New inspiration

[Caged Maiden]

As my confidence a week ago receded like the sea after high tide, leaving all manner of discarded shit washed upon the bleak shore of my immense capacity for self-loathing, I received a blessing of good will from my fellow scribes. A life-saving breath forced into the battered body of my writing dreams, from a group of friends I cherish though in many cases I don't know their real names.

One particular friend, and indeed my oldest writing partner, reached out and took my hand, pulling me from the soggy, sticking sand. He didn't dust me off, but gave me the strength to do it myself, in the form of inspiration to try harder.

Perhaps it was my fault I fell from the vessel of security and success. Maybe I just got too close to the gunwale during a storm, and fell overboard on accident. It's also entirely possible I jumped of my own volition, to save myself from the eventual breaking of timbers that portends many good sailors' deaths.

But I've made it to the rocky shore and yet live. Many thanks to you all for your assistance. I guess I'm not the swimmer I thought myself to be.

Either way, I'd like to take this moment to talk about inspiration. A new look. A new lease on writing, if not life itself.

Scribes, share with me your darkest hours. Those times you thought about quitting. The times you counted yourself out by count and didn't have a glimmer of hope to which to cling.

Tell me what reinvigorated you.

For me, it was my friend suggesting I finish the shit out of my novel quickly and then open a new and exciting work, one that has been in a dusty folder on my computer since its conception. He suggested I try something new and read a book to prepare me for the juggling of my own version of an opportunistic gang of misfits. He suggested The Lies of Locke Lamora. And now I'm back in it.

I spent two full days consuming that book, digesting every detail of descriptive writing and plot-spinning. And today, I have a new energy to accomplish what I set out to do when I began the edit of my life a year ago.

Reading a good book. That was my inspiration. It told me I CAN do this.

 

[Velka]

When my WIP leaves me beaten and broke in the dark alleys of my self-confidence (found adjacent to Imposter Syndrome Lane), I find writing a short story, or a scene, or a piece of dialogue that has nothing to do with it helps, sometimes.

I look at photography, read something, or link-rappel into the depths of wikipedia and find something interesting. (Seriously, I once went to wikipedia to look up information on cacti and found myself two hours later reading about The Great Emu War.)

Then I write: free from the stress of tying plots together, not caring about progressing a character's inner goal, unfettered by thoughts of how much time and thinking and carpal tunnel I've invested into it and it still sucks. I write because I like it, am sometimes good at it, and it makes me happy. No one (usually) reads it, because it's not for anyone else, it's just for me.

Sometimes I find I just need to step away, for days, or at times weeks. Let the sting of OHMYGODISUCKANDTHISSUCKSANDWHYDIDIEVENTHINKICOULDDOTHIS ease. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and I find that I get to the point where I'm mentally rested and ready to approach it like a rational human being instead of someone who writes in all caps and doesn't use the space bar.

Then there's times when a bottle of wine is necessary.

 

[Reilith]

I usually have to force myself. Not because forcing will make it better, but because I am very lazy and if I don't have a driving force I will probably drop whatever I am writing. I rarely come back to stuff I wrote before and abandoned it, I actually have only one example of a story I am revising, but it is for later, since it requires me to rewrite everything I wrote before. I was a kid when I started it and it was in horrible and plain language and I had no idea about anything about writing so I cringed when I took a new look at it some time ago. Since it is an old old project (which I do intend to finish in the future) I am letting it to simmer in my head while I am writing my current one.
For the current WIP I just try to research constantly, find inspiration in books I read (I focus on epic fantasy since that is what I am writing) and whenever I get stuck I leave it for a bit, and if inspiration doesn't come I just sit down and stare at it until I force myself to continue. I also write wherever and whenever I can - in the bus, at home, at uni classes, pauses between classes. That way I am constantly in tune with the stuff I am writing. I carry my notebook wherever I go, and later when I type it down on my PC I do the first editing while typing it in.

 

[ThinkerX]

I have written a pile of short stories and...fragments of interest, most in need of varying degrees of rewriting.

At the moment, after pretty much wrapping up a non-fiction project that consumed my spare time for over three months, I am delving back into that collection. It's a 'this is better than I remember' and 'oh, I think I can fix that now' and 'hmmm...maybe I use this character from story X in story Z.'

Not quite up to major original composition yet...though I do have five or six short story idea's rattling around in my skull. Just as well, because apart from those, it's all rewriting and editing, until this Camp NaNoWriMo thing takes off. That, I decided last year, would be dedicated to cranking out the rough draft of 'Empire: Capitol,' sequel to 'Empire: Country' (one of the rewrite/edit projects). (And then, after NaNoWriMo, its back to editing/rewriting.)

 

[Saigonnus]

That is the story of my life right now... I am lying broken and bleeding in a dark alley, having gotten beat down by a pair of shoulderthumpers and left for dead. I am left with a profound lack of inspiration in the wake of such a beating, some of which is likely self-inflicted (psychologically that is) I have tried lately to pick up any of my projects but have found myself lacking the desire to carry any of them for even two feet of distance. Any suggestions on overcoming this sort of lethargy?

 

[ThinkerX]

That is the story of my life right now... I am lying broken and bleeding in a dark alley, having gotten beat down by a pair of shoulderthumpers and left for dead. I am left with a profound lack of inspiration in the wake of such a beating, some of which is likely self-inflicted (psychologically that is) I have tried lately to pick up any of my projects but have found myself lacking the desire to carry any of them for even two feet of distance. Any suggestions on overcoming this sort of lethargy?

Read a book. Or a short story collection - one of the bottom of the heap ones at the used bookstore. Compare those short stories to your own. You may be surprised.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I read The Lies of Locke Lamora (which just happens to SO be my cup of tea) and it rejuvenated me and gave me a positive outlook. I've tried reading before but the undertaking became tedious. I "read" a Forgotten Realms book that made my head ache from all the eye rolls I incurred whilst digesting what I felt were hundreds of overly telly sentences and other basic writing boo-boos. But don't stop, I guess is the moral. There are awesome books out there and if you keep reading "look insides" you'll find one that grips your brain like a mad wrestler and won't let you up. Scott Lynch gave me everything I desired to see in my own WiP and with renewed perspective, I felt finally able to accomplish what I set out to do. To be more specific, I found that the style and subject were in fact appealing (judging by the number of books he's sold) and I took that as a sort of second hand approval of my style.

Read a good book. And welcome back, since i haven't seen you in like a year. I'm sorry it isn't a good time for you, but this day may be the turning point. Go get you to Amazon and start cracking open digital books!