Writer's Block Daily

...is it, like, possible to just...i dunno, use my feelings as my main source of inspiration? I mean, i fear it might lead to me writing du n'importe quoi, like we say in french, but i guess its worth trying...

Edited by kinnikuniverse on May 2nd 2021 at 11:58:08 AM

That's a thing that many authors do, yes.

Trouble Cube continues to be a general-purpose forum for those who desire such a thing.

I'm gonna take a break...i think i'll just take that time to...i dunno, write down my feelings in a journal or something. And also seeking whatever help i can find.

Good luck in your search; I hope that you find whatever is most right for you.

My Games & Writing

So, I just spent a while writing a scene, but I did it out of google docs because I like to use a sentence-counter for my typical writing routine. Somehow, I either left the tab or clicked away, but once I realized it I couldn't figure out how to get back, and now everything I wrote is gone.

It wasn't like it was a lot, but I'm still super bummed and frustrated- it was enough to fill at least a page and a half, I think. It's too late tonight for me to rewrite it, and I've lost the motivation tonight anyways because of it.

Edited by WarJay77 on May 4th 2021 at 4:21:26 AM

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Yeah, that sucks. Thankfully my own text is on a dropbox and in a txt file.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

If it was wordcounter.net, it autosaves whatever you had in it so reopening the tab could get you your work back.

Otherwise, sorry, that sucks.

It's alright. Admittedly, I think what I wrote wasn't great anyway and I could've done it better, so it could be worse.

I did install an app that'll record my most recent work though, so if this ever happens again I won't immediately go into panic mode.

Gah, I have an interview at an undetermined time tomorrow and I really need sleep, and this is what I'm worried about.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Oh no! It's seldom fun to lose a significant amount of work—I'm sorry to read that it happened! :/

But glad that you do now have a means of making it less likely in the future, at least! ^_^

Also, good luck at your interview—I hope that it goes well! ^_^

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on May 4th 2021 at 10:49:05 AM

My Games & Writing

I still use a word processor on my laptop for exactly that reason.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

Interview has been moved to Thursday, and I slept so I'm less bummed about it. It's time to just make it better, and I can certainly do that.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

I'm pretty leery of working on a remote tool like that; I only really write on a word-processor or notepad. (Barring writing done on social media or forums, for the most part.)

Excellent then! I'm glad that you are in such better spirits! I hope that the re-write (if I understand you correctly) goes well! ^_^

My Games & Writing

I've just been giving my entire works a good old Continuity Reboot, deleting old documents and starting from a clean slate.

Sometimes I've had ideas that sound good, but don't work in reality (some of them, you've seen on here); sometimes the ideas haven't worked well when I've tried writing about it

How often have you done that, and are you rebooting any of your ideas?

I've rewritten my entire premise at least four times in the past month. Hence why I can't get anything done.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Ages ago, I wrote a story involving four teenagers dealing with a weird supernatural conspiracy that they just somehow got involved in.

Somewhat recently, I was thinking about the characters and the world of the story again, and I wanted to keep those characters but I gave the plot a complete revamp. Now instead of taking inspiration from works like House of Anubis, I took inspiration from the ARG series I liked and turned it into a college-set mystery involving a cult operating in the disguise of a school club...still with the fantasy elements though.

So that's a pretty drastic revamp right there.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

I've gotten past most of my deadlined work, so I can once more focus on the more self-indulgent writing projects.

You ever just get the urge to write, but you don't really have a specific scene in mind? That's where I am at right now. Listening to music can get me pumped for my story if I think about it while I'm listening, but I also have no idea what to write and I don't have any motivation to work on my actual chapter right now, so...

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

I forget whether I've experienced that with regards to writing, specifically, but I do recall experiencing something like that with regards to drawing: there have been times when I've had the urge to draw, but in which no actual subject has my interest.

My Games & Writing

Well, I can't do drawing except for very basic structures. A person is far outside of my capabilities.

Anyhow, today I found out that the kind of planets I have been constructing can in fact - barely - hold onto an atmosphere. That's great, I don't have to handwave that aspect anymore. I like if the science of my settings holds up with as few fiction as possible.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Dreams can be cruel, can't they? Say you have a long, complicated dream. You live a small life, make hard choices, grow as a person, and become some degree of comfortable. Then you wake up and it all so quickly fades away.

It's the unavoidable exit door of all escapism, I guess. I sometimes think about that in my own writing. I'm drawn to fantastical things, things not possible in or not relevant to our world— a troubled world to say the least. I worry that I'm only writing to escape, and that the only use in my writing will be to help others escape. But if we all shut out the trouble and the world, then it will be left to fester beyond repair.

Right now, the main story I've been focused on has themes of self acceptance, beating back depression, and finding direction. However, the ending results in the character essentially escaping to fantasy. It's meant as a sort of inward solution, that if there does not seem to be any place in the normal world for you, then you must strike out on your own to find it elsewhere. As someone who has always felt outside in every crowd, it's the kind of message I would have liked when I was younger.

The problem is, as I flesh things out, an indisputable driver of that depression is the great toll humanity has on the world. The endless checks we write to live the way we do— checks which can't be paid out. The main character has a sense of this, and his solution, as a single powerless, sorrowful soul is to escape to another world. But we can't do that. There's nothing tangible there. It's a useless lie.

To that end, I wonder how crushing it would be if the main character in this story just woke up two or three books in. Fell out from all the fantasy back into reality, knowing all he had accomplished was gone, and all of his problems were placed back on his lap. The old "it was all just a dream" ending, but less hokey and less ending. Is there any path forward from there? Any genuine message about facing all that weight and lifting it? I never want to end a thing on a down note. I am not nihilistic. But sometimes I don't think I have anything worthwhile to say.

I guess what I'm getting at is, I find it incredibly difficult to balance the selfishness of escapism (a selfishness which drives me to write more than anything) with all these real and quite frankly inescapable ecological concerns.

this place needs me here

There's a lot more that could be said, I daresay (including on the topic of dreams), but I have a few thoughts that I'd like to share, if I may:

Regarding escapism:
It is, I think, psychologically infeasible for at least most people to be fully engaged with serious issues for all of their waking hours. That way lies burnout and despair, I suspect. One has only so much energy, after all.

Escapism, then, provides a safe place in which to recover, and to recharge. (Amongst other things, I suspect.)

Regarding this line:

We may not be able to solve all great matters single-handedly, but I don't think that we're entirely powerless. We can contribute each a little bit, perhaps—but little bits can make things better.

I'm reminded of that old story about starfish:

It may seem like glurge, but... it's really not, I argue. Helping even one person can make a difference for that person.
And of course, only more so the more people so do. And seeing someone so acting may encourage others to so act.
Regarding your character waking up:
Given the above, perhaps you could have your character wake up—refreshed, and re-energised, and with renewed determination to do at least some good in the world. To make things at least a little better.
Whether that be by donating to a charity, or working for one; or tutoring people struggling with something; or spreading word of a serious issue, or means by which people can contribute to addressing one; or something else besides.
If the character is concerned about ecological matters, specifically, perhaps he might look to work for an organisation that's campaigning about such.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on May 18th 2021 at 10:53:23 AM

My Games & Writing

Thanks for the reply— given me a fair bit to think about. Funny, I'm pretty sure I knew most of this on some level already, but it still helps to hear it from someone else. In any case, it's not a bridge I'll have to cross in a while, if ever, but it does weigh on the mind.

this place needs me here

It's my pleasure; I hope that I've helped. ^_^

And yeah, it's curious how sometimes, even if we already know something, having it from an outside party can make it more real, more "solid" for us.

My Games & Writing

I'm wondering if I'm writing for the wrong reasons?

I enjoy writing fiction, but I don't feel particularly passionate about any of the ideas or stories I have in mind.

I was passionate about my last project which I actually (sorta) finished, but I've kinda been in a rut since then, and it's been a couple of years.

What do you do to find a story you really want to go tell?

One book I read suggested you just write down everything you'd wanna see in a story and try to develop something from that list.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.