Writing

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A specific community for original shortform and longform writing, stories, worldbuilding, and other stuff of that nature.

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How do you get past your writer's block? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by xDDxxDDx@beehaw.org to c/writing@beehaw.org

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So I have been writing since... I can remember, let's say at least 15 years. From short stories about all kinds of stuff to more fleshed out things, I just love expressing myself creatively, you get what I mean right?

So anyways, since I would say 3 years or so I couldn't write anything. I really want to continue, but I just can't get myself to do it. And I don't want to force myself because maybe then it turns out to be just bad, you know?

Maybe it's my personal situation that has changed, maybe it's just something that keeps me from it... but I would like to know what you do of you experience a writer's block!

BTW this is my first post on here since I just registered on here and I want to try leaving Reddit... just FYI

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[–] edo@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Depends on the day, really, but I usually do some combination of the following. (I mostly write non-fiction.)

Read a bunch of different books
Take notes as I’m writing, writing down any thoughts I have or anything that captures my interest (I do this for both fiction and non-fiction)
Look back over my notes every now and then, looking for recurring themes or interesting links
Schedule some time for writing and, when I sit down, copy a random note into a doc
Add any relevant notes and move things around until I have the basic skeleton of something

Basically, I do a bunch of little things too, (a), stoke my curiosity and, (b), do as much as possible before I need to write anything.

I’m also a copywriter by trade and I do similar things when I’m stuck on a project. They mostly boil down to “If I can’t think of one idea, think of 20.” It’s much easier to aim for volume instead of quality (and edit for quality later).