Obviously, I've not been very active here the past few days, and a big part of that is owing to a serious case of writer's blockage. I'm going to try and sit down and write today, force something out, but I'm sure it's going to be like a particularly dense bowl movement: uncomfortable, forced, and not something you want to show others. :P
My typical response to this kind of thing in the past has been to vanish for a few months to eventually return, lurking offline in the meantime, but that's old Xathan - instead, new Xathan is asking everyone of the CBG:
What do you do to kick-start the creative process when stuck with writer's block?
Writing more is the best cure for writer's block. Next best is reading widely- if you only read SF/Fantasy, read Non-Fiction instead. e.g. a science magazine or a good biography. Third- get out and live and do fun things that you could then write about. Fourth- talk to interesting people. Fifth- observe people (if you're too shy to talk).
I think forcing creativity will, in general, give poor results.
When I get a writer's block, as you call it, I do not press myself to produce something. I wait, even for months if need be. Though this might be where me and you differ; the CBG is a great think-tank for all sorts of things, from politics to what you eat on sunday nights, from fiction to reality. So I usually hang around, check out the posts that may have useful information and inspirations for the subject I am writing about.
That being said, the CBG is, but -ONE- community. You can check alot of other sources to feed your creative process. Reading and watching stuff like discovery channel is beast to spark up creativity.
Heh, I think I'm going to combine LD's and Pym's suggestions - not force anything out for my own stuff, but use the opportunities provided by this board to write about other people's stuff, getting kind of the best of both worlds. :)
I'm going to offer one of my personal favorite things to do: look at fantasy art. I have books and books on fantasy artwork (Spectrum books, art by Tom Kidd, John Howe, even "How to Paint Dragons" is awesome), and when I sometimes need something to kickstart my creative process, those usually do the trick, even when I feel like there's nothing in them for me at the time.
Also, if you have some artistic skill, I find that expressing myself via a different medium often works wonders. There's often times where I can't muster up the expressive talent to bring something alive through writing, but if I approach it from a different perspective (with a pen or brush, say) it can jump off the page for me and even fuel me to further write about it.
Along with what Weave said (fantasy art almost always gets me going), I'm going to suggest something that might not work, and might feel like you're spreading yourself thin, but when I get stuck on what to write next I try watching a few new and/or favorite movies or playing some video games, looking for aspects of them I hadn't noticed before. I find this often leads me to start writing a new setting or at least a new part of a setting I've been working on. This kind of behavior is a bit of a 'refresh' button for me and I find I can write easily again.
You might try:
1) Writing some micro-fiction in one of your settings. This can force you to brain-storm new ideas.
2) Brainstorming possible plots for games, or adapting plots from video games/movies.
3) Switching projects briefly in an attempt to revitalize your creative juices. You've got a Bioshocky sunken-city thing going right? Or maybe write something for the Mons project?
4) Pick some aspect of an existing setting that just *needs* to be fleshed out more fully and run with it. Like, for example, in Terra Macabre, London must be a pretty interesting place. What do all the different districts look like? How's crime? The theatre? Bear pits with tentacled star-spawn instead of bears? Where's the GOO hold court? What's trade like? Are guilds prominent? Check out some maps and images of 18th century London. Or something like that.
To go along with what's been said, here's a few other bits that have proven useful for me in the past. Each writer has their own temperament and personality, so who knows what will work for whom.
1. Consider forming a small writing workshop with other writers you know. Sometimes working on a small project together or having a small contest can be good motivation to break through the block.
2. Write anyway. Force it out. I find that, when I do this, it is usually pretty terrible, however, my innate pride as a writer refuses to let something that bad remain-- before long, I'm re-writing it and editing it into something much better, cleaner, and potentially fit for public responses.
3. Try out new genres or styles. I've been told I have a flair for the dramatic. Literally. A fair number of the people who I allow to read my material claim that I am much better with dramas than regular literature. I find it a pain in the arse to write, so I tend to avoid it, but sometimes I find it easy to work on when I don't feel like normal writing, which occasionally helps me get through any droughts I'm facing otherwise.
4. The easiest way to identify this one is: Fanfiction. Try out writing stories from other settings you know. Video Games, TV Shows/Movies, Gaming Adventures, CBGers... I find such little works delightfully fun at times, even if most of them are stupid. Silly, fluffy drivel is just that, yet it can turn out to be fun to write all the same.
5. Check your baggage at the door. Personal matters can and will interfere with the creative process. Sometimes, it's impossible and unrealistic to expect to just sort them all out, so you need lock them in the closet for awhile; get them quiet long enough to sit down and get back to doing something you love doing. You'll thank yourself for it after.
When I get stuck on something I've been writing for a while I set it aside. Take a long walk or throw some energy into another hobby (painting,drawing and writing music are always my go-to's) Also editing/rewriting old stuff seems to kickstart the idea machine for some reason.
If none of that works just start writing. Don't worry about punctuation or grammar or any of the rules-just write continuously for about 15 minutes-whatever comes to mind it doesn't even need to be the same subject. You'd be surprised at what kinds of things your mind just picks up and goes on. The next day I can usually go back to whatever it was I was writing.
Personally I find writers block to be simply the lack of enthusiasm for something I'm writing (why am I writing this..this is stupid...blah blah blah) Set a simple goal like 500 words a day for a week (on whatever subject) then bump it up to 1000 the next week (or don't it doesn't really matter) but setting a writing goal is a good thing.
Also http://www.legendfire.com/ is a great creative writing community.
What would you folks say to a "daily writing exercise" kind of community project?
We could start a thread where each day, someone posts a one-sentence prompt and all participants aim for 500 words (or whatever) in a response.
I'd be into it. I wonder how long it would last, but who knows? I had something kinda like this a long while back called Thousand Isles that seemed to work well, if intermittently.
I think it'd be worth a shot though!
Quote from: Steerpike
I had something kinda like this a long while back called Thousand Isles that seemed to work well, if intermittently.
I remember that. That was cool-wasn't there a sci-fi thousand worlds thread as well?
Either way I would participate.
There was also the Lexicon project.
I've been considering seeing if people would be interested in a setting story swap. Basically everyone interested enters the contest with a setting. Then we roll the dice of fate and randomly pair each person up with a setting and then you have to write a short story set in that world. Would get people more familiar with each others settings and give setting creators an idea of how others might use their setting foundation to craft stories. Plus it's great writing motivation. Alternatively we could pick a setting for everyone to write stories in once every so often then next time we pick another setting and so on.
Quote from: Nomadic
I've been considering seeing if people would be interested in a setting story swap. Basically everyone interested enters the contest with a setting. Then we roll the dice of fate and randomly pair each person up with a setting and then you have to write a short story set in that world. Would get people more familiar with each others settings and give setting creators an idea of how others might use their setting foundation to craft stories. Plus it's great writing motivation. Alternatively we could pick a setting for everyone to write stories in once every so often then next time we pick another setting and so on.
That sounds really cool.
First of all, thanks for the advice everyone. :)
Secondly, Nomadic: I'm totally down with both of those ideas (though I'm not as big a fan of the one setting a month idea, just because it could take forever for any particular person's setting to crop up, and not everyone's going to have ideas for a particular setting, but may if they have more options), though I'd like to make a minor suggestion: since not everyone is necessarily inclined to write fiction, what if it was fiction OR design a location/culture/whatever (specified what they'd be alright with by the setting creator), just to give a bit more flexibility?
I think that one of the attractive things about a daily writing prompt that is not necessarily in common with Lexicon, Thousand Isles, a setting story exchange, etc. is that a daily writing prompt is low-pressure because we don't have to care about whether the results are any good or not.
The entire point is "write something every day", and you don't have to care whether or not the results are any good, or make sense, or are okay with someone who created a different setting you're writing in. It's a daily exercise, not something meant to be kept or revisited or used. You just write a little every day, and there are as few things as possible that might make you think twice about posting it.
(Basically, I think there's a lot to be said for doing a daily "icebreaker" writing prompt alongside a slower, more serious group writing project like a setting story swap or another round of Lexicon. Seems like they'd both accomplish different, valuable functions.)
Yeah, that's a really good point!
Quote from: Black Market Xathan
though I'm not as big a fan of the one setting a month idea, just because it could take forever for any particular person's setting to crop up, and not everyone's going to have ideas for a particular setting, but may if they have more options
I wasn't thinking one setting a month, I was just thinking one setting at a time. It could be something like a weekly writing prompt...
Write one of the following:
- A short story that takes place in the setting
- About a person, creature, or item you might expect to find in the setting
- A historical event that might have taken place in the setting
And a new setting is picked randomly each week. The setting creator is free to ignore or use anything written on their setting and the writer gets some incentive to write about something within a wide range of possible ideas. The main constraint is that it is for a particular setting.
I have no idea if I'd be able to keep up with this (the real world is somewhat unavoidable at times) but I like all of these ideas. A daily/weekly/wheneverly writing prompt can only be a good thing, and I like the idea of writing little pieces for different settings.