Blocked

[che2000]

Much as it pains me to say, I have been suffering from some serious writers block for the past while (maybe about the last nine months). I've been starting stories and then simply not finishing them, even though the initial process has really got me excited. I've tried writing nonsense in the hope that it might free up the process and ended up with nothing more than 30.000 odd words of nonsense, I've tried writing very short shorts in the hope that that might do something, I've tried setting myself deadlines only to watch them whoosh past, I've tried reading outside of my usual literary diet... in short, I've tried everything I can think of and tried every piece of advice that I could get either from my many books on writing or online and I am still blocked.

Does anyone have any advice that might help? In all seriousness, this is really getting me down.

[John M. Whalen]

There really isn't anything anyone can tell you. I could tell you to just keep writing, and force yourself to see it to completion, or take a break and let the well refill itself, or self-publish a book called "30,000 Odd Words of Nonsense," and see how many people buy it. You might be surprised! Everyone gets bogged down into periods like this, where you just can't get the juices going to come up with a great idea that you will see through to the end. But fortunately these periods don't last forever. You certainly can't force it to end. But what usually happens is that some sweet idea suddenly enters your consciousness, some thought you want to express, or some character comes to mind you want to write about, and suddenly the block lifts. Maybe the best thing to do is look away from the writing for awhile, and look out at the world around you with some curiosity. And maybe that idea will come to you, like the face of a beautiful woman having cafe latte at a table next to you in a coffee shop. She gives you a smile, and you're imagination is running wild again.

[Jennifer P]

Try doing something that engages the right hand side of your brain - drawing, craft work, or even video games. Sometimes this can recharge the creative part of you without engaging the verbal part.