When you sit in front of the computer at 5 AM, sipping coffee, and just stare at the screen, feeling uncertain and worthless what do you do to inspire yourself?
[This message has been edited by Phanto (edited January 01, 2004).]
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
Go back to sleep and try again at 8?
Seriously, though, I'd say the first trick is to ask yourself why you're doing this? Are you doing this to get published? Are you doing this to be an aclaimed genius writer known for the next ten generations at least? Me, I'm just telling my story. I want to get my novel done, and hey, if someone wants to publish it I'll get all giggly and happy for a while. If you set your standards too high you'll never live up to them, and if you set them too low, you'll never push yourself. Set reasonable goals and strive for them.
Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :
I have learned that you cannot wait for the muse to come to you--you use the BIC (butt in chair) method until when you BIC your brain turns on and you write.
If nothing else, describe your monitor, the wall behind it, the cat, anything to get you started.
Shawn
Posted by lindsay (Member # 1741) on :
This suggestion isn't mine, but works nearly every time to get me inspired plus pull me back into whatever story I'm working on:
Make a "dream list." List all the things you want your book to be and contain.
After listing about 5 things, I'm ready to get writing again.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
My "never fails" procedure is to start reading a how-to-write book (any such book will do, but the better the book the better it works).
For some reason, I can't read very far into a good how-to-write book before my attention starts turning to how I would use this or that bit of advice in a story. Then I put the book down and go write.
Posted by Zixx (Member # 1798) on :
I try a few different things. Sometimes I think of a book or two that my reaction after reading it was that I could do either as good or better, and I try to do just that.
Or I stare at a book and try to imagine my name on the cover, my title below. Only way for that to happen is to write.
Or I force myself to just write one sentence. Usually that will lead to another and get me going.
I do like what Kathleen does and have done that at times too.
Posted by JK (Member # 654) on :
I usually just write. Doesn't matter what I write, so long as I'm writing something, anything. After a while of doing that, the creative juices start to flow, nine times out of ten. That, or I get so bored my mind starts to wander and I get one of those flashes of inspiration.
JK
Posted by Balthasar (Member # 5399) on :
(1) Write whatever comes to your mind until you have an idea or until you need to do something else. When you're more fully awake, go back and reread it and you'll be sure to find something that spraks an idea.
(2) This one I borrowed from FINDING FORRESTER. Open a story of one of your favoirte writers and start typing it, with the first paragraph. As your own ideas come to you, put your own words in, and soon you'll be writing/developing your own story. You'll need to completely change the intro, of course, but that's not much of a problem.
Posted by JBShearer (Member # 9434) on :
Firstly, don't let yourself get off-topic. Don't do something else, or get distracted. Don't play a video game or surf the web. Sit, daydream about what you are going to write, and write. Release your fear, and if it isn't good when you're done . . . trash it and start again.
Posted by Nick Vend (Member # 1816) on :
I start reading Wallace Stevens. I'm not much of a poetry person, but his poems are insane and awe inspiring and hint at secret things. Try it, try reading one of his poems and try to write the story of it. He's a genius.
Posted by Lullaby Lady (Member # 1840) on :
I would turn on some music that inspires me, or has a similar feeling to my story, then close my eyes and start imagining.
I know OSC mentioned somewhere (One can get lost here, you know!) that he listens to music as he writes.
And remember, Plato said: "Music is a moral law; it gives soul to the Universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaeity and life to everything. It is the essence to order and lends life to all that is good and just and beautiful."
