[Joelle Stone]

@kylie-wingfeather,

One thing I’d suggest to escape writer’s block is talk to someone about your story – get excited about it again. Or, if you want a quicker remedy, check out the sprinting leaderboard I literally just made (XD) and sprint/race with some people. It makes it a lot easier to stay focused. 🙂 Here’s the link to that: https://storyembers.org/groups/fantasy-writers/forum/topic/official-writing-sprint-leaderboard/

[Joelle Stone]

@kylie-wingfeather,

Also, check out this article: https://storyembers.org/how-to-overcome-the-two-types-of-long-term-writers-block/

Tagging a few more peeps to help out: @rose-colored-fancy @mischievous-thwapling @crazywriter @obrian-of-the-surface-world @this-is-not-an-alien @rebekah12 @rusted-knight

[Brian Stansell]

@kylie-wingfeather

Hello Kylie!

You are not alone.  We have all been there.  Totally understand. Don’t be hard on yourself.  Feeling guilty about it, tends to frustrate creative thought, so let it go.  You are God’s gifted girl. Don’t let the enemy steal that truth from you. Tell him and his sniveling whispery suggests to take a hike and find a cliff somewhere and take a flying leap. God says you are an Overcomer, and you will overcome this too!  Put him in his place. Imagine that you put a metal bucket over his head and beat on it with a spoon until his ears ring.  [That’s what I do to my sarcastic and whiny “inner editor” when I am writing my first drafts. 😜 I don’t let him out from under that bucket until I have finished, and THEN he can “critique” me all he likes.  But I keep that spoon in my hand, just to remind “him” not to be too critical. It’s funny to watch “him” blink rapidly when I raise the spoon as a warning and point back to the metal bucket.]
I am rambling, I know.  My “inner editor” is in the other room making a sandwich, so what “he” doesn’t know, won’t affect him.
But seriously, what you think about writing again, don’t just try to jump right it.  Re-read the last scene and record it.  Listen to it back.  Think about, if you were not the author of it, what questions you might have about what is going on in that one scene.  What questions does it lead you to?  What questions are answered by the scene, and what questions arise that are not answered there.  These questions are the best way I know of to get back into writing. Keep the mystery of it, even from yourself. Don’t over-plan, because you will take the discoveries away from your moments of actually writing out what comes to you.  Always keep some questions unanswered until you are ready to reach the climax or finish the book.  Keep yourself hungry to find out what will come next. Raise the stakes and any danger that might threaten your protagonist or their mission.  Allow yourself to write your characters into a desperate situation, that threatens everything.  You have to be cruel to be kind, as an author.  Tension is necessary, either physical, emotional, or relational, depending on the scene you are writing. Always focus on the questions, because those draw you into the stories and keep you engaged with it.  Take any scene and ask yourself: “What do I want to know going into this scene?”  List as many questions as you can think of.  Then decide which of those questions the scene itself will provide the answers for, and which will come later.  Then look at the scene and see if it evokes enough new questions, that will make you want to find out what comes next.  You are the first barometer of those potential readers who will resonate with your writing, so make sure the scene interests and engages you.  Writing is a series of rewarding promises made and raising questions that will eventually have the full answers for the most part revealed.  Don’t serve gluttons, but put out little snacks and hors d’oeuvers to whet the appetite for the later, larger meal to be served.

This method has been a big help to me in staying engaged, and hopefully, it might help you too.

Remember, God Himself does not reveal to us everything in the moment. He wants us to walk by faith and learn to trust Him as we yield our gifts and who we are to Him.

9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” [1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV]

Keep the mystery.  Pursue it. Faithful is He that calls you, who will also do it through you.  There are many who need to see what God will do through you.  You are His light to your world; His torch-bearer.

Go light’em up!

Have a very blessed day.

Thank you for tagging me, @joelle-stone !

Brian Stansell (aka O'Brian of the Surface World)
I was born in war.
Fighting from my first breath.

[Joelle Stone]

@obrian-of-the-surface-world,

Of course! (And thx for the tips! *pulls out metal bucket and spoon and stares at inner critic with grin on face*)

[Rose]

@joelle-stone

I hath been summoned! Thanks!

@kylie-wingfeather

Hmm, familiar issue! I’ve had to take longish breaks several times, because of life, yaknow.

Here are several solutions that have helped me.

Plan out your chapter. Idk if you are a plotter or pantser, but just planning out the next chapter can help.

As Joelle said, talk about it! Rant about it! Get excited to be with your characters again. Reread your favorite pieces you’ve written and remember why you love your story so much.

Put one of the characters in a character castle or play a couple character games on here. The Character castle is more of a solution if you’re stuck with a specific character, though. But it can give you ideas and force you to see new sides to your character. (You might be in one already, I actually don’t know XD)

If you can, figure out why the scene you were working on doesn’t excite you. If needed, delete about ten lines. For me, most writer’s block has been one conversation that took a wrong turn.

If you can, come up with a different way that scene could have gone and write that instead. This has worked for me so often.

Now, I’ve never tried this, but you could try following a writing prompt and writing a short story, just to write something. 

If none of that worked, pick your favorite story, the one you’re most excited about, and just write something. Just a couple of sentences, if all else fails.

I do recommend the writing sprints! I got really stuck and distracted and that’s helped me write again! (Because I can’t turn down a challenge XD) Devote yourself to writing five minutes, and then you can quit if that’s what it takes. (And don’t compare your word count to others if that discourages you! It isn’t a competition and stories don’t have an expiration date.)

Don’t beat yourself up if your writing is below your usual quality or you write slower. You’ll pick up speed again, and before you know, you’ll be better for the break.

I hoped this helped, and I wish you a high word count and cooperative characters!

Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?

[Brian Stansell]

@joelle-stone

LOL! I wish someone would draw a picture of that…know anyone with “wicked” drawing skills? 😉😁 [Hint, hint.]

Brian Stansell (aka O'Brian of the Surface World)
I was born in war.
Fighting from my first breath.

[Cathy]

HIIII!

@kylie-wingfeather
Advice for writers’ block? Right!
I don’t think talking about it has always helped me, but when it works it’s fine.
1. Try freewriting; just write and write with no idea what you’re writing and see what pops up.
2. Try deepening worldbuilding; It forces you to ground your story and draw the plot out of it. This one really helps me it’s like an instaproblem machine!
–For example, say, we add silver angelfish that fly and are not waterbound. Alright, now they’re a protected species and killing them is poaching. Instaproblem; what character in your story is desperate enough to kill them for food/other and why? (It’s really fun!!!)
3. Try deepening POV; it forces you to ground the character arc and draw the plot out of it more. You take a particular aspect of your character that you want to demonstrate clearly and start writing around that.
–For example, I have a character with loads of trauma and clinical anxiety and I wanted to emphasis how caring and starved for affection he was which would’ve been more difficult to notice with his generally distant air. And also how he approached relationships all other factors aside, to hammer in his fluctuating trust issues/gullibility. Ergo I inserted with wulfling (street cat thingy blahblah) that followed him about and the interaction there really highlighted his character and set the stage for the actual plot.
4. Try deepening theme; it forces you to ground the themes and draw the plot out of it blah blah blah. I think POV is generally easier but these really go simultaneously for me most often. But take one aspect of the theme and find a way to emphasis it.
–For example, my theme involves addressing gray areas in morals a lot and how much does duress defend etc. So I set my really ideal character with a really harsh dilemma (at least, it’s the running disaster XD); if he doesn’t murder X, hundreds of people will be executed, but killing X is not self-defense, or is it?
5. Try shortstorying an image in your story; if you have flashes of inspiration but you don’t quite know how to connect the dots or prep for the story beats try taking a section of your story and turning it into a shortstory. Besides being really fun, it’ll also make you remember why you loved this story in the first place (probably XD)
6. Try writing a paragraph summing up your scene goals before writing a chapter. It really helps me focus on what I want to write and all 🙂

To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.

[Brian Stansell]

@everyone
Here’s some ideas the James L. Rubart posted in his Newsletter concerning Writer’s Block.
Just thought I’d share them here for the group.
——————–

Do you ever get stuck in the middle of one of your stories? Yeah, you outliners have no idea what I’m talking about, but the rest of us? It happens.

So how do you get out?

Here are seven ideas to get your story moving again:

1.     Your Antagonist Gets What He/She wants- often we focus too much on what our protagonist wants and neglect the wants of our antagonist. Why? Because our protag is fighting against those things and we (and the reader) want our hero/heroine to win. But if we give our antagonist what they want that ramps ups the stakes and makes it harder (more conflict) for our hero/heroine—which is always a good thing.
2.     I Didn’t Know I Had That Fear- of course your main character is going to have fears and wounds and flaws. But most of the time we have our protagonist’s knowing what those fears are (even if they have a hard time admitting it). What if you were to have them discover a fear they didn’t know they had?
3.     Bumping Into That Old Friend- I’ve reconnected lately with a number of friends I haven’t been in touch with for 40 years + and it’s given me lots of story ideas. What if you had your main character(s) do the same thing? What if that old friend they bump into turns out to be the last thing your main character expected, either good or bad?
4.     Bumping Into An Old Artifact- I’ve been going through a lot of old boxes and drawers lately, tossing stuff I just don’t need anymore. In doing so, I came across my first real baseball glove as well as drawings I made when I was around seven years old. Wow did that bring back some memories! So what if you had your character find a long forgotten item from their past that changes the way they think about the present? (And the future.)
5.     What About the Weather?- few stories make use of the weather as fully as they could. And since we’re having quite usual weather these days (we hit 115 for the first time ever this summer where I live—and the pundits say it’s going to continue) making it a significant character in your story could be powerful.
6.     Poof! And He’s Gone- make a main supporting character vanish. No one knows where he’s gone, why he left, or what happened to him. Let the cool subplots abound.
7.     What’s With Her?- this is an idea from Donald Maas. Take your main character or a main supporting character and have them do something completely opposite of what they’d normally do. The stoic introverted school teacher gets up and sings a blistering rock song at the school’s faculty talent show.

Brian Stansell (aka O'Brian of the Surface World)
I was born in war.
Fighting from my first breath.

[Kylie S. Pierce]

@obrian-of-the-surface-world

@this-is-not-an-alien

@rose-colored-fancy

@joelle-stone

Thanks for all the tips!!! These are all really helpful!

"I read that book, and it affected me." ~my sister, about the Warrior Cats.

[Joelle Stone]

@kylie-wingfeather,

Of course! 😀

[Cathy]

Absolutely! (It might actually remind me to USE them 😛 )

Brian Stansell wrote:

I wish someone would draw a picture of that…know anyone with “wicked” drawing skills? [Hint, hint.]

lol I drew that…and now I can’t… figure out…how to post it…and now I am sad 🙁

To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.

[Joelle Stone]

@this-is-not-an-alien,

NOO! DON’T BE SAD! I’M SURE THERE IS A WAY! (Actually, you may be able to copy/paste it)

[Kylie S. Pierce]

So, it’s a little late right now, but it seems like my Writer’s Block is starting to lift (hoorah!), and I will try to get a chapter out tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the help!

~Kylie

"I read that book, and it affected me." ~my sister, about the Warrior Cats.

[Brian Stansell]

@kylie-wingfeather

Hooray! Kylie!

So glad to hear that. Welcome back to the creative stream!  May the gusts of Heaven be at your back and your sails full of the gathering push ahead.

Brian Stansell (aka O'Brian of the Surface World)
I was born in war.
Fighting from my first breath.

[Cathy]

HA!

–awkward pause–

😁🤐

…it was fun to draw…

To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.

[Author]

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