Writer's Block, or Just a Lack of Creativity?

I've thought up and been thinking about many projects over the years for making novels. I've spent six years trying to build a consistant world and when it's time to start writing, I have nothing to show for it. I've been trying for years to get something down, but nothing. Writer's block implies a history of writing before, but I just can't seem to do it. Does anyone have any suggestions how I can just write? Btw, apologies in advance if this looks pathetic.

Come up with some characters who want (or need) things. These things don't have to be tangible, they could be abstract stuff like friendship, or acceptance.

The plot of the story can involve them trying to get what they want. But you need to make it somewhat hard for them to get what they want, otherwise there won't be much of a story. And they have to want those things hard enough to not just give up. You could even add an antagonist who prevents the protagonist from fulfilling his/her wishes (but the antagonist needs a reason for wanting the protagonist to fail).

So an example would be this:

The protagonist, Prima, wants to leave home and become a musician. The antagonist, Secunda, doesn't want Prima to become a musician because she wants Prima to stay at home and marry Tertius and raise his kids. Your job would be to help Prima achieve her goals, no matter what Secunda (or Tertius) does to stop her.

You'd also have to figure out what the characters' personalities are, why they want what they want, what sort of place they're living in, their character arc (which tracks how they change and what they learn), and some other things.

edited 9th Jun '12 4:03:59 PM by BlackElephant

My problem is that I want to throw everything into the pot at once. So I end up wanting to create a samurai bounty hunter freedom fighter musician cartoonist hybrid of 14 animal species, who controls the four elements, talks to animals, has to maintain balance between a spiritual and real world while being a regular preteen girl. And the setting is underwater, in space, dystopian and based on my hometown all at the same time.

And then I end up doing nothing because I don't know where to start.

ETA: Regarding the above, a friend told me, "I can actually see that working. Dead serious."

edited 9th Jun '12 4:52:16 PM by Twentington

I know this is the most annoying advice ever, but what always helps me is to just start writing something, anything. Just force yourself to write one sentence, then one that connects to it until you start getting ideas. It won't be any good to start out, but it really helps get the creative juices flowing, and it makes the blank page seem a little less intimidating.

This is absolutely correct. Writing is a skill, and like every skill, the only way to get good at it is to just do it. Practice, practice, practice. If you take a creative writing class, chances are the one thing you'll be asked to do is to start a journal and to spend fifteen minutes every day just writing. It's called a "free write". You write whatever is on your mind and you don't stop for about fifteen minutes. It doesn't matter what you write as long as you're writing. And this stuff will never be read by anybody, so it's just pure practice. It gets you into a writing mode.

@Twentington: You're going to have to learn to Murder Your Darlings. If you try to stick every idea you have into a single work, you'll have a mess. My recommendation is you take one idea and write from there. Take something simple like a Bounty Hunter and give him or her an objective. As you outline your story you can go back and decide if you want to change anything.

Murder my darlings?

Here.

You're allowed to "Save Your Darlings" and save them for future projects, but there's a time you'll have to let go.

However, the OP has a larger problem, with him probably focusing too much on worldbuilding and not enough on actually writing. My suggestion? See Posts #2 and #4.

edited 10th Jun '12 9:09:22 PM by chihuahua0

Somewhat of a problem I have with the other universe I want to build for the furry characters I have too (besides the ones in my webcomic idea).

I know I want the non-webcomic world kind of futuristic sci-fi ish, and I've already set a few "ground rules" as to how certain things can work (don't want to get into detail since a lot of it is NSFW). I've been too busy lamenting that I don't know the first thing about sci-fi, and spending no time working on the characters.

"Killing your darlings" basically means getting rid of things you put in the story just because you happen to like them. Basically, don't succumb to Author Appeal.

Meh. Ain't nothing wrong with a little bit of Author Appeal.

Yeah, but when it starts taking over your story, it becomes a problem.

Well, it depends on your story. A lot of times, a person's entire PREMISE will be the where the Author Appeal happens.

Which is fine until you start tossing random ideas and concepts just cause you like them, in which case your story turns into a cluttered mess.

Yeah, that's what happened to me =3=

Basically, people want something they can enjoy as well. If you're just putting everything you think is cool into a story, feasibility be damned, you're engaging in mental masturbation.

As Lord Byron put it, frigging your imagination.

Here's a good example of why it's important to Murder Your Darlings (or to Save Your Darlings):

A while back I was writing this story about a cynical teenage boy that gets magical powers and tries to be a hero. A few of the themes I wanted to explore was anti-social behaviour, cynicism, and hatred and I wanted to use a darker tone to showcase these themes. However, I also wanted to have the hero and his friends get into very webcomic-like adventures with musical numbers and talking animals. There was a clash of tones. I wanted my hero to go on super wacky adventures while at the same time I wanted horrible things to happen to him to justify his cynicism and eventual turn to villainy. With the wacky adventures idea the hero's friends are nice and considerate. With the darker tone idea, his friends are a lot more spiteful and "realistic". For a long time I worked at that idea hoping that some day I'd figure out how to mix the two contradicting ideas, but I never did. I've since given up on that story.

It comes down to forcing two incompatible ideas in a single story. Murder Your Darlings means removing a part of the story you like but ultimately hurts the work.

And that's why it's easier for me in the webcomic's world. It'll be mostly gag-per-day with some vague arcs of sorts, and a lot more cartoonish. So I don't need too much detail there as far as world building.

I wouldn't say it's easier at all, actually.

If it's a gag-a-day comic, you have lot more room to be crazy. As long as you don't care for continuity and instead focus on comedic timing and rudimentary pacing, then it'll be a good comic.

Considering the working title is Confused Continuity, I'm well aware of that.

The problem is letting the crazy happen. I just have the hardest time making the humor come in any form, crazy or not.

If I try in any fashion, it comes out super contrived, or is something banal like another What's a Henway? joke.

If I don't try and just write whatever comes to mind, I get something that can't possibly work in my comic. A list of things to buy at Walmart. Some of the stores I remember closing at my local mall. Verbatim quotes from someone funnier than I.

I just know there's a wealth of humor within me, but I just figure out how to tap-tap the tap-tap the tap-tap into it.

I'm not sure what kind of advice I should give you so I'd suggest you read a lot of well-received works of comedy (comics, films, TV shows, cartoons) and see if you pick up any small details that aid the humor of the work.

I'll try and brainstorm some better advice.

I am not a small details person in the least.

Sorry, bud, but that's writing. The small stuff is everything. You're going to have to start caring about it sometime.