Not sure if question goes here, but seemed most appropriate place.....

When I was a kid, I used to consider myself a writer (middle to high school age; I'm nineteen now, to give a frame of reference). Short stories, poems, you name it—even have an unfinished sixty-something page manuscript (not a novel, it was just pure worldbuilding) sitting on my computer that's been (metaphorically) collecting dust for the better part of six years or so. Writing was something that made me happier than anything.

But now, every time I try to sit down and devote some time to typing something down....I just can't do it. It's not lack of discipline or desire; I just sit staring at the page, fingers waiting to type words that just don't come. Whatever fire or spark or whatever you want to call it that made me write; I just don't feel it anymore. This distresses me greatly—what if it's gone forever? I haven't written anything large scale beyond a couple of songs in over a year.

Has anyone ever felt something like this—to just feel your creativity die inside of you? If so, is there anything anyone can tell me in terms of what I can do about it? Please?

I don't want to lose the one thing about myself that I actually still like...

There was one time I felt like this, empty concerning my creativity, and recently I was disillusioned about the state of one of my stories. But I've recovered from both of these blocks and once more feel inspired. The way I see it, everything a writer creates has a part of them inside it, a part of their personal philosophies and viewpoints. There are many examples that can be found, but I'll use Neon Genesis Evangelion's increasingly sombre tone being inspired by the author's depression at the time, J.R.R. Tolkien's passion for linguistics and mythopoeticism inspiring Middle Earth, and George R Martin's melancholic approach to worldbuilding inspiring A Song of Ice and Fire as examples. With that in mind, my advice is to find something that inspires you personally and then think very hard on what it was about whatever it is you find that appeals to you. I'm not saying you plagirise it, you don't even have to use the same genre, setting or kind of plot, but that you find what it is that appeals to who you are and how you see the world. Writer's block is not a fun thing to go through and I hope very much that you rekindle your old passion successfully and wipe the dust off that computer.

edited 5th Aug '14 4:45:31 AM by Ndf27

I appreciate you taking the time out to talk to me—that sounds like good advice. Whether it actually helps remains to be seen, but I'll try it out now that I have something to go on. Thank you for your kind words.