ParanetOnline

McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: Angelis on February 27, 2009, 08:08:32 PM

Title: Block Breakers
Post by: Angelis on February 27, 2009, 08:08:32 PM
As writers, most will be very familiar with the evil writer's block.

What is your best way for breaking the block? If you don't have a 'best' way, what do you find has broken your block(s) in the past?
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: ballplayer72 on February 27, 2009, 08:50:08 PM
Don't read this if you get offended easily ;)

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on February 27, 2009, 08:55:30 PM
Quote from: Angelis on February 27, 2009, 08:08:32 PM
What is your best way for breaking the block? If you don't have a 'best' way, what do you find has broken your block(s) in the past?

Poking around on the internet.

Reading or watching something that's not similar enough to what I'm working on to get in the way, but is close enough that my characters will have reactions and opinions.

Starting something completely different.  (Not hugely recommended; I think everybody accumulates things they astart and do not finish, but it's all too easy to get cuaght up in this and never finish anything.)

And, of course, Conceptual Guilt-Judo 101; find something I can persuade myself I need to be doing more, so that I can convince myself that I am actually goofing off when I go back to write on whatever it was, and therefore it does not have the psychological pressure of being blocked.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: The Dread Pharaoh Roberts on March 01, 2009, 09:37:32 PM
Find something to write, even just a random character description - you never know, it might come in handy later on, and it'll get your brain working again.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: meg_evonne on March 01, 2009, 11:45:11 PM
Suggestion from Bret Anthony Johnston.... 

Take three minutes and write as many words that begin with one letter--selecting, of course, different letters. 

Rather interesting actually, because it forces you to concentrate on words.  This will pull you out of your normal world and into the writing world.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: Quantus on March 02, 2009, 09:40:12 PM
Quote from: Captain Hammer on March 01, 2009, 09:37:32 PM
Find something to write, even just a random character description - you never know, it might come in handy later on, and it'll get your brain working again.
This one has been working for me a bit lately.  Ive got a pretty robust world setting, but the writing itself is dragging on in the character and plot development side.  So if I get too stuck, I make a character, as if I were using my own setting for a DnD game or some such.  It gets me out of the box of my main plot, while simultaneously bringing me further in to the world itself, and the midset of the place.  And its never a bad thing to have a stack of extras to pull from that have a little flesh on their bones, metaphorically speaking.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on March 02, 2009, 10:04:54 PM
Quote from: Quantus347 on March 02, 2009, 09:40:12 PM
This one has been working for me a bit lately.  Ive got a pretty robust world setting, but the writing itself is dragging on in the character and plot development side.  So if I get too stuck, I make a character, as if I were using my own setting for a DnD game or some such.  It gets me out of the box of my main plot, while simultaneously bringing me further in to the world itself, and the midset of the place.  And its never a bad thing to have a stack of extras to pull from that have a little flesh on their bones, metaphorically speaking.

The thing is, pretty much the first thing I do when I start seeing how a story is going to come together, for the main characters, is a casting call of the form "I need someone who will do X in siutation Y and A in situation B so my beginning and my ending work."  I get the person who will actually do that, and the rest of the the character comes clear around that.  I can't really dissociate character from plot that way, because a character who does the wrong thing is useless or actively harmful.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: Quantus on March 03, 2009, 01:40:49 PM
Quote from: neurovore on March 02, 2009, 10:04:54 PM
The thing is, pretty much the first thing I do when I start seeing how a story is going to come together, for the main characters, is a casting call of the form "I need someone who will do X in siutation Y and A in situation B so my beginning and my ending work."  I get the person who will actually do that, and the rest of the the character comes clear around that.  I can't really dissociate character from plot that way, because a character who does the wrong thing is useless or actively harmful.
Fair enough.  For me its more of, when I come across a situation like that,,, I can then go back to the vault and see if Ive already gotten one that fits my purposes. If not, I can always make new ones, and the one Ive made to break the blocks sometimes go to waste completely, but in the mean time its a useful exercise. 
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: LizW65 on March 03, 2009, 07:42:08 PM
Another thing (I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it a technique, but I've found it can work for me) is to just plow through the part that I'm stuck on in any way possible, regardless of quality.  This usually results in run-on sentences of this type:

"And then I did X, Y, and Z, and this happened and that happened, and then the cops came and then we found Susan's head in the dryer..."

But after a couple pages of this drivel I find the words are flowing again.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: Quantus on March 04, 2009, 03:13:12 AM
Quote from: ballplayer72 on February 27, 2009, 08:50:08 PM
Don't read this if you get offended easily ;)

(click to show/hide)
The problem with this that that often you are no longer in a position to actually record anything, which defeats most of the purpose. 

Quote from: LizW65 on March 03, 2009, 07:42:08 PM
Another thing (I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it a technique, but I've found it can work for me) is to just plow through the part that I'm stuck on in any way possible, regardless of quality.  This usually results in run-on sentences of this type:

"And then I did X, Y, and Z, and this happened and that happened, and then the cops came and then we found Susan's head in the dryer..."

But after a couple pages of this drivel I find the words are flowing again.
Agreed.  It really comes down to finding any way to get from Page 1 to Page 2.  anything beyong taht is editing.  But as long as keys are being pressed, the words are flowing.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: ballplayer72 on March 04, 2009, 02:57:27 PM
Quote from: Quantus347 on March 04, 2009, 03:13:12 AM
The problem with this that that often you are no longer in a position to actually record anything, which defeats most of the purpose. 

Well not for me.  Its been a long time since my tolerence has been that low :P   Definitely don't try it if you aren't used to it. At least for block breaking purposes.  Besides even if you just get so baked you sit and stare at the refrigerator for 3 hours, you should just keep your mind running along the path of your story.  Then when you sober up you can write again. And if its trash throw it out and if its gold click the save button.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: Quantus on March 04, 2009, 03:07:15 PM
hehe, my biggest problem with writing in general is that most of it is done in my head and I rarely manage to get it out on paper.  I tried voice recognition for a bit, but even a high end one didnt work consistently.  I even played around with the idea of paying some college kid to transcribe dictation, which I still think I should pursue.  Work (and some online RP) is forcing me to become a faster typist, so I may have just fixed it the hard way while I wasn't looking.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: Angelis on March 04, 2009, 03:15:10 PM
Quote from: neurovore on February 27, 2009, 08:55:30 PM
Reading or watching something that's not similar enough to what I'm working on to get in the way, but is close enough that my characters will have reactions and opinions.

Now this solution, I like. I tried it out to a certain extent a couple of nights ago. It didn't shatter the block completely but it definitely helped to get my mind working again as far as writing. :) Thank you for the recommendation!
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: Angelis on March 04, 2009, 03:17:05 PM
I really like a lot of these ideas so far...I think I'm going to keep a list of these handy! ;D
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on March 04, 2009, 04:29:50 PM
Quote from: Quantus347 on March 04, 2009, 03:13:12 AM
Agreed.  It really comes down to finding any way to get from Page 1 to Page 2.  anything beyong taht is editing.  But as long as keys are being pressed, the words are flowing.

Provided you are not the kind of person for whom the words flowing to the wrong place can kill a project.
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: Quantus on March 04, 2009, 08:54:22 PM
Quote from: neurovore on March 04, 2009, 04:29:50 PM
Provided you are not the kind of person for whom the words flowing to the wrong place can kill a project.
Very true.  You have to be willing and able to throw away large amounts of crap, and to distinguish said crap.  Because one thing this will guarantee to get you lots of is crap  :P
Title: Re: Block Breakers
Post by: thausgt on March 21, 2009, 02:15:16 AM
Quote from: LizW65 on March 03, 2009, 07:42:08 PM
Another thing (I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it a technique, but I've found it can work for me) is to just plow through the part that I'm stuck on in any way possible, regardless of quality.  This usually results in run-on sentences of this type:

"And then I did X, Y, and Z, and this happened and that happened, and then the cops came and then we found Susan's head in the dryer..."

But after a couple pages of this drivel I find the words are flowing again.

Some might call this "giving the inner writer permission to go back to work" or "annoying the inner writer out of their sulk" or something like that. The conversation might drift into some very murky psychological waters, but it's valid for a lot of inner blocks.

My tip for breaking writer's block involves jumping into the story, either "Quantum Leap" style where I take over a particular half of a conversation or as myself to talk with one of the characters. Is your hero having trouble figuring out an unusual social or political circumstance? Imagine a circumstance where you could put a word of advice in their ear, or drop a flyer with a hint in the sales pitch for some new restaurant. Has your character gone completely off the rails in terms of development? Drag him/her/it out of the story entirely and give them a talking-to, perhaps even in your writing space.

Note that you don't have to actually use the results of these experiments in your finished work, but it might be interesting to keep it on file.

My own inner muse is rather capricious, can vanish for long periods and prone to floods of... well, let's call them ideas for stories that would be "tough sells" to most outlets. But rarely, if ever, do they lack at least some valuable nugget I can transplant onto something else, or even use as a seed for a different story.

Good luck!