McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Burn out?

(1/5) > >>

belial.1980:
Plain and simple: I'm feeling burned out.

It's like the creative spark in my brain just died. I really do want to become a successful writer someday. I average about 3 hours a day writing. (More on the weekends) But something happened this week. I've barely been able to crank out a page a day and when I write it feels like pulling teeth.

I'm near the end of the "swampy middle" of my first draft manuscript. I'm starting to write the scene that sets up the climax and ending. But when I sit down and try to write I just hear an empty echo in my head. I'd thought about writing a short story to take my mind off it for a bit but I've set a personal deadline to finish this manuscript and don't want to get distracted from it. Even worse--no other story ideas I've got floating around seem inspiring to me.

This last week had been a real pain and I think stress levels and personal frustration from my job probably have a large part to do with it. ::Hopefully:: this is just a funk that'll pass in a few days. Anybody else ever get this way? Any suggestions for how to deal with it? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Starbeam:
If I'm feeling burned out, I take a break and watch a movie, read a book, listen to music, or something like that, and I try to pick something that was an inspiration to me in the first place.  Like watching the Lord of the Rings movies.  And sometimes I just hit a streak where I want to do nothing but read.  And go through something like a book or two a day, for about a month.  In other words, sometimes you just have to step back a bit and take a breather.  Plus the looming deadline might be stressing you and making you overcomplicate things.  If I set a deadline for myself, and I don't make it, then I don't make it.  I don't let myself stress about it because most of the time there's something or other that pops up, like right now research, and making that deadline isn't feasible.  And I'm not published and don't have an agent so it's not a deadline where it absolutely has to be done right then.  Which is a good thing because the first deadline I gave myself for a finished rough draft was Oct 3, and I've been reading research stuff for about 3 months.  Real life always intrudes when I least like it to.

Kris_W:
There's lots of reasons for burn-out, so just start up a collection of remedies and try them all one by one until something works.

For me, often physical exercise helps knock me out of writer's block. Instead of writing for 3 hours head out on a 90 minute walk and then write. In my case, I like to be walking towards something, like home, rather than round and round in a circle. I live in a big city so I take a bus 30 minutes from home in any direction (except down hill, because walking up hill sucks) and walk back.

Another thing to try - People. Lack of socialization causes blocks for a lot of people. Join some club, preferably NOT a writing club, and go off once a week to fill up your community feeling supplies.

Best of luck!

LizW65:

--- Quote from: Kris_W on September 26, 2009, 11:56:56 PM ---Another thing to try - People.
--- End quote ---

Agree 100%.  Interacting with real people (not just on the internet) is the best way to make your writing real.

Kid Longshot:
I third that. I found that the more I was simply talking to other people, and for me it could be online or otherwise, the more I felt connected to the characters I was writing for and things that were happening to them. In my case, that's as simple as going to church, logging onto a forum, like this one, where you're part of a conversation, or just spending an afternoon with a friend playing hours of Call of Duty 4 online or similair.

On a side note, for ideas, I found that when I'm reading an article in a magazine, say Reader's Digest for instance, I am shown an aspect of part of the universe I've already constructed that I hadn't thought of before. An example would be when I read an article on random crime and how to be prepared for them in your everyday life, I found that the fight scenes I tend to write for could gain a new dimension by having inexperienced fighters rely on regular everyday motions, drawn from their "muscle memory" (think of how you draw your seatbelt from behind your back and then realize that movement is perfect as an elbow strike).

Also, I roleplay in a forum online, and I found that roleplaying online is alot like writing your character's novel, except you exert control over a much smaller portion of the world. For me, it helps just to move away from the place I'm even just a little stressed about and have fun with a different character, no stress and no strings. For me, that roleplaying is in the same universe, so I only kind of take a break from writing in that way.

Finally, something I haven't tried yet but am eager to, you might try writing a separate scene in the universe and just having some fun with it. Whether you're making a joke at your hero's expense, or pointing out some small flaw in your writing that only you notice, as long as that's in writing, it might free up your thinking and allow you to see the scene you're writing with new eyes.

Oh, and on a last note, I think interacting on a forum is a fine way to destress and aid your writing. Why else would Jim himself spend so much time here?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page