Why can't I just sit down and write any more? I used to be able to knock out 25k words a night ... now it's taking like ... a week to do 7,000. What the hell's going on with me????? grrrr.
I've never been able to write more than about 3k a night - so don't despair. The best thing is to just keep plugging away until you get your rhythm back.
Maybe it's the ominous overhanging threat of the "wondrous" Series 4. I know it was sitting on me, hands around my neck and cutting of the circulation to my creative juices for a while. Or perhaps the bunnies have left your mind to go and protest outside the BBC.
It'll pass, I promise. It sucks, but it'll wear itself out, and the bunnies will return. I'm lucky if I manage 3-4K a night, but you've always written much longer chapters than I have, so that's something to always be proud of!
It sounds kind of stupid to ask, but maybe deep down you don't like what you're writing about, right now? Maybe you're a little bored with it? Maybe you already know what's going to happen, so there's no surprise as the words flow out. Maybe you need to set it aside and start something completely different, humour, suspense, romance, etc. Something you're not 'used to' working with on a wholesale scale.
Unless of course, even writing out your name is problematic.
Then perhaps what you really need.......is a Doctor!!!
One of my friends once told me that "Writer's block is the soul's way of saying you're not ready to write about it". This may be, as royalladyemma says, because you're not longer enthralled by whar you're writing, or don't connect with it anymore. Maybe take a few moments and bang out something completely different - this may have no sway on you, but when I started writing drabbles over tw100 it really reinvigorated my writing, because it was something completely new, in a completely different style. It was exciting and new and I found myself enjoying writing again.
After this, my other fics seemed to flow naturally again. They just needed a shot in the arm, something different, for all the synapses to be re-energised.
It's not that I can't write, per-se, it's that I can't 'get started'. I wrote 6,030 words in one, night before last ... then suddenly stopped, and I can't get going again. I know that my chapter is a paragraph or two away from being finished ... but I just can't do it. And it's been happening for a while, since early this year, I think, and if anything it's getting me down that I can't write!
With the fandom dwindling a little, I haven't been getting as much feedback as I used to either, so I think my motivation is a little down and I keep second-guessing myself. On top of that, it's tw_bigbang soon (completely restarted 'O' with completely different take. haha!) and that fic has petered to a halt.
Your suggestion for writing something different makes a lot of sense. I doubt I could ever do a tw100 though! I think that would be far too much of a challenge ;). Or Maybe I could do another of those 'TW Novel in 7 Minutes' things, 'cause I really enjoyed doing that. I did 'The Undertaker's Gift' a short while ago, and have been considering 'Into the Silence' as my next victim ...
Oh, I hate it when that happens. You get to a point, and it's going well, and then you just go "ah...brain no worky." One chapter took me four and a half weeks to write, and even then another week of editing. And it was only 3,000 words, not a synch on you! Maybe you should give drabbles a go - I was one hell of a waffly writer before I started, and it's really difficult but quite refreshing! You never know until you try...just write it, then take out words, then take out some more, then take out some more. It's actually very therapeutic! I know you have the talent to do it!
I would love you forever if you did another of those. They take something that makes me unhappy and makes me happy. You could even go so far as to write your own version of COE - that would be hilarious. If you could face it, that is.
It's not that I can't write, per-se, it's that I can't 'get started'. I wrote 6,030 words in one, night before last ... then suddenly stopped, and I can't get going again. I know that my chapter is a paragraph or two away from being finished ... but I just can't do it. And it's been happening for a while, since early this year, I think, and if anything it's getting me down that I can't write!
With the fandom dwindling a little, I haven't been getting as much feedback as I used to either, so I think my motivation is a little down and I keep second-guessing myself. On top of that, it's tw_bigbang soon (completely restarted it with completely different take. haha!) and that fic has petered to a halt.
Your suggestion for writing something different makes a lot of sense. Maybe I could do another of those 'TW Novel in 7 Minutes' things, 'cause I really enjoyed doing that. I did 'The Undertaker's Gift' a short while ago, and have been considering 'Into the Silence' as my next victim ...
Or maybe try writing for a different fandom altogether? (just a one-shot - not permanently!)
As for feedback - I'm getting very little for my "Kryptonite" at the minute, and it really does shoot you down, even though it shouldn't. I know in theory you "write for yourself", but once you put it out there it becomes public property, and a lack of feedback just makes me think "people don't like it enough to comment - it's terrible". The best way to deal with that, I found, was to bite the bullet, swallow my pride and actually put in an author's note how the lack of feedback was making me feel, and how, actually, I did really need it.
The response was amazing. The people came out in force, and even though I've never got as many as I did then, I kow they're there, reading but not commenting.
As for fandom - I've found it really invigorating bringing the Eleventh Doctor into my Fix-It. The whole new fandom is just so much fun! I'd love to see you write some Doctor fic, I think with your penchance for amazingly brilliant and believable dialogue that would just be the cherry on the top of my fanfiction cae!
Writers block SUCKS! I'm sure you have tried everything you can think of, so try not to think about it. When I get to the point that nothing is flowing, I start in on the knitting or quilting. Not thinking about a story usually lead to another story.
I know it really is very frustrating, but give it time, your mind is to imaginative to turn off completely. It just needs a nap.
*hugs* i feel of your pain... i was able to knock out 200 words the other night and i was excitied because even that piddly amount hadn't happened in a long time.
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Date: 2010-06-30 08:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 08:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 11:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 11:32 am (UTC)It'll pass, I promise. It sucks, but it'll wear itself out, and the bunnies will return. I'm lucky if I manage 3-4K a night, but you've always written much longer chapters than I have, so that's something to always be proud of!
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Date: 2010-06-30 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 12:50 pm (UTC)Unless of course, even writing out your name is problematic.
Then perhaps what you really need.......is a Doctor!!!
Ha hahha
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Date: 2010-06-30 01:20 pm (UTC)After this, my other fics seemed to flow naturally again. They just needed a shot in the arm, something different, for all the synapses to be re-energised.
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Date: 2010-06-30 03:40 pm (UTC)With the fandom dwindling a little, I haven't been getting as much feedback as I used to either, so I think my motivation is a little down and I keep second-guessing myself. On top of that, it's tw_bigbang soon (completely restarted 'O' with completely different take. haha!) and that fic has petered to a halt.
Your suggestion for writing something different makes a lot of sense. I doubt I could ever do a tw100 though! I think that would be far too much of a challenge ;). Or Maybe I could do another of those 'TW Novel in 7 Minutes' things, 'cause I really enjoyed doing that. I did 'The Undertaker's Gift' a short while ago, and have been considering 'Into the Silence' as my next victim ...
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Date: 2010-06-30 10:20 pm (UTC)I would love you forever if you did another of those. They take something that makes me unhappy and makes me happy. You could even go so far as to write your own version of COE - that would be hilarious. If you could face it, that is.
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Date: 2010-06-30 03:42 pm (UTC)With the fandom dwindling a little, I haven't been getting as much feedback as I used to either, so I think my motivation is a little down and I keep second-guessing myself. On top of that, it's tw_bigbang soon (completely restarted it with completely different take. haha!) and that fic has petered to a halt.
Your suggestion for writing something different makes a lot of sense. Maybe I could do another of those 'TW Novel in 7 Minutes' things, 'cause I really enjoyed doing that. I did 'The Undertaker's Gift' a short while ago, and have been considering 'Into the Silence' as my next victim ...
Or maybe try writing for a different fandom altogether? (just a one-shot - not permanently!)
no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 10:27 pm (UTC)The response was amazing. The people came out in force, and even though I've never got as many as I did then, I kow they're there, reading but not commenting.
As for fandom - I've found it really invigorating bringing the Eleventh Doctor into my Fix-It. The whole new fandom is just so much fun! I'd love to see you write some Doctor fic, I think with your penchance for amazingly brilliant and believable dialogue that would just be the cherry on the top of my fanfiction cae!
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Date: 2010-06-30 04:22 pm (UTC)I'm sure it'll pass. I can't help because, well, never was much of a writer myself.
<-- Still. I can bring some singing cheerleaders to cheer you on. ;P
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Date: 2010-06-30 05:59 pm (UTC)I do feel better now. Haha.
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Date: 2010-07-01 03:36 am (UTC):)
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Date: 2010-06-30 06:01 pm (UTC)I know it really is very frustrating, but give it time, your mind is to imaginative to turn off completely. It just needs a nap.
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Date: 2010-06-30 07:08 pm (UTC)I'm a knitter, too!
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Date: 2010-06-30 08:07 pm (UTC)