Writer's Block

[RapeU]

You're working on a story and then for any reason or no reason you just get stuck and have a hard time figuring out what to write next. If that sounds like you, or you're in a similar situation, you're not alone! For this thread, talk about the stories that you're just stuck on, or talk about being in a creative slump. Perhaps other authors or readers can help give you inspiration, or if not join you with the dreaded block.

Here's a story I started, but had no idea where I was going with it. This story has been abandoned for now.

“A full moon loomed overhead, casting a pale glow over the campgrounds. The wind whistled as clouds covered the moon, blocking the light just like tonight. The whistle became more shrill. The campers realized the whistle wasn’t the wind. Louder and louder the whistle blew. Covering their ears didn’t help them. Then, the whistling wendigo emerged from the forest and…”
“Hold on,” I said, “A wendigo at a summer camp that whistles? Are you sure you’re telling the right story?”
Lucy gave me an annoyed look. “You’re the one who wanted to do a girls’ camp out like when we were kids. All camp stories don’t make sense and lack plot structure.”
“Yeah you wanted to remember the good times we had,” Melanie remarked, “the cringe parts are part of the fun.”
“Yeah but at the time those stories were scary and being scared was part of the fun! I have something more realistic…if you dare!”
Lucy’s eyes lit up, she understood what I meant now. “Go for it Beth. A really scary story for our adult selves!”
I cleared my throat ominously and began to tell my tale…

[Lucius]

You're working on a story and then for any reason or no reason you just get stuck and have a hard time figuring out what to write next. If that sounds like you, or you're in a similar situation, you're not alone! For this thread, talk about the stories that you're just stuck on, or talk about being in a creative slump.

An experience not entirely unknown to myself. I hate the unpredictability of the block -- one day you're happily working on a story, everything is going on nicely, the next day it's just 'What's this mess?' You just hate the story.

Frankly, if I'm stuck, I tend to stay stuck and go to another plot, cannibalizing certain juicy bits later. With the forums, the moral obligation to post another part pushes me along in a rather effective manner, but I still think that for a couple of my stories it's best to pretend that the ending doesn't exist at all.

Still, hurrah for the boards! I hope to contribute some more to this one... My greatest writing-related apprehension is getting stuck for good with my magnum opus, a lengthy story set in the 1930s. Let's see how it develops.

[LtBroccoli]

Recently, I've been stuck on overthinking things in like 5 different stories but when I sit down to write a chapter or two, I get in my own head like "I'd rather do a different story" or "I don't like this part."

I hate writing two or three small chapters next to each other, but that's where I'm at with Dish. I started Part 2, got a chapter done as a cold open, but now I've gone back to where I left off Part 1, having Natalie brooding and plotting in her new office. I can either wrap it up, or continue plodding along.

Another thing that frustrates me is when I finally come up with a good idea for a story that would be perfect for a contest, but the contest is anonymous so "The Club's Cherry Picking Contest" would be a little on the nose.

I like moving to other projects when stuck, but I have to force myself back to the original one. Otherwise that's how I end up with 5 stories each half completed.

[Claire]

I'm not sure whether I ever experienced the traditional writer's block so far. It took me 237 days to write chapter 8 of Record Chaser but I think that was more so because setting up and running the forum took so much time. And the time I did spend on writing went mostly into contest stories.

My greatest writing-related apprehension is getting stuck for good with my magnum opus, a lengthy story set in the 1930s. Let's see how it develops.

Maybe posting the first chapter for all of us to read would help?

[Lucius]

Maybe posting the first chapter for all of us to read would help?

Perhaps. I'll post it once I'm happy with the first five or so chapters.