Have you ever felt like the muse has left you?

[doravg]

I can't seem to write a long story anymore. Nor a lot of words per day. I think my muse has left me. My latest book has only eight chapters, the one before it thirteen. And the two before that had 70 chapters each. Do you think that it is possible for the muse to come back? Or, are my writing days over?

 

[NotaNuffian]

Lol. You got a burnout. Get used to it, do something else and then maybe come back at it later.

But don't take your hands off the steering for too long, then you might get complacent and lazy and ended up not wanting to write anymore.

Which sucks.

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

Basically me.

 

[Anon2024]

The likes and dislikes of each of us changes over time. You may be more of a reader than a writer now, but you may change back.

It’s just life. Seasons come and go.
No one can tell if you’ll get it back.

You could force yourself to write and still produce something good. Writing even if you’re good at it becomes challenging unless you’re just writing the same things over and over without thinking.

Maybe in your case it’s the improvement bug, in that you feel you must improve with every new story?

I’m just writing out thoughts I think about when it comes to me not feeling like I want to write.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

I can't seem to write a long story anymore. Nor a lot of words per day. I think my muse has left me. My latest book has only eight chapters, the one before it thirteen. And the two before that had 70 chapters each. Do you think that it is possible for the muse to come back? Or, are my writing days over?

What is muse. I don’t have a moose

 

[Noel_Elitia]

read a good book that you write the genre in, or watch a web series or movie the genre you are fond of writing
it just might be that you need fresh ideas and you brain got bored of the previous ideas becuase when we write we enact those parts of story several time in our mind that they themselves start looking boring to us, unlike the first time you are excited to discover them
hope this helps and you are back to writing again

 

[K5Rakitan]

My muse comes when I need it. I don't need it when life is going well for me.

 

[MisterSyafiq]

I did hope that my Muse would not come after me and give me "uhum" feeling each time I write a romance though...
I really didn't want to write that cencored thing...

 

[Deleted member 57675]

Yes. This year.

 

[strayCat0]

Just like aboves said, it's a burnout. Burnout is common, and yeah it sucks. Do whatever you think that'll help, as long as you're not being too hard on yourself. I've got that many times, and I don't believe 'muse' will ever leave--it's only in rest period---unless something drastic happened in your life (even if it's not related to writing). Look for inspirations in the mean times. Keep the barest minimum at 'wanting to write' in your mind everyday so that you don't forget or get lazy.

 

[TotallyHuman]

Just rest, read (actual) books, and take long walks in the park, down a river bank or a forest - if you live in the city. You'll get better.

 

[Amok]

What is muse. I don’t have a moose

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Well, Lets start with STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP.
Take the time to actually relax and enjoy yourself with the PURPOSE of relaxing and enjoying yourself. If you don't take time to relax, you will never truly rest and recharge, YOU NEED TO HAVE FUN AS HARD AS YOU CAN!!

Having fun is serious business, so you need to have fun and STOP HALF-ASSING YOUR RELAXING!!!

I can tell. You are not taking your relaxation seriously. Stop fuckin' around and play some goddamn video games that require a LOT OF WORK. Elden Ring. GO BUY IT AND PLAY IT RIGHT NOW.

Then, when you have finished having fun, stop and get back to writing.

And no, I'm not joking. I ghost write. I get paid to write shit. I cannot AFFORD to have writers block. So, when I'm not writing, I have a very strict schedule of relaxing and making sure I am at my mental peek at all times, because I never know when I need to handle aa big project. Like this. I am taking some time to relax and BS on the forums for a bit. I could be working, but this is the scheduled break I take to keep myself from going insane.

 

[Minx]

Basically me.

Why am I being called out

 

[Comiak]

Take a good long break but don't stop writing. Creativity is a muscle and you have to keep creating to prevent it from atrophying. It happens to us all, and I am just coming off from a month-long break to recharge. I stupidly didn't writing for that time and now I have to train myself to be productive again.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

Nice Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference.

 

[doravg]

I found this site WriteNext that gamifies the writing experience. In the past four days, I have written 30,642 words and am 32nd on the all-time leaderboard over there. I will write another 8k words today, just to see how far back I can push the people who have been using the site for longer than I. And, I think I will complete my novels before posting them on here from now on. So, they wouldn't end prematurely like the last two I have written.

The image inspired me to write. I wasn't going to use it, but...on SH people can say the image on the cover is not theirs and tell people they will remove it, if the artist doesn't want for it to be used. So, I think there won't be a problem.

 

[trinitys_gadget]

Muse? What's that? Is it tasty? I just write whatever dumb stuff pops into my head during my morning bike rides or my long walks.
Plot? Direction? Are those things?