Writer's Block

[niektete.livejournal.com]

Dear chaps and chapettes, I need a few good tips, if you can spare me some.

I am working on a Jooster fic, which I have rather high hopes for. Longish, about four chapters/10,000 words I estimate (unless the plot bunny mutates horribly). I have the whole story worked out in my head, I wrote the first chapter with great enthusiasm and then - writer's block. I can't seem to write a single sentence without grimacing at it afterwards.

So, in short - what do people do when they have writer's/artist's block? How do you get your creative juices flowing again, so to speak? I'm asking since even my usual routine of tea, books and biscuits didn't work, and I really, really want to finish this fic :)

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[delilah-joy.livejournal.com]

I'm with trieduntrue: you have to get past your inhibitions, "turn off your inner critic," and so on. Here are a couple of things that work for me:

1. Set a timer (for any amount of time--ten or twenty minutes is good), and just make yourself keep writing for that whole time. You can write *anything*, but you have to keep writing. Assume that what you actually write won't be a part of the finished story, but try to stick to the approximate subject: "Okay, so Bertie and Jeeves are in the car, and I have to get them to Aunt Dahlia's. What's the weather like? What are they talking about? At some point, Jeeves has to mention something about the letter he found..." This can help because it takes the pressure off--since you're not writing something that's going to be in the actual story, it doesn't have to be good. Just assume no one else will ever see this particular page of writing. (The secret, of course, is that somewhere along the way, you *might* actually end up writing something you will use.)

2. In a similar vein, you can set yourself a goal in terms of length--"I can't get up from this chair till I've filled up one whole page." Again, assume that what you're writing probably won't be in your final draft--the point is just to get you writing again.

3. If you're stuck at the beginning of a chapter, just write out every possible first line you can think of for the chapter--maybe one of them will click.

Good luck!