Writer's Block/Motivation

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We all have those times when writing a story that we get stopped for various reasons. Perhaps the most common is Writer's Block. We've all experienced it at one point or another, whether it's not being able to figure out where to go with a story, or not knowing what to do with a given character. It happens to the best of us and it's almost unavoidable. Another reason for being halted on a story is that sometimes we lose motivation to write and it takes something sparking us to remotivate us into writing.

I'm saying this for the simple fact that we're all human and this can happen to anyone. Some people like to think Writer's Block isn't real or is just people being lazy not wanting to continue.

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Stopped Writing

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I haven't written anything major since 2011, but have managed to squeak out several short stories. Since the early part of this year, I have started on something that could perhaps be over 100,000 words if I do it properly. RL has been the problem and since that has calmed down, perhaps I can get more done.

Gwen

I know the feeling all too well

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Normally I can pump out anywhere from 5000 to 20,000 words per week after work, that is when work is going well and no new headaches get thrown into my lap.

It's when those "The sky is falling" problems get thrown into my lap, my mind goes into problem solving mode and can't think of anything else but solutions to whatever problem got thrown my way, and it almost seems like I lose the ability to write. After this it may take anywhere form a day or two to several weeks before the creativity begin flowing at a steady rate again.

We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

So Many Things to Get in the Way of my Writing

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Writer's block for me comes in the form of multiple symptoms:

  1. Story Ideas - I have more stories started, worlds created, characters mapped out than I will ever come close to using. Characters I worry are too similar to another character. Scenes that might fit within multiple of those worlds. It is hard to focus on working on one specific publishable piece.
  2. Story Types - In general most of my story ideas fall into two types. Long stories where I have the conflict (or multi-story conflicts) and transformation understood, but where I struggle with convincing myself it is worth the effort to write. Will I be able to find all the stepping stones needed to reach the other side of the lake where a finalized story resides? Or it is a diary type of story, less about a specific conflict/resolution and more about a character living a life. The issue I have with this type of story is that while they are the most enjoyable to roll around in my mind, I know I cannot commit to the rigour required to write this type of piece. In my mind this is different than those characters with multiple stories, where each story has a conflict endpoint, while with a diary story I know I will leave it without an end at some point.
  3. Knowledge Helps but Also Hurts - For years, the hurdle was to finish something. In 2006 I finally achieved that goal and for the next 4/5 years I was fairly productive. It was just write, get a story out of my mind and publish. Around about them, I started wanting to do a better technical job at writing. It is now at the point that a simple was/were that I cannot immediately find a way around can paralyse a writing session. And if you read some of my earlier stuff, you will see how much I use them. Despite understanding the often repeated message to write and then edit, I just cannot take it to heart.
  4. Work - I am fortunate to have an interesting job, one that gives me a significant amount of creative outlets. It also comes with more work than I can do during the hours in which I am paid. This means that if I am going to spend time on my computer creating something, writing now competes and often loses out to work.

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