Any other writers out there? If so...

[Spotty01]

...where does your inspiration come from? When you have writers' block, how do you bounce back from it?

I'm an avid fanfiction writer, as I've mentioned several times before, and one of the fanfics I'm currently writing has over thirty follows and favourites, the most of either I've ever gotten on a fanfic, and that means I have over thirty people waiting anxiously for updates. I temporarily forgot about the fic in question's existence a while back and didn't update it for over a month, so I vowed, in an author's note, to never take more than a week or two to update any of my fanfics again. On top of that, my parents have convinced me to write a short story or something to show a family friend who has published books in the past. The thing is, I'm at a total stand-still for either one.

I'm no stranger to writers' block, but it's still one of my most despised things to go through as, well, a writer. Usually, I spend a few days or weeks doing something that isn't writing until new ideas spark into my mind, but instead of suffering alone, I decided: hey, why not ask some of my fellow writers how they recover from writers' block? Well, that, and ask where you folks' inspiration comes from so maybe I can find my own inspiration in the same way. I have no specific place that my inspiration comes from; normally, I'll have writers' block one day, then inspiration will pop into my mind at a completely random moment the next... more often than not, in the middle of the night when I'm laying awake in my bed.

So, how do my fellow writers bounce back from writers' block? Where do you find inspiration for your ideas, short stories, fanfics, and the like?

 

[Kevin L.]

I love writing, and have been published many times in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The Autism Files in the U.K., Blood Moon Rising, Skeptical Inquirer, and a few others.

I went into writer's block when I gave up gluten and dairy products.

Giving up gluten and dairy helped me immensely with a variety of problems that have plagued me since childhood, but I also lost a large measure of my creativity.

I'm not sure how to help you, except to say (and I was a paramedic, so I know what I'm talking about) that you should avoid 'mind expanding' substances to fix the situation.

Drugs and alcohol may seem to help the creative process...but they will eventually kill you after they strip away your family, friends, and self-respect.

There is a very long list of gifted writers who died from their addictions. Truman Capote comes to mind. So does Hemmingway, Faulkner, Golding, etc..

The paradox of alcohol is that it may help you write better...but it robs you of the capacity to fully enjoy the fruits of your labor at the same time.

 

[Spotty01]

I love writing, and have been published many times in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The Autism Files in the U.K., Blood Moon Rising, Skeptical Inquirer, and a few others.

Wow, that's really cool! I'll admit, I've never heard of most of those before though, but I think I've read or at least heard of Blood Moon Rising before.

I went into writer's block when I gave up gluten and dairy products.

Giving up gluten and dairy helped me immensely with a variety of problems that have plagued me since childhood, but I also lost a large measure of my creativity.

Interesting. I had no idea gluten, dairy, etc. had anything to do with creativity and all. You learn something new every day, I guess.

I'm not sure how to help you, except to say (and I was a paramedic, so I know what I'm talking about) that you should avoid 'mind expanding' substances to fix the situation.

Drugs and alcohol may seem to help the creative process...but they will eventually kill you after they strip away your family, friends, and self-respect.

There is a very long list of gifted writers who died from their addictions. Truman Capote comes to mind. So does Hemmingway, Faulkner, Golding, etc..

The paradox of alcohol is that it may help you write better...but it robs you of the capacity to fully enjoy the fruits of your labor at the same time.

I had no idea drugs and/or alcohol could actually make you write better. But don't worry, I never have and probably, hopefully never will use drugs, alcohol, or any other intoxicating substances to boost my creativity. I've only had a taste of alcohol in the past nineteen years and I've never used recreational drugs because I've never understood why anyone would risk their health or even life over... whatever they got out of drugs and alcohol.

 

[Kevin L.]

Your commitment to avoid drugs and alcohol is to be commended.

Aspies have a higher incidence of alcoholism, and this state of affairs is usually blamed on the false courage that it gives us to deal with difficult social situations...but I think that there is more to it.

There is the idea that gluten and dairy contribute to autism by becoming opiates (look up casomorphin and gluteomorphin in a Google search) in the digestive tract.

I also think that this situation contributes to alcoholism. This is because I have the belief (and I stress that this is a belief...not something I know) that a person who abuses drugs and alcohol at the same time will become an alcoholic faster than someone who only drinks.

I believe this because my paramedic experience has shown me that polydrug abusers have a harder time with rehab than a pure alcoholic, there are repeated warnings in the A.A. literature about sedative drug use by alcoholics, and there is the well-established phenomena of 'cross-tolerance'--where tolerance to one drug implies a tolerance to many other drugs.

If this is the case...then why would an autistic person who has natural opiates in his/her system want to drink?

 

[4gottenLoreKali]

My inspiration mostly comes from past life experiences. I'd even say that writing is one of my biggest ways of dealing with traumatic memories in hopes of lessening their effects. Some scenes in my work closely resemble incidents from my past that I'd rather forget, and after writing about them these memories no longer hurt as profusely. However, one thing I hope to avoid is inadvertently creating characters that are too similar to myself, family members, public figures, or other fictional characters (although there are a few exceptions to this, mostly for satirical purposes).

I also take a lot of inspiration from movies, books, video games, and music I like, in terms of plot content and aesthetic details. For example, I'm a very visual person; when I listen to a song I like to direct a music video in my head that matches up with the song's lyrical themes and overall "sound". If a piece of writing I'm working on is inspired by a song, I'll take that mental music video and put it in prose form. Perhaps I'll even work in a reference to that song somehow.

I'd say my biggest curse is the massive amount of worldbuilding and brainstorming materials I've churned out over the years compared to me having written almost no stories to actually show for it. The few works I have completed were horrific, edgy, ham-fisted fan fiction and erotica stories (mostly just masturbation fantasies about some classmate or cartoon chick I had a crush on) from when I was in middle school. I have a lot of resentment for the person I was then, and if I had my way I would expunge everything I ever posted on the internet during this period. Hey, there's an idea: maybe in a future story I can incorporate a minor character based on my 7th-grade self just to have him killed off in some brutally apropos way.

 

[Spotty01]

My inspiration mostly comes from past life experiences. I'd even say that writing is one of my biggest ways of dealing with traumatic memories in hopes of lessening their effects. Some scenes in my work closely resemble incidents from my past that I'd rather forget, and after writing about them these memories no longer hurt as profusely. However, one thing I hope to avoid is inadvertently creating characters that are too similar to myself, family members, public figures, or other fictional characters (although there are a few exceptions to this, mostly for satirical purposes).

I also take a lot of inspiration from movies, books, video games, and music I like, in terms of plot content and aesthetic details. For example, I'm a very visual person; when I listen to a song I like to direct a music video in my head that matches up with the song's lyrical themes and overall "sound". If a piece of writing I'm working on is inspired by a song, I'll take that mental music video and put it in prose form.

I'd say my biggest curse is the massive amount of worldbuilding and brainstorming materials I've churned out over the years compared to me having written almost no stories to actually show for it. The few works I have completed were horrific, edgy, ham-fisted fan fiction and erotica stories (mostly just masturbation fantasies about some classmate I had a crush on) from when I was in middle school. I have a lot of resentment for the person I was then, and if I had my way I would expunge everything I ever posted on the internet during this period. Hey, there's an idea: maybe in a future story I can incorporate a minor character based on my 7th-grade self just to have him killed off in some brutally apropos way.

Wow, you are literally me... or, alternatively, I'm literally you. I can relate to just about every single thing you said in your post... minus the part about the erotica, but I don't judge. ^^

I'd say my biggest curse is the massive amount of worldbuilding and brainstorming materials I've churned out over the years compared to me having written almost no stories to actually show for it.

I thought I was the only one that had this problem. I couldn't tell you how many documents I have on my computer that are filled to the brim with descriptive worldbuilding and references of each character from whatever it is I'm planning on writing... only to never get around to actually writing the universe that this stuff fits into. I've always found writing synopses of the world, locations, characters, etc. to be a Helluva lot easier then writing out the scenes, dialogue, etc. that leads to those places, introduces those characters, etc.

My inspiration mostly comes from past life experiences. I'd even say that writing is one of my biggest ways of dealing with traumatic memories in hopes of lessening their effects. Some scenes in my work closely resemble incidents from my past that I'd rather forget, and after writing about them these memories no longer hurt as profusely. However, one thing I hope to avoid is inadvertently creating characters that are too similar to myself, family members, public figures, or other fictional characters (although there are a few exceptions to this, mostly for satirical purposes).

I'm currently recovering from a traumatic experience, but I've debated with myself for quite a while on whether or not writing something based on it would help or not. Sometimes, I fear that writing something that reminds me of the traumatic experience would simply worsen my condition for obvious reasons. However, I've found that talking to people about it, as hard as it to sum everything up again, helps me feel better. I know, that past two sentences probably didn't make much sense, but for some reason, it does to me.

I also take a lot of inspiration from movies, books, video games, and music I like, in terms of plot content and aesthetic details. For example, I'm a very visual person; when I listen to a song I like to direct a music video in my head that matches up with the song's lyrical themes and overall "sound". If a piece of writing I'm working on is inspired by a song, I'll take that mental music video and put it in prose form.

If anything, this is what I find myself relating to the most. Anytime I'm not doing much of anything other than listening to music, I find myself becoming distracted by conjuring up these images in my head the reflect the story told by the lyrics.

 

[Son of the Sea]

...where does your inspiration come from? When you have writers' block, how do you bounce back from it?
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So, how do my fellow writers bounce back from writers' block? Where do you find inspiration for your ideas, short stories, fanfics, and the like?

I'm not a writer - I've been more involved with music (including song-writing) and the visual arts - but I nevertheless like playing around with words...well, I won't go into it.

Anyway, a month or two ago I was looking up a few things and came across 82 Writing experiments by Bernadette Mayer. (If you put this in the internet it should come up at the top.)

Whilst it's probably more relevant to writing poetry, there's nevertheless an element of poetry in all writing, so it might be useful.

If you use the list, here's a tip: copy and paste the experiments into some text files with, say, ten or fifteen in each (otherwise the list is too long to navigate). You could even start building your own library of such or similar ideas.

You said: 'usually, I spend a few days or weeks doing something that isn't writing until new ideas spark into my mind.' You will not succeed like this. I guarantee it. The most succesful artists, writers (or anything) are the ones that work the hardest. There's no other way. It's about work, discipline. Inspiration has nothing to do with it. This is a myth, a lie.

Do you think you'd be better off writing nothing for two weeks, waiting for inspiration? Or writing for six hours a day, everyday, for two weeks?

 

[Momo]

To be honest with you, I just keep writing. I can be a bit of a pantser (as is the official writing term ) at times. I just go with what I feel the characters would logically do, I just let the plot flow the way the story wants to, but it will always end in my desired goal. Don't get me wrong, I plan, I just try not t overthink it. Half the issue with writers block I think is just thinking too much about what you should write. Heck, half the time I base my whole books off wacky ideas I get from trippy dreams. It does make for interesting world building, I can tell you that.

 

[Idahocalypse]

It seems to me that you're putting unnecessary pressure on yourself by promising to update every week or two. You might be overwhelmed by the unanticipated success your fic received. If I were in your situation, I would be honest with my readers and announce a hiatus until my muse came back. In the meantime, I would treat myself to relaxing activities like the occasional hot bath and glass of tea and try not to think about the fic while having confidence that my muse would return one day.

 

[Spotty01]

Anyway, a month or two ago I was looking up a few things and came across 82 Writing experiments by Bernadette Mayer. (If you put this in the internet it should come up at the top.)

Is this what you're talking about? I skimmed a couple of the options on the list and it seems like it'll be very useful to me in the future; I'm putting it in my bookmarks for now. Thanks for telling me about that!

You said: 'usually, I spend a few days or weeks doing something that isn't writing until new ideas spark into my mind.' You will not succeed like this. I guarantee it. The most successful artists, writers (or anything) are the ones that work the hardest. There's no other way. It's about work, discipline. Inspiration has nothing to do with it. This is a myth, a lie.

Do you think you'd be better off writing nothing for two weeks, waiting for inspiration? Or writing for six hours a day, everyday, for two weeks?

Huh. Oddly enough, it's always worked for me in the past, so I always assumed that, if I'm having writers' block or whatever, then that means I should take a break from writing until I'm ready to start up again or find new inspiration. But, then again, you're right. How will I ever get better if I take breaks from it every week or so? I never really thought about it like that.

However, I hardly know where to begin. I usually... or at least try to only work on one story/fanfiction at a time, so what do I do when I'm at a loss for what comes next?

 

[Spotty01]

You might be overwhelmed by the unanticipated success your fic received.

Yeah, I'm guilty. The only other fic I've written that has more than twenty favourites and reviews was a one-shot, a story that's a single chapter long.

Now, I have this eight chapter, and counting, long story that's getting more follows/favourites every day, much better reception than I was ever expecting it to get. I'm trying to keep it updated regularly because, on FFnet, fanfics "die" a lot, as in, there are hundreds of stories on that site that haven't been updated in years, including one of my own. I don't want people to mistakenly believe that I discontinued after not updating in forever.

If I were in your situation, I would be honest with my readers and announce a hiatus until my muse came back. In the meantime, I would treat myself to relaxing activities like the occasional hot bath and glass of tea and try not to think about the fic while having confidence that my muse would return one day.

Sounds like a good idea, but the only thing that's stopping me is the fear of disappointing my readers. Not everybody's gonna be patient about it, y'know? That's definitely a negative trait or habit that I really need to break.

 

[Son of the Sea]

Is this what you're talking about?...However, I hardly know where to begin. I usually... or at least try to only work on one story/fanfiction at a time, so what do I do when I'm at a loss for what comes next?

That's the one.

I should reiterate that I'm not a writer (please bear this in mind). However there's some things, certain principles, that apply to one creative field that may be just as applicable to others.

As someone who has done a lot of drawing: I sometimes find that I can get stuck with a particular drawing if I've been working on it a long time. It's hard to explain how or why, other than I just don't really know where to go with it; I can't see or feel what I should be doing (this is a necessary risk of, for instance, producing experimental work).

I've learned that at such times I should move on to something else. Usually I have multiple drawings on the go at once. So I'll look through these, then start working on which ever one I can envisage improving. (Thus, even though I'm stuck with one thing, I can keep working on something else.)

Perhaps this is what you could do with some of those experiements. You might get stuck with a particular piece. Set it aside. Forget about it. But keep writing. Work - write - something else; something from the list, for instance. Maybe after a day or two it will seem obvious where you should be going with the piece you set aside.

The more you write, Sp01, the more ideas will start to flow naturally. You won't have to wait for them, they'll just keep coming as you write more and more.

Ideas are like trees: you start using one, and other branches grow out of it. The more you write, the more ideas you explore, the more trees you plant. Soon you will have a forest in which you can write any time you like. But you will only achieve this by writing, by planting those trees. (I hope this last bit makes sense. I haven't really thought it through.)

 

[Spotty01]

I should reiterate that I'm not a writer (please bear this in mind). However there's some things, certain principles, that apply to one creative field that may be just as applicable to others.

Oh, jeez, I overlooked that part before. Sorry about that.

Perhaps this is what you could do with some of those experiements. You might get stuck with a particular piece. Set it aside. Forget about it. But keep writing. Work - write - something else; something from the list, for instance. Maybe after a day or two it will seem obvious where you should be going with the piece you set aside.

The more you write, Sp01, the more ideas will start to flow naturally. You won't have to wait for them, they'll just keep coming as you write more and more.

Ideas are like trees: you start using one, and other branches grow out of it. The more you write, the more ideas you explore, the more trees you plant. Soon you will have a forest in which you can write any time you like. But you will only achieve this by writing, by planting those trees. (I hope this last bit makes sense. I haven't really thought it through.)

Thanks for the advice, though I have found one thing I can do while I'm having writers' block: writing reviews on the Internet at places like Yelp, SiteJabber, etc. While I don't exactly find inspiration for a story doing that, I think it can help with improving my writing and prose as a whole.

Ideas are like trees: you start using one, and other branches grow out of it. The more you write, the more ideas you explore, the more trees you plant. Soon you will have a forest in which you can write any time you like. But you will only achieve this by writing, by planting those trees. (I hope this last bit makes sense. I haven't really thought it through.)

I think it made plenty of sense, that's a pretty good metaphor for it actually. ^^

 

[Tyrantus1212]

I'm sort of a writer, on and off - never really had my stuff published. As a child and pre-teen I used to write some poems, short stories, novels too. When I became an adult, I started expanding upon the novels. However, I had issues when it came to writer's block - I ended up abandoning the novel, and that's something I shouldn't have done. Whenever you experience a block, I'd suggest to try and think of a way to take the story in a new direction. Twists are an integral part to any story, so the block might signify that it's time for the story to exhibit one of these twists. The twist itself can be quick and sudden, and from there on there should be ample new material to take into consideration, in terms of the aftermath of the twist.

 

[Son of the Sea]

Thanks for the advice, though I have found one thing I can do while I'm having writers' block: writing reviews on the Internet at places like Yelp, SiteJabber, etc. While I don't exactly find inspiration for a story doing that, I think it can help with improving my writing and prose as a whole.

I think you're right. There's a lot of great writers who wrote in different fields before they became known for fiction. I really hope it all goes well for you.

 

[Maelstrom]

I don't get writers block....I get editing block with my dyslexia.
all my spelling and word flipping and grammar errors distract me from finishing the story.
Creating plots is very easy for me as a visual savant or whatever..with my empathic connection autism thing I can always find a connection to chase on a plot line.

 

[WereBear]

One thing I used to do was an exhausting habit: I didn't distinguish enough between drafting and polishing.

This actually uses two different "brain programs." Trying to switch between them during a single writing session wears us out from the switching, and we have less energy for actual creating.

This way there is a natural progression; at first we only draft, but once we have enough to edit, we might want to do that at our next session, and by the end there should be no more drafting...

Pick a gear and stick with it.

 

[Sabrina]

What fandom do you write for? My daughter is a fan girl, maybe there's a coincidence and she could read your stuff. She likes reading fan fiction.

I highly recomend you Big Magic, from Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the bestselling book "Eat, Pray, Love". You'll see that it doesn't matter where inspiration comes from, but rather that you are in state of mind that helps you "catch" the ideas that come along.

 

[Sabrina]

You said
"I'm currently recovering from a traumatic experience, but I've debated with myself for quite a while on whether or not writing something based on it would help or not. Sometimes, I fear that writing something that reminds me of the traumatic experience would simply worsen my condition for obvious reasons".

Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic says that fear is useful in the real world. But fear in the realm of creativity is useless.
You can write about your traumatic experience and transform it in your memory while you create something from it. Resilient people ( Boris Cyrulnik) use creativity to come out stronger from traumatic experiences.

 

[Spotty01]

What fandom do you write for? My daughter is a fan girl, maybe there's a coincidence and she could read your stuff. She likes reading fan fiction.

I predominantly write fanfics for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (at the time, however, I only have one on my FFnet account) and Steven Universe, but I've written fanfics for a few others as well, such as Warrior Cats and the Fallout series, but I have yet to upload of any fanfics of the latter two.

I highly recommend you Big Magic, from Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the bestselling book "Eat, Pray, Love". You'll see that it doesn't matter where inspiration comes from, but rather that you are in state of mind that helps you "catch" the ideas that come along.

I've heard of Eat Pray Love, but have never read it. I've never heard of, nor read Big Magic, but I'll have to check it out sometime. There's a bookstore nearby that I frequent a lot, so I'll have to see if they have it there.

You said
"I'm currently recovering from a traumatic experience, but I've debated with myself for quite a while on whether or not writing something based on it would help or not. Sometimes, I fear that writing something that reminds me of the traumatic experience would simply worsen my condition for obvious reasons".
Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic says that fear is useful in the real world. But fear in the realm of creativity is useless.
You can write about your traumatic experience and transform it in your memory while you create something from it. Resilient people ( Boris Cyrulnik) use creativity to come out stronger from traumatic experiences.

Huh, never really thought of it like that. PTSD is characterized by being stuck reliving the traumatic experience or, in my case, being stuck in the psychiatric hospital that caused the problem, albeit only in a mental sense, so naturally, I assumed reliving it in the form of fiction based loosely off of it would only worsen the problem. I'll try to take that advice into account the next time I'm writing something or trying to think of something new to write. Who knows? It might actually leave me better off.