I haven't written in a year

[Deleted member 61829]

I have horrendous writers block and it's taking the joy out of writing for me. I created my ZOY book, deleted it, then created it again over and over again, but for the life of me I could not continue it. I tried turning it into a webtoon, but I'm not satisfied with my art and I also ended up getting art block lmaooo. I want to keep the world its in, but I feel like the story isn't going anywhere and no matter how hard I try I just can't write it. :// Even though I've written for almost ten years it feels like my skills are declining. Is it the writer's block?

Does anyone have advice on how to get out of it? I wrote a book before so I know I can do it, but I'm in a rut and I don't know how to get out of it. :// Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[SakeVision]

No idea, last time I dropped a book I stopped writing for almost 6 years, lmao

 

[KiraMinoru]

Well I was more or less in that state for a while recently I guess. About two months after writing for about 2 years straight. What I did is just completely forget about writing. I didn’t think about it at all. I just went off and watched GTA RP streams for 2 months and did whatever. Eventually I told myself, okay enough of GTA RP the cops piss me off.

That was when I wanted to find something enjoyable to read. I probably hadn’t read other works for the entire duration I’d been writing for. So I read a pretty long light novel series that I ended up getting pretty into. Took 1-2 weeks to read all the volumes. I didn’t bother thinking I wanted to write at all. I then tried to find some other stories to read. I read a volume or two from some other stories but just felt extremely unsatisfied with them.

I finally thought, I want to write a shitty high school romance out of nowhere. Here I am a month and 2 days later and I’m 260k words deep into that story.

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

*Confident that I could give advice since I'm a lazy writer*
*Sees that he hasn't written for a year*
*Only just stopped writing for just a month*
*Suddenly lost confidence to even give advice*
*Has a existential crisis on identity*
*Walks away and starts to ponder about my identity as a lazy writer*

 

[Deleted member 61829]

Well I was more or less in that state for a while recently I guess. About two months after writing for about 2 years straight. What I did is just completely forget about writing. I didn’t think about it at all. I just went off and watched GTA RP streams for 2 months and did whatever. Eventually I told myself, okay enough of GTA RP the cops piss me off.

That was when I wanted to find something enjoyable to read. I probably hadn’t read other works for the entire duration I’d been writing for. So I read a pretty long light novel series that I ended up getting pretty into. Took 1-2 weeks to read all the volumes. I didn’t bother thinking I wanted to write at all. I then tried to find some other stories to read. I read a volume or two from some other stories but just felt extremely unsatisfied with them.

I finally thought, I want to write a shitty high school romance out of nowhere. Here I am a month and 2 days later and I’m 260k words deep into that story.

What was the novel that you read? I haven't read in a while after finishing Scum Villian, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and Heaven Official's Blessing. Yeah, I've been kinda stuck on my story idea because of the fear of the white canvas kind of thing. I start writing then I end up deleting it. ://

 

[K5Rakitan]

Fall in love.

 

[KiraMinoru]

What was the novel that you read? I haven't read in a while after finishing Scum Villian, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and Heaven Official's Blessing. Yeah, I've been kinda stuck on my story idea because of the fear of the white canvas kind of thing. I start writing then I end up deleting it. ://

I’d assume most people have read it already. I’d only watched the anime a long time ago then decided to read it from the very beginning out of nowhere.

Classroom of the Elite.

Two of the romantic interests in it got me. It was pretty unexpected for one in particular because I actually found that one irritating as hell and even despised her with a passion when she wasn’t even initially someone I considered a potential candidate. Props to the author on that one.

 

[Jemini]

I have horrendous writers block and it's taking the joy out of writing for me. I created my ZOY book, deleted it, then created it again over and over again, but for the life of me I could not continue it. I tried turning it into a webtoon, but I'm not satisfied with my art and I also ended up getting art block lmaooo. I want to keep the world its in, but I feel like the story isn't going anywhere and no matter how hard I try I just can't write it. :// Even though I've written for almost ten years it feels like my skills are declining. Is it the writer's block?

Does anyone have advice on how to get out of it? I wrote a book before so I know I can do it, but I'm in a rut and I don't know how to get out of it. :// Any advice will be appreciated.

Tale foundry did a piece on this exact subject. It is part of a longer video on lies writers tell themselves. The part dedicated to writer's block is about a minute 20 seconds from 9:20 to 10:40 (Video linked below.) I will sum the point up as best I can here though.

Word for word from the video, "writer's block is not a condition. It is a symptom." It is a common symptom to any of dozens or even hundreds of different possible conditions you might be dealing with, and in order to deal with it you need to first find whatever the real cause might be.

I would personally recommend learning more about the craft in general. Having that kind of broad awareness of the nature of the craft has a way of grounding you and giving you more reasonable expectations in addition to broadening your knowledge base. Both are excellent ways to fight off writer's block. The former because unreasonable expectations are actually one of the most common causes of writer's block and getting rid of them can solve the issue, and the latter because if you have a broad knowledge base about the craft then you are more able to identify what your real problem might actually be.

Anyway, here's the video.

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

Dunno man, whenever I get a writer's block I shelf the book and start writing a story of lower quality. The cycle kept repeating itself until I ended up with what I published here. It's given me enough motivation to continue writing the ones I've shelved.

 

[MissPaige36]

I have horrendous writers block and it's taking the joy out of writing for me. I created my ZOY book, deleted it, then created it again over and over again, but for the life of me I could not continue it. I tried turning it into a webtoon, but I'm not satisfied with my art and I also ended up getting art block lmaooo. I want to keep the world its in, but I feel like the story isn't going anywhere and no matter how hard I try I just can't write it. :// Even though I've written for almost ten years it feels like my skills are declining. Is it the writer's block?

Does anyone have advice on how to get out of it? I wrote a book before so I know I can do it, but I'm in a rut and I don't know how to get out of it. :// Any advice will be appreciated.

I’d say focus on what’s causing you to hate your art block and relieve it by reading. Since writing and reading go hand in hand, do that. I‘ve also had on and off writing moments, last time I decided to write was two years ago and I dropped that. Instead I’ve been reading and noticed how much I’ve improved with writing now with my new book.

If you can’t write, read. Or study the books you love so as to understand why you want to write as well.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I have horrendous writers block and it's taking the joy out of writing for me. I created my ZOY book, deleted it, then created it again over and over again, but for the life of me I could not continue it. I tried turning it into a webtoon, but I'm not satisfied with my art and I also ended up getting art block lmaooo. I want to keep the world its in, but I feel like the story isn't going anywhere and no matter how hard I try I just can't write it. :// Even though I've written for almost ten years it feels like my skills are declining. Is it the writer's block?

Does anyone have advice on how to get out of it? I wrote a book before so I know I can do it, but I'm in a rut and I don't know how to get out of it. :// Any advice will be appreciated.

Write something entirely different. No one says you cant use that same world with different characters. Scrap everything, use the setting, and start from scratch. Or just make somethi g wholly new.

You wont ever get rid of your block by tryna use the same shit you always did.

 

[Mephi]

Lots of people I know suggest the best way to get over writers block is to... Just write. Anything.

Free writing, brainstorming, anything. Doesn't have to be your story.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Tale foundry did a piece on this exact subject. It is part of a longer video on lies writers tell themselves. The part dedicated to writer's block is about a minute 20 seconds from 9:20 to 10:40 (Video linked below.) I will sum the point up as best I can here though.

Word for word from the video, "writer's block is not a condition. It is a symptom." It is a common symptom to any of dozens or even hundreds of different possible conditions you might be dealing with, and in order to deal with it you need to first find whatever the real cause might be.

I would personally recommend learning more about the craft in general. Having that kind of broad awareness of the nature of the craft has a way of grounding you and giving you more reasonable expectations in addition to broadening your knowledge base. Both are excellent ways to fight off writer's block. The former because unreasonable expectations are actually one of the most common causes of writer's block and getting rid of them can solve the issue, and the latter because if you have a broad knowledge base about the craft then you are more able to identify what your real problem might actually be.

Anyway, here's the video.

Totally agree with that. I consider writers block just a writers term for chronic laziness. Which yeah, it can actually be solved pretty easy once you force yourself to address why you feel that way. But most of us dont confront it, so we keep putting off writing until it becomes days, weeks, months, and call it writers block

I get like that when either I just get sick of writing what I'm cured tly doing and wanna do something different, or if I have some chapters to get through that I know I'm going to hate writing (ike wrapping up loose ends, you know?) before I can get to write what I actually want.

The first is like eating the same thing every day.

The second is like a series of speed bumps. You dread going through it. But everything is better once you get over them

 

[Lloyd]

Force yourself to write.

 

[Jemini]

Totally agree with that. I consider writers block just a writers term for chronic laziness. Which yeah, it can actually be solved pretty easy once you force yourself to address why you feel that way. But most of us dont confront it, so we keep putting off writing until it becomes days, weeks, months, and call it writers block

I get like that when either I just get sick of writing what I'm cured tly doing and wanna do something different, or if I have some chapters to get through that I know I'm going to hate writing (ike wrapping up loose ends, you know?) before I can get to write what I actually want.

The first is like eating the same thing every day.

The second is like a series of speed bumps. You dread going through it. But everything is better once you get over them

I do not think it is "just" chronic laziness. I am completely in agreement with Tale Foundry on this one, it is a symptom of any one of several different possible causes.

Of course, there are a few causes that probably represent a greater portion of the cases of writers block than others, but I think I would disagree with the notion that it's writers making an excuse for laziness. Rather than laziness, I would call it chronic procrastination. Chronic procrastination, in turn, is usually a condition that arises from the person wanting to avoid doing something. The reason you want to avoid doing it is because you are somehow averse to doing it.

So, if you manage to identify what it is that is making you averse to writing for this particular project, you can get to the root of the problem and pull it up along with the entire stem we just got done tracing back.

In my case, my most common cause of wanting to avoid writing is burn-out. I have discovered a few strategies to avoid burn-out. What I do is a simple 2 step process. Step 1. Set my release schedule to 1 chapter per week. Step 2. Pursue other writing projects at the same time as my main one. If the second project pans out and produces an actual usable story, add it to the roster and set the new story's release schedule to 1 per week as well.

I can write 10K words per week, but if more than 2K are in a single project then I will be at risk of burn-out. I have never juggled 5 regular projects at once, but I suspect I would also burn out if I did that. So, for me, the solution is to have 2 or 3 regular projects, and 2 or 3 irregular projects, and somehow I disperse my 10K words for the week between all of those. Sometimes, the irregular projects will actually be trying to get ahead on one of my regular projects.

The trick is, obligate yourself to get out that 1 per week on all the regular projects. It's cool if you can do more, but do not actually obligate yourself to do more.

 

[Kitsura]

I don't want to be too blunt, but writers block is usually the result of self inhibitions. You don't know if you can write the scene you want to write. The only way to get past writer block is to force yourself to write.

 

[Azazel_E]

1. Write something else. Anything else.
2. Find some inspiration (books, movies, go to the museum, pet a dog, whatever. Experiences breed creativity)
3. If the exact words aren't coming to you, try outlining. Extensively. When you know exactly what you want to happen in a scene, it's easier to describe it
4. Talk about the story to someone. Start a thread, bribe a friend, accost someone at the bus station. It helps to bounce things off another mind.
5. This one is a little out there, but you could give someone else the scene to try and write. It'll either be so good, it'll kick start you into writing something just as good or be so bad, you'll be outraged someone's trashing your story and jump right in to fix it (hopefully)

 

[Tropic_Panda]

Honestly, I don't understand what writer's block is, and it sounds cool when someone says 'Damn! I have writer's block'.

Personally, I only know the writer's wall. A condition when I talk to The Walls because I run out of ideas, or because sometimes life becomes too bitter so it's damn difficult to continue writing.

Worse, The Walls are very understanding. They always listen to my rant without ever arguing. Leaning my back against The Walls while asking 'What have I done with my life? Why is it so messy?' was great fun too. So writer's wall can be very addictive for me.

If I'm not careful, I can sink into the writer's wall for a very long time. So, I always limit myself. Maximum can only do two days writer's wall, then force myself to continue writing. Regardless of the result, I just write with quota twice than my daily regular, and editing can be done later if I am in the mood.

In short, I believe that if writers can't force themselves to write or find the passion of writing in their misery and suffering (only able to find it in their happy moment), then no one else can help them. In the end, they will stop writing and everything they have done is meaningless.

ps: Please, don't think I'm a crazy goof. I just need a bit of medical attention for my mind.

 

[Daitengu]

When I was an art student and I just couldn't 'art' what I wanted, I gave up and drew something else. I figured if I can't realize it, I could just work my skills on something else until I feel better and give it another shot. I often repeated that process several to a dozen times. And in the end? Still sucked, but was still miles better than the first try. If I wasn't the easily depressed type, I'd continue the cycle.

Unrelated but a transferable skills to know when to give up and try something else. Sometimes I just couldn't get a problem fixed right, and gave up my train of thought all together. Instead of bashing the problem with the same solution with tweeks hoping to get a thing to work I give up. I think about what else can be done to get what I want but with different parts.

Example:
I got a bunch of basement windows with cracks in the glass from earthquakes or settling. It's a 1940s house.

Solution 1. Get replacement windows.
Problem: house too old for standard sized offered.

Solution 2. Custom windows from a contractor.
Problem: gonna run about $2k. I ain't got that kinda cash.

Stew on it, and inspect the windows. Notice the window that leak water has 'something' peeling away at the bottom of the glass. I pry some away and note it rock hard and I can now see the bottom edge of the glass pane.

Solution 3: realize I can just chisel out the old trailer puddy and can replace the glass panes. Recaulking the seals in the process. And that's what I'm doing currently. $50 fix instead of $800 to $2000. Just takes some elbow grease. And I can even double pane it while I'm at it.

 

[_oinkchan]

I have horrendous writers block and it's taking the joy out of writing for me. I created my ZOY book, deleted it, then created it again over and over again, but for the life of me I could not continue it. I tried turning it into a webtoon, but I'm not satisfied with my art and I also ended up getting art block lmaooo. I want to keep the world its in, but I feel like the story isn't going anywhere and no matter how hard I try I just can't write it. :// Even though I've written for almost ten years it feels like my skills are declining. Is it the writer's block?

Does anyone have advice on how to get out of it? I wrote a book before so I know I can do it, but I'm in a rut and I don't know how to get out of it. :// Any advice will be appreciated.

Stop procrastinating. You know you are doing it. When you are writing, plot will automatically come to you.