine times out of ten it works. The other one time out of ten you're being really lazy.