Inspiration for writing

[Dan]

Hi, guys. I often struggle with writer's block, which makes it extremely difficult for me to create stories for my creative writing class. I usually listen to music for inspiration (Many of the songs in Deadmau5' new album, while(1<2), and liquid drum n' bass mixes). What do you guys do?

I intend on using this thread to help myself, but I also want it to be available for people who are in the same position.

 

[Ettick]

Read some books, watch some movies, look up historical events on wikipedia.
I'm taking a creative writing course too, it helps to start writing whatever pops into your head first, then change it later if you don't like it.

 

[Dan]

Read some books, watch some movies, look up historical events on wikipedia.
I'm taking a creative writing course too, it helps to start writing whatever pops into your head first, then change it later if you don't like it.

Hmm. I do have some extra notebooks lying around. I guess I should take one with me, wherever I go in case an idea comes around. Thanks!

 

[W3H5]

Depending on what type of writing you are doing personal experiences can help to fill gaps.

Getting started is always the easy part when writing a story.

It's different for everyone, I find. Some people can just sit down and start typing and good stuff comes out, making stuff up on the fly. Others need to plan carefully building the structure if the story before they even type the first word.

What kind if writing / genre are you going to be attempting?

 

[Dan]

Depending on what type of writing you are doing personal experiences can help to fill gaps.

Getting started is always the easy part when writing a story.

It's different for everyone, I find. Some people can just sit down and start typing and good stuff comes out, making stuff up on the fly. Others need to plan carefully building the structure if the story before they even type the first word.

What kind if writing / genre are you going to be attempting?

I finished a short story last night that had taken me a while to start. I eventually got a base idea and went on from there, adding details and branching out with each detail. I made this thread so I can get future stories done with as little stress as possible.

 

[Downhill Dino]

I've found that looking at paintings or pictures can help inspire a story. Was taught that in an English class back in school. Envision how the event taking place in the picture came about, is it the beginning or a scene from later on? Let that imagination flow.

Also why doesn't @W3HS have a story based on his life yet. That needs to be a thing.

 

[Not_A_Guest]

Giant robots.
That's always helped me write narratives

 

[W3H5]

@Downhill Dino, my life story would be too wild for most to believe. Plus I don't have time to write it and also there are loads of people with wilder lives than me, it's just that you have encountered me and not these other people.

 

[AOS-]

I remember when I took an Intro to Creative Writing class, I remember doing an exercize where we sat, closed your eyes, and imagined some kind of setting. The teacher would start us off by giving us very vague thing and letting us picture the rest. After that you describe everything you see in that setting, as descriptive as you can. Be so descriptive that if you were to read it to someone else, they would visualize the exact same thing you imagined. Introduce something new that will come into the setting. Describe that, and so on.

I found that when I did that exercise, I was drafting pages after pages of random content. It wasn't going to be a hit story obviously, but it got me writing without really having to think about what I want to write. It starts off with one thing, and then it eventually lead to something else. Perhaps you can come across something inspiring through this kind of exercise.

 

[W3H5]

Writing doesn't always have to be about description. My recent work was dialogue based and featured little descriptive.

Descriptive devices are fine as long as they aren't over done, then a piece can seem amateur and long winded.

 

[Daniel]

Check out /r/WritingPrompts to give you a bit of an inspiration. I think I've only written two prompts there, but it does help. (One of them got 8 upvotes, too )

 

[JockeP22]

Whenever I'm writing I always (always) finish up like this;



Try it, Dan

 

[Skython]

Meet people, lots of people; though don't meet people for the sake of inspiration. Talking to people and seeing things from their point of view, and relating to issues they have will help you come up with ideas for character development/traits. And if you're not doing anything character related, new scenery will help a lot. Just appreciate the simple nature of some birds in a tree, or the wind coming from some fat person's cracken... Maybe not that one, but you know what I mean.

 

[F1GTR]

Try writing in complete silence next time. Listen to music for inspiration, yes, but keep the act of writing separate from that.

 

[Omnis]

Never ever listen to lyrical music or pop music if you have writer's block. Instead, listen to movie scores or symphonies. Much more helpful.

 

[Daniel]

Try writing in complete silence next time. Listen to music for inspiration, yes, but keep the act of writing separate from that.

I listen to ambient music cos tinnitus is a bitch.

Nothing lyrical though. Puts you off focus.

 

[SomePlayaDude]

I have 4 problems in writing my Gran Turismo based stories, and here, lo and behold, they are in all it's glory: writer's freaking block.


1) The "not sure if this is how it goes".

2) The "keep on writing without quality check and such that's gonna ignite self doubt".

3) The "i have no idea next".

4) The "nobody really cares"

And they live only to be your worst nemesis in writing, aside from cliche overload, monotony, Mary Sues, bad critics..

You get the idea.

But yes, there are ways, and while not really the drug you need to cure AIDS, these ways can help overcome or just freaking break down that wall.


- Get some facts. Be interested in the whole shindig that you're writing about, and you're bound to be having a lotta fun going through it all.

- Self experience is best experience. So, if you want your readers to cry, you want to bring in a sad moment from what you've seen or heard and put it in as the footnote to that sad scene, for instance.

- WRITE! Yes, write. Just write until you can't stop. Force yourself to make a paragraph, and you won't realize what problem you had. You might get new ideas without realizing.

- Meet up with other authors or just communicate with 'em. To meet is to share. To share is to grow. And what say, they might give you ideas.

- Get exposed to media. There might be a thing or two that'll give you an extra kick.

- Learn the language. Playing with the unusual set of words is a fun little exercise.

- Have you written something before? Use it as a stepping stone, and remember: you wrote that, and they like it? Why not keep up the awesome work? This is my main reason to keep going with my story, and the stepping stone would be a small chapter i call Sonny and The Beast, and it's awesome theme song.

And that's what i got so far. There might be more, but it's gonna come soon.

 

[Dan]

Wow. I had no idea so many people were actually going to help with this. Thanks guys.

Whenever I'm writing I always (always) finish up like this;



Try it, Dan

I recognize that logo as one re-made in the music video for DVNO by Justice.

Never ever listen to lyrical music or pop music if you have writer's block. Instead, listen to movie scores or symphonies. Much more helpful.

I will definitely be trying this next time. Thanks.

 

[turbolefty78]

Much of the written word comes from life experiences. Go out and do something like go bowling, walk through the park, go mountain biking, take a bus ride. Experience the moment and put it down on paper. There is literally no end to the potential for creativity.