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[Wanoah]

Not sure where to put this, so defaulting to Off-topic.

I used to write Eve fiction. I was more often unsuccessful than successful. I tend towards long form fiction, and that meant that I was usually hopelessly overambitious as I trailed pages of disjointed chunks of prose across my hard drive without ever joining them up into the novels that should have resulted. It was all very disappointing.

The confluence of dissatisfaction with my own output with dissatisfaction at official output formed the mighty River Disappoint and I walked away from writing anything Eve-related. I focused on writing non-derivative fiction, and for a while at least, I was reinvigorated. Eve had become a millstone and it was a joy to create stuff unrestricted by the weight of other people's much-abused material. I actually completed a few short stories. Life was good away from the world of monetised IP.

Like all good things, my brief purple patch withered and died. Much time has gone by, and although ideas have come and gone, not a word has been typed in anger for quite a long time. Well, there have been plenty of angry words on the Internet, but you know what I mean.

So my question to you creative types is this: have you experienced the dreaded writer's block? What do you do to reignite your passion for something? Tell me your stories and post me your links!

[Graelyn]

That block has been firmly wedged in my brainpan since 2006 or so. 

[BloodBird]

Much the same. I've about 7-8 different stories more-or-less frame-worked and ready to get pointers, plot progression and finally story itself down on paper. These are split over 4-5 different toons and some go in a series format like the first/second/third part of a bigger story, but most of my will to write it died a long time ago. Partially due to lack of time, fear of it all sucking as badly as it may be doing, and losing a huge chunk of it to hard-ware death and soft-ware loss. (Virus invasions can be nasty.) That killed allot of my enjoyment because I keep being reminded I've got to re-make 7 different chapters worth of story again. Though it may only be for one story out of many it keeps looming over the rest as the most interesting story I want to write it, but can't due to susceptibility towards 'herp, got to re-write all that stuff, might as well not bother, derp.'

Meeh. In short, I feel your pain, and have no advice to give other than rule numero uno; Cover your own ass, and ensure you won't randomly lose all your work to freak accidents with malicious soft-ware or whatever, because if you didn't had issue with lack of interest/writers block earlier, you will after such an incident.

[Lyn Farel]

Can't offer any advice I am afraid. I am facing a different issue myself and am more concerned about language barriers that just makes it a pain in the ass to write for me. Though I may have one or two ideas of stories I would like to write, and I may well do it if I find the courage someday.

[Malcolm Khross]

Being an avid writer myself, I find that when you are suffering from writer's block on a particular thing, it is often best to distance yourself from that thing and not actually concentrate on it.

Your mind will use the respite to rebuild its creative energies. In time, you will start having brainstorms about the subject matter again and those brainstorms will become thought hurricanes that you can once again put into words.

The very last thing to do is stress about it, that will only make it worse and cause you to mentally hang up even more.

[Misan]

I haven't had a chance to read it quite yet (it's next up on my Kindle reading list) but I've heard very good things about The War of Art as far as writing and other creative work goes. Worth looking into. 

[Wanoah]

I can imagine it being way harder to write in a second language and I have bucketloads of admiration for people that attempt it (Herko was one such, and he did a fantastic job). The bar is much higher when you are writing to entertain others rather than merely (!) communicate successfully.

I had a look at an extract from The War of Art, and it talked about Resistance. That inner voice that persuades you not to bother starting something and that somehow, manically skimming every blog and forum in your bookmarks while F5ing Twitter to provide you with moar links is a better use of your time. Anyway, I'm persuaded to have a read of this book, as it does seem as if the author has nailed a root cause. Whether he has any practical answers that will finally motivate me to apply consistent effort is another matter...

A significant part of my problem is that my head is so full of stuff. Ideas aren't necessarily a problem; what is a problem is pinning an idea down long enough to do something with it. I thought that discipline was the answer: so many successful writers say that they write every day. But discipline and regimentation suck my soul dry: I have the full-time day job for soul-sucking misery thank you very much.

Notwithstanding my opposition to enforcing discipline, I'm beginning to think that I need to set aside some quiet time on a semi-regular basis, though. Waiting for motivation to strike just doesn't work. Or it only occurs at times when it's impossible. Not writing every day as some advocate, perhaps, but a nice chunk of time on a weekly basis. I might also look into some kind of Internet-blocking app.

[Louella Dougans]

have you experienced the dreaded writer's block? What do you do to reignite your passion for something? Tell me your stories and post me your links!

I currently have trouble. I want to write more in the things I have in eve-fiction here, but time and inspiration :\

Mon-Fri, I am out of teh house 12 hours a day, and it leaves me very little time to get anything done.

[Misan]

Freedom: Windows/Mac based app that blocks the net for a specified period of time. Mostly useful because you can't just turn it off without restarting the PC.
Self-Control For Linux stuff.

I like the idea of minimizing the amount of stuff in your writing space. Two blog posts I like on that idea are here and here.

[Vieve]

If the block's more about not being inspired by EVE, afraid I can't help you there.  I put my EVE fiction blog on hiatus, because I couldn't summon the will to weave all the damn tangents it'd taken into something Earth Human Coherent¹.

There are four things that generally snap me out of writers' blocks:


a) Deadlines imposed by other people.  Ideally, other people who are or will be paying me money.

b) Having a deadline for a completely different project.  Particularly when the other project's one I'm not crazy about.

c) Cleaning. When scrubbing a toilet seems more appealing than working on something, I go scrub all the ones in the house (or pull weeds in the yard, if the toilets are already clean).

d) When all else fails, I get out of my usual environment.   I know quite a few authors who leave their house/favorite coffee shop and go write in other places when they're stuck.  For me, it doesn't have to be another coffee shop: I've had good luck shaking blocks in parks, laundromats and sporting events (of sports I don't enjoy watching).


¹I was also tired of the "you're exposing your own IP without safeguards and receiving no benefit from doing so" arguments I was getting into (and losing, 'cause I don't have any realistic counter for that) at home.

[Lyn Farel]

For me most of the work is done when not writing, meaning, at any time. Especially while in bed (well, yeah... I find most of my ideas when I wake up somehow, maybe motivated by all the unconscious stuff preceding it), or when reading a book/story. Anyway, I try to write down every idea I get. They can be scratched after if they actually are stupid with some detachement, but at a moment I start to get a lot of them floating all around like a cloud and I can create connections. Kindof similar to mindmapping.

[Serendipitous Echo]

So my question to you creative types is this: have you experienced the dreaded writer's block? What do you do to reignite your passion for something? Tell me your stories and post me your links!

Just write something. Anything. Good or bad, write. Even if it's gobbledygook, set a word quota and stick to it.

Reigniting passion? Well, do something else for a while. For instance, do you really want to write EVE stories but burned out on EVE? Write something else. Anything else. Don't limit yourself. Find a website with some writing exercises on it, and dive in.

Read. Always read.

Want a new perspective? Take a class in a subject you've never studied before.

Want to have more creative energy? Get out and walk/exercise for half an hour before sitting down to write. Sounds crazy (to some, at least), but it works.

Good books for writers:
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, by Syd Field
Fiction Writing for Dummies, Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy
How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

The first one is more of a "fundamentals" book. It's mostly focused on screenplay writing, but the advice/format can help build a better story structure. The second has LOTS of advice, some good, some not so good. The third... well, I'm not an Orson Scott Card fan, but the guy's a prolific author in multiple mediums. He also has some good insight into writing science fiction (and genre writing as a whole).

Anyways, hope this helps!

[Gottii]

I know youre not big on discipline, but my definition of an artist is someone who can be creative while at the same time be self-disciplined enough to harness it. 

Creativity is easy, creation is hard.  I would try to find a structure that works for you.  Without some kind of focus or self-imposed regimen nothing else really matters.  Its not the creative spark youre looking for, but the chance to turn it into a sustainable fire.

[Faraelle Brightman]

I'm not actively doing wring currently but I do believe in free writing.  Set aside a block of time daily, even as little as 15 minutes, shut away any distractions, pick up a notebook and pen (I'm not sure it works as well with a computer for reasons I'm not entirely sure about) and write anything. Even if it's about how you have no idea what to write, don't stop writing. Don't worry about it making sense or sticking to any topic. At various points, sparks of ideas will appear for you to play with. It taps into a different mode of thinking and get you in the practice of writing regularly and freely.

For what its worth, this is apparently the process Tim Schafer uses to come up with all his games. The backer videos for the Double Fine Kickstarter Adventure had a part where they showed him showing off piles of notebooks going back to Grim Fandango (which I really must play one of these days.)

That said, I also advocate putting distance between you and something you're stuck on (but it has to be a particular thing) and doing something else.  The "something else" helps recharge you and the time gives your subconscious time to chew on the problem.

[Mizhara]

I'm of the Chuck Wendig school myself. Waiting for your muse, seeking inspiration and all that jazz... is for weaklings and the rest of the word who does not get to call themselves writers. Hell, I don't get to call myself a writer by any stretch of the world. If you're a writer, then you write. Writer's block or not, you sit down and you -write-. For hours. Five thousand words a day, no question or objection. Just get it done. Keep it up until you've written your book/whatever, then you can go back and do the first edit, the second edit and so on. If it turns out to be shit, just grab the knife and start carving whatever useful bits and pieces you can off the carcass and keep writing.

There is no excuse, there is no way around it. Anything less and you are NOT A WRITER.
Which is cool, of course. I actually doubt we have any writers on these forums.

Edit: Derp, typo.