Seeking help/advice

[DancingKing2]

I hate it when I stare at the screen, a great idea in my mind as to how/what to respond....then it never happens. I always get easily distracted.
I am sure I am not the only one this has happened too. What has helped you overcome this?

 

[Sync]

Go on to something else. Inspiration isn't going to come to you when you simply stare at the same patch of screen.

Watch YouTube clips. Listen to music. Play a game. Read a book.

Something other than trying to will yourself to write - because it won't happen. You need to recover your focus before it'll start working for you.

 

[Lydia]

I often go in the opposite direction as Sync, because if I allow myself the opportunity to wait for inspiration, it becomes a cycle of pressure and frustration that tends to suppress inspiration rather than encourage it. I usually find momentum and inspiration for writing through the act of writing itself.

Basically, I tell myself to just write it. Doesn't matter if it turns out badly, it's a first draft. I get it on the screen, I step away for a little while, and I come back and put it through revision until I'm happy with it. The act of forcing myself through it initially usually opens up all kinds of interesting ideas that I would've never had until I was into the process itself.

 

[Gordian Knot]

Basically, I tell myself to just write it. Doesn't matter if it turns out badly, it's a first draft. I get it on the screen, I step away for a little while, and I come back and put it through revision until I'm happy with it. The act of forcing myself through it initially usually opens up all kinds of interesting ideas that I would've never had until I was into the process itself.

I agree!

It might feel counterintuitive to force yourself to write while you're not feeling inspired, but the act of putting words to paper (or text file, considering our medium) is often the catalyst for getting that inspiration going. You write something, you don't like it, you re-write it. Cycle through those steps a few times and, before you know it, you're getting so many ideas that your problem switches from "I don't know what to write" to "I don't know which one to write". Pablo Picasso summed it up quite well: "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."

 

[DancingKing2]

Thanks for the responses. It has given me something to think about.

 

[Youngbuffdumbledore]

Depending on the amount of time you have it might be beneficial to write about something tangential to what you want to write. Often times what you want to write has an aura of perfection, you want it to be the best piece of writing that you can put out because you have a vision for it in your mind. But one key to writing is momentum, once you start writing you write more. If you want to write about a knight who is going off to slay a dragon and can't get the story going. Try writing in an aside about his favourite tavern, maybe only a paragraph or a list of features. This might not be beneficial to your story, but who knows, it might. Maybe later on he'll wish he was back there when things get difficult, or maybe he dreams about the story he will share once he defeats the dragon. Or maybe it will never be mentioned. But the key thing is you wrote something.

 

[The King of Ash]

Hi there,

Some amazing responses above which I can see working for different folks. I personally have always found the best thing I can do in a moment of inspiration but lack of energy is quite simple but goes a huge distance in preserving that inspiration. I make bullet points in a doc or on paper.

It sounds simple and silly but it almost always works for me. By starting as bullet points, the stress of trying to rap rhapsodic immediately is reduced... but as I write the bullet points out and start to see my idea on the page in a vague sense? I typically find myself wanting to start writing as the idea is no longer just in my head but down and made manifest. It also means I don't forget points I liked and I can even use it as a check list to ensure future writing has each element of my original idea.

Just my two cents!
~ The Ashen King ~