Firenzefied

Hi! Sorry, I couldn't reply sooner because I've been (ironically, I know) struggling with finishing a fic.

For me, a lot of my demotivation when writing comes from either not hitting the necessary vibe I want or from fear of messing it all up. So I end up procrastinating, or thinking of some other story, instead of focusing on the one that gives me trouble.

And I've found that what helps is, kind of, letting yourself be, but not in just being lazy way - more like lowering your own expectations from yourself. I'm a bit too proud to fully internalize the "write badly" advice because I know I write at least okay - but, "write freely" perhaps sounds better to me, meaning that the end goal shouldn't dominate your mind when writing, with the process itself taking center stage instead. It's like artists doing sketches or warm-ups. They're not meant to be the entire work they have in mind, but a way to get there, and if a sketch turns out well and you like it - all the better. Most of my writing makes me feel that I could do better when I write, but then I step back from it and reread it, and usually I find it to be satisfying, actually. I think it's because when I write, there's like a million possibilities in my mind, a great many routes the scene and story could develop, but I have to settle on just one, and what if it's not the best, what if another one would be better? This kind of thinking gets me to the point where I stare at the wall for hours without writing anything. It's not fun. So I just - settle on what comes first in my mind and go from there. If it gets very dissatisfying, then it's delete and rewrite. But usually it turns out okay and gets me further along in the fic until I hit another such point XD

Also sometimes you're just kind of... drained? creatively. There was a post with the gist of it being "you can't pour from an empty cup" and this is true for writing as well. You need to fill yourself up with new experiences, so that your mind would get excited and energized again. I find that reading a book really helps with that - can be a new one, or one you've already read. A fic could work too, and fics have helped me get out of a slump before, but a book would be better because it's usually a different experience and a different phrasing/vocabulary/etc, which would serve as further enrichment for your mind. I've also seen advice that urged to try a different kind of hobby, like when you make something with your hands, or to walk about. I've mostly done pacing so far, and yeah, it kind of does help, like the writing continues in the background of your other thought processes and when you sit down to write it's easier to know where you want the story to go.

This literally took me forever, but here's my entry to SSKK Big Bang 2026 at last!