I know of you mostly thanks to your wd!Steven comic, but I was wondering if you could help me with something involving writing? See, I haven't written anything on my own in a long while, since a close friend and I tend to write stories together, and I kind of can't we anything on my own anymore? It feels kind of like writers block but with 5 times the guilt. Would you know any way to counteract it, or maybe even things you do when you have writers block?
Hey, sorry for taking so long to answer!
I think much like art, there is no one best way to get rid of writerās block. It just depends on what you need at the time. So I feel like you have to first analyze WHY you canāt seem to write anymore and kind of try to get yourself out of that funk with solutions that make sense.
Are you not writing because you have nothing to build off of?
If youāre writing collaboratively, you might have gotten used to the balance of your ideas having an echo from another person. Thatās not a BAD thing, per se, but you have to now learn to run on your own instead of participating in a 3 legged race. Ā
Solution: Try doing prompts, or writing short stories with a specifically planned plot. You can even give yourself challenges like ārewrite the first chapter of Harry Potter in your own wordsā or give yourself other very specific guidelines that will give you training wheels for writing on your own. Eventually youāll learn to support your own writing.
Other tips: I donāt know about other authors, but I often end up skipping over parts when writing initial ideas down. Iāll write what I know, and when I get to the part where my brain goes āuhhhhhhā I just stop, leave that scene, press enter a few times and pick up where I DO know what happens. I can always go back and fill the spaces later or(!) I can snip the scenes and leave them as is, because sometimes, the parts you are inspired to write are the only important ones and donāt need other stuff!
Are you not writing because you lack motivation for world-building?
Sometimes when we write collaboratively, we end up borrowing a lot of background details from our writing partner who has more know-how about worldbuilding. If that partner is no longer there, you might feel lost and frustrated with how to fill up that space.
Solution: Read! Read read read. I know this is obvious, but I think people sometimes underestimate reading. And I donāt mean fanfiction (although obviously thatās also awesome, donāt STOP reading fanfiction) but I mean - read about new worlds! Read books that do their own worldbuilding - fantasy, sci-fi, etc. Get as many varied worlds into your head as you can and try to think about what makes them work. Try your hand at describing potential worlds you think up of. But in the beginning - just READ. You need a good base of knowledge to work with before you can hope to produce your own stuff.
Other tips: I said sci-fi and fantasy because thatās the obvious choice, but actually, reading about real-world stuff is also EXTREMELY important. Some of the best literature I read (and best fanfics) is the stuff where the author is knowledgeable in a field (history, wine, religion, etc) and is able to paint a full picture of the setting because they have a full artillery of details at their disposal. PLUS reading about new stuff in the real world (which, honestly, specific fields ARE mini-worlds with their own culture and history) will likely inspire you to write about something within that ecosystem.
Are you not writing because you donāt have good time-management skills?
When I was in high school, I wrote with friends - and one friend in particular (you know who you are, honey) absolutely used every method short of physical violence in order to get me to write on a daily basis. I hold no grudges because I developed a good habit of it (where has that gone now... oi.) but thatās actually the key, I believe - HABIT.
Solution: Building habits takes time and bribery. In fact, habit-building is 90% bribing yourself to do something. This is something I heard from gym-goers who would form gym-going habits by first frequenting a gym only to do fun things - sauna, shower, and just sit around and do minimal work.
Why? Because it builds the habit and association of positive things with that habit.
So what you need to do is this - block off writing time. Get yourself some tea. For 15 or 30 minutes every day, open a blank word doc and sit down with your tea and just... stare at that word doc and listen to soft jazz and drink your tea. Donāt pressure yourself about writing, donāt feel bad, just let that habit of drinking tea and staring at a blank page form a positive association.
Eventually, youāll start writing. But you need to give yourself time to have that habit. And it has to happen naturally.
Other tips: Obviously, you need ideas as well. Write down any ideas you have! Write them on your phone, on post-its, in the margins of your reports. Whatever! Sometimes, ideas transform. Something that was once āTHIS IS THE BEST THING EVERā turns into āholy shit this is shitā overnight, but then becomes āHey, I can actually work with this.ā by next weekend. This is change is natural and normal, but you need to keep the idea around for long enough for it to complete that metamorphosis.
Hope that makes sense! Sorry it got so long. Ā
