Need Help

[Deleted]

I feel like I can't write anymore.  The last few years, doing any actual writing just feels like a chore.  I do all kinds of worldbuilding.  I have worlds like you wouldn't believe.  Places where all kinds of stories could take place.  But I can't get anything on paper.  I'll sit and stare at the blank page, with no idea how to start or what to say.  I'll try to just go, and it winds up being just exposatory "let's talk about the world I've made", and nothing ever happens.  

I didn't always have that problem.  I don't know why I have the problem now.  It's like I've forgotten how to put a story together.  I have a few bright spots in the last few years, like Dark Walker, but even that has issues.  And when I tried to continue it, to make it something more, I blank.  Though that could be because the reation to my ideas going forward weren't all that enthusiastic.

I don't know what to do about it.  I never stop working on stories and settings and whatnot.  But I have no followthrough.  I can't start.  I can't finish.  I tried challenging my brother to a short story contest a while back, where we'd have to pay the other if we didn't finish, and I got through it, but getting through it was like slogging through filth.  And it wasn't even that bad.  But getting through it was hard.  

I'm trying to get back into it slowly.  I have my old book Morpheus One, that I always wanted to finish, and I'm trying to do just a teeny bit every night, then going and working on whatever new thing I've been thinking about, like this new Einherjar idea.  No set time, just working through it little by little, even if it's only fifteen minutes or so.  One word at a time.  

I'm just so disappointed with myself.  Since Covid, there's been a couple times when I was on Unemployment, and had nothing but time on my hands.  And I just waste it.  I waste all the time I have.  I'm working full time now, and have a great job, but I waste every day off.  I told my wife it feels like I'm constantly trying to recover, and when I'm not working, I'm recovering, but I don't know what I'm recovering from.  

So what can I do?  How can I get my followthrough back?  How can I open a page and look at a blank screen and start putting words down again, instead of staring at it for an hour trying to figure out what goes there?  

[havekrillwhaletravel]

I'm terribly inconsistent and unproductive with my writing. But there were a couple things that I found helpful for me.

If I'm struggling to write or I don't feel like writing that day, I try to force myself to write anything. There's no word count. It can be a single sentence. What's written doesn't have to be good. It's most often awful. But I force myself to spend 2-3 minutes writing something, regardless of length or quality. Then I minimize the Word doc and go about my life.

I find that, when I do this, there's a part of my mind that's quietly working on the story in the background while I'm doing whatever. Then, when I'm driving or standing in the lift, an idea will pop up in my head. Maybe it's a better way to rewrite that sentence. Or it's another sentence for the story. Whatever it is, I try to scribble it down on my phone's Notes app. The moment I transfer the new stuff to my Word doc, I'll often have a few more quick ideas that I'll write down.

Sometimes the block is still there. I just keep writing a crappy sentence each day, and I find the block dissolves much quicker and easier.

Another big thing for me is to also read. I find that my writing and reading slumps often coincide. If I'm struggling to write, I'll try to read more. I don't know how, but watching another writer work oils the gears in my mind.

[Alatariel]

1) How much are you reading for fun right now? Any genre, not just the one you're trying to write.

2) Have you tried writing something fluffy and easy? I recommend fan fiction for getting through a slump.

3) Have you tried reading what you've previously written to get back into your world? That always helps me.

Also, some validation: there is nothing wrong with using your time off to rest, recover, and rejuvenate. Burn out presents in many different ways. For me it was brain static whenever I tried to concentrate on being "productive". It was an antsy feeling to do ANYTHING else. So I listened to that feeling and let it pull me toward what I needed for recovery. And, as I've talked about in other areas of the forum, it turned out I needed to binge fluffy, smutty, romance novels with predictable and safe endings. Goodness, did I BINGE read. It was like I was gulping down ice cold water after being in a desert for so long. 

And guess what? After a year, my brain said "thanks but let's get into some more complex stories again, I'm ready!" and then I felt the itch to write again! But I had to stop pushing it. Your brain can just POP and say nope. Listen to it. Rest. Read. Recharge.

I know RAVENEYE went through a similar rough patch recently. 

[Deleted]

1. I listen to audiobooks pretty much constantly. Like, my audible says over the last seven years, six months of it has been listening to audiobooks. I haven't really read a book in a while, though it does happen. I've actually been wondering if that has stifled my ability to write. Like, it's helped with my ability to think through worldbuilding and whatnot, but writing has become harder than it was. Maybe I should take a real book with me to work and actually read during my lunch breaks again.

2. Actually, as funny as it might sound, I had this idea a few weeks back. I haven't done Fan Fiction since I was 16, so 20 years, now, but I aboslutely love Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, and I love his magic system. There's so much nuance to it, with various powers one could potentially have, and how the combination of certain powers interact. I have a character in mind using a unique combo of powers that he didn't explore in his books, and have been working on a story. I've been using it as a "I literally cannot sell this so I may as well have some fun." Still having difficulty getting started with the actual writing, though.

3. I am doing that now, as well. I have a book I never finished, Morpheus One, and I'm going through one chapter each evening until I get to the part where I need to start fixing it. And I'm going to try to do SOMETHING every night with it, even if it's just a few paragraphs. I really, really want to finish that book.

So I'm taking a two part approach when I sit down to write each evening. First, I work on an old book, even if it's just for a few minutes. Then, I work on something new, even if it's just working on the setting, and even if it's only for a few minutes. The old book will be the same project until its done. The new thing will be whatever I feel like writing at the moment. This new fanfiction, my LitRPG I've been working on for the last year, one of the other three dozen stories I've started and never got to finishing. You know. Whatever.

This way, I feel like I can quiet both voices in my head. The one voice that always wants to work on something new, and the other voice that says if I don't finish something old, it'll never get finished. That's always been my problem. I stopped telling people about my stories, because when I would say "Hey, I'm working on this cool idea", they'd always say "But what about the other cool idea you talked about a month ago? Or the one from three months ago? Or that other one?" And then I feel guilty for not completing those and wind up losing steam on the new one, too.

Brandon Sanderson, who teaches writing classes, says the most important thing a new writer should learn to do is finish everything they start, even if it sucks. You do this to train yourself to finish. Because many of the new writers he works with have the same problem I do: they get to a certain point, and then they stop working on it. And it's because it's a habit. Their mind has gotten used to "Oh, this is the point where we stop and do something new." And so you naturally stop and want to work on something else. I need to finish things. I need to finish everything I start.

So I'm trying. Slowly. Little by little. And we'll see if that works.

[Deleted]

Sorry for the double post, but I thought I'd report that I wrote a scene today! Yay! It was for that fanfiction I'm working on. Right about 700 words. And it came fairly easily, too. And I don't hate it so much I want it to fall into a river and never be seen again! So that's cool.

Here's to hoping I can keep it up.

[saintofm]

Burn out can happen, so maybe take a break from it for a little while. If you want to still feel productive, you could work on worldbuilding (the iceberg idea, where the author knows about its world than the audience doesn't see).

You could try research, reading other books for fun or to better help you flesh out your world. You can also try looking up info at other areas info and get surprised with what you can glean.