Long time listener, first time caller,
I've run into an idea drought and would like some creative ways to break the cycle. I have no shortage of words, just have no clue what to write about. Nothing really stands out that I really want to write. I've been filling my time rewriting some older stories, but they need a break and now I'm kind of stuck.
I've been focusing a lot on my personal life and getting things in order, but I really love writing and don't want to have an extended period of no writing. I've thought about using some prompts that I've seen on other sites, but for some reason it feels a little cheap. Please help.
Sincerely,
Stuck
I'll help, but I need some info --
What kind of stuff do you usually write?
I was going to make a thread based around Ray Bradbury's Zen and the Art of Writing where he has this essay on "how to keep and feed a muse." The basic idea is to fill your head with ideas, experiences, books and poems, until it becomes so full that you have to spill it out on the page. I personally get pretty frustrated with writing quickly, I get easily stuck doing the same thing or working half-formed ideas, so I keep my own little folder full of different kinds of prompts suited just for me. Some ideas I use:
Verses of poems and songs I like a lot
photos that I've saved for story idea generation
A list of things I love/hate/fear, very abstract and senseless things
Character and Scenery sketches
Reading some short stories then taking the gun out of that crime story, or the monster out of that horror story, and rewriting it my own way
Asking myself a litst of strange questions
Bob Pastorella was talking about the technique he uses where he writes a long letter to himself, I think about what he's writing lately and he keeps asking himself questions based on that (maybe he can chime in and correct me on this)
Also, might be worth looking into the 3 AM Epiphany, where their prompts are more technique based and have not much regarding plot, those are interesting and challenging to do.
Or you could just listen to Renfield.
Personally, I don't write unless I want to. In other words, if I don't want to, I don't write.
Sent you an idea.
Do writing exercises: http://www.amazon.com/The-A-M-Epiphany-Exercises-Transform/dp/1582973512
if I don't want to, I don't write.
I think that is a good rule. It also allows you time to read and do actual real life things and fill your head with ideas. Refueling. Sometimes I write when I don't want to, actually most of the time I don't want to write, more commonly I feel I should or have to. But I don't want to dislike my stuff after I write it, so I keep stuff around to inspire me and keep me focused. Maybe I'm just neurotic though?
Had The Rough House prompts up. Either that or go into Beyond.
I don't have enough time to write all that I want to write at the moment, so I end up scrawling things down in a notebook, stuff I intend to write once the next piece is out of the way. I think that helps, always having another story to come back to - of course, that's not much help right now. How about seeking inspiration from news stories? Or deliberately listening in to people's conversations to see if you hear something that creates a spark..?
Or just look up something out of copyright from the 19th Century and stick the undead in it...
EDIT
Also, a writing tutor once posed the question "and then who walks in the door?" Take a scene, then throw an extra character in there to see how they mix it up. it can turn an everyday situation into something worth writing about.
I actually like those little prompt books you can buy, like The Writer's Book Of Matches. I don't always get great stuff out of the prompts, but it gives me a good starting point to just write. I am also an "I don't write if I don't want to" person, but sometimes I want to and I can't pull anything out of my head to start from.
I posted this somewhere else - thought I'd repeat here. Tangential thinking is where it's at.
I do this when starting a new story - it works, serious...
1. Free-write for 10 minutes or so (you can set a specific time if you're AR) - Tangential thinking - no pressure
2. Do that every day for 5 days (M-F)
3. Use the w/e to look them over - pick one that looks the most promising.
4. write the damn story
5. If you're still not feeling it - then take the 5 (you don't have to use them all) - and develop a single completed scene to better realize what your subconsious was trying to say.
6. Write the damn story.
Just throwing ideas out there.
But I don't want to dislike my stuff after I write it
Yeah, I'm always more pleased with my stuff when I can't help but write it. I'm not expecting to become a pro novelist anytime soon, so I don't really sweat if I'm not writing.
That said, if someone was going to pay me to write, I might want to more.
@Renfield
That's a great book. I wind up going back to it every time I have a dry spell in my writing. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something beyond flash prompts.
Personally, the flash prompts work well because it gets me outside of my 'bubble' of writing. The random stuff sometimes feels cheap, but it generates other ideas. At leas that's what it does for me. Heh.
Write about your life and disguise it as fiction. Write things as you wish they would have happened rather than how they did.
^^^That
^^ and that
Do other things for an hour. Whenever I hit a wall I go to the gym or clean the house. It clears my head and 99% of the time a new idea just comes up on it's own. If nothing comes, then you at least did something productive.
The one thing thats been helpful to me, and has been mentioned here, is "feeding your internal artist". If you find yourself stuck, do things outside of writing that you enjoy. It can as easy as taking a walk in the park, going to a museum. Basically, surround yourself with life, keep youself open to the world around you and the ideas will flow.
Yes, I realize this sounds like new age horseshit, it genuinely works.
Also, the free writing mentioned above is also extremely helpful. Every day, do three pages of nonstop writing. No matter what comes out, just keep your pen going. Don't stop. Sooner or later, ideas will fall out.
Good luck!
Wrote about this on my blog a couple of months ago. The second deals with outline, but I mention David Morrell's method when he gets an idea, try it, it really works!
http://bobpastorella.com/2012/02/14/writerdrome-the-writers-block/
http://bobpastorella.com/2012/03/20/writerdrome-walk-the-line-chalk-line...
As for actual ideas, they are out there, you're just looking too hard, if that makes sense.
I gave him the best idea ever. Now it's just up to him to write it.
On a similar vein to @Fritz Wolfe's reply, I've done a short-story-a-day challenge before which I found to be amazing (although more like flash fiction-a-day, most of the time).
Find a random-word generator and generate a new word at the same time every day. You have 24 hours to write something - ANYTHING - from that word. Do that every day for a month religiously. You will write some shit, but you will also write things that will surprise and astound you too.
On second thought, Joe. Write from a woman's perspective. It should take you about 50 years to figure out how women think.
Nice comeback there, Danny boy. Dum dum tssh.
My only contribution to the discussion is to recommend mixing things up entirely from your norm. If you are a horror kind of guy, but are dry for ideas, then have a crack at something funny instead, or something sci-fi maybe. Fuck it, try and write something romantic. Your brain may just need a change of environment for a little while.
Man, I was going to throw in my two cents, Diaz, but everybody already did. There's some good advice here. Were I you, I'd probably go with what Fritz said, because I've found similar things to work for me as well. But I also use the Zen in the Art stuff by Bradbury as well. Over time it's given be a pretty decent backlog of short stories to work through.
And if you want to try something just a bit different, get one of the how-to books by Natalie Goldberg and apply what she says. That stuff is relatively painless, but it produces a lot of material.
Utah - just saw the title below name. Cool freakin shitola there
Giant piles of blow.
@Fritz: You need to have your eyes checked then.
Chester does not think my title is cool. That is because Chester's avatar is a penis with teeth.
Or one of the Furies.
Hey - I always thought chester's avatar was a flip-flop / sandal thing with a mouth on it - you know, 'foot in mouth' reference and all that. Always like the competition orange background though...
I do have issues with flip-flop guys though, but that is a whole different ball of wax.
Haahaa. I thought Fritz was talking about the DOTP badge.
I love your avatar Utah. It reminds me of Skullfuckmas.
Well, I am a flip-flop guy figuratively speaking. And yes, I do wear flip-flops in the summer when it is smoking hot--or as sandals around the house when socks begin to cloy.
My avatar is bound to get me in trouble at some point. Litigation is inevitable. Cease and desist.
Joe, have sex with lots and lots of men and then write about it. That will inspire you.
Then you just end up writing Allen Ginsberg style butthole poetry.
Damn, Diaz, you're a class-takin mofo. How did you like that first one?
And I am all about this Ketchum class. And since I am getting ready for my wife to have a baby and we're buying a house, I hope Jack comes back relatively soon, cuz I'm gonna have to catch him on the flip side.
"cuz I'm gonna have to catch him on the flip side."
I've never been so ashamed of you.
That could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you want to look at it. Cuz Ima leave it open like that, yo.
Why does that phrasing make you ashamed of me? You realize it's only a modified line from one of the greatest movies ever made?
Who was it you took, Diaz?
Now I'm ashamed, and unimpressed.
You are a communist. I hope you catch a head cold.
I do have allergies. Does that make you feel better?
Ah. Allergies. I keep wanting to say that allergies are just a sign of the devolution of humans. But my step-daughter has severe allergies and like a 180 iq. So I don't know if my hypothesis would bear up under any real scrutiny.
Alrighty then, I should take my NKA* status as a hunter/gatherer more seriously then?
(No Known Allergies)
Maybe so.
Then again, it could just mean that you weren't vaccinated using media that are known common allergens, so your body doesn't associate any of those things with sickness.
Hard to tell.
I've been exposed to so many random things, it's a wonder I'm not dead yet. <*checks pulse*> Yep, still living. I think.
I am allergic to 3 out of the 4 major antibiotic groups.
But I am not allergic to poison ivy.