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What do you do if you have 0 inspiration for writing?
- Thread starter d0glife
- Start date
pmmg
Myth Weaver
If you have zero, I might start to wonder if this writing thing is really for you. I can think of a lot of things I'd rather do than something I have zero desire for.
I have a strategy I employ for those with something more than zero. It's not write everyday. Writing everyday implies, I'm gonna make time and spit out 1000k words at every sitting. Instead, its just a small win. Its 'promise to write one sentence a day'.
It does not have be a good sentence, or a keeper, but it does have to be one that is in addition to the sentences already in the story. If you do the one sentence, and still dont feel it, you get to quit... but you still go to bed feeling like you did it, and not that you failed or let yourself down. And how hard is one sentence? (And part of the secret is, most often you wont write just one).
Along with that, is another motto I use often, called 'write it ugly'. Fretting about trying to make it perfect is a pathway to stalling and not completing. Write it ugly and dont look back till its done.
I have a strategy I employ for those with something more than zero. It's not write everyday. Writing everyday implies, I'm gonna make time and spit out 1000k words at every sitting. Instead, its just a small win. Its 'promise to write one sentence a day'.
It does not have be a good sentence, or a keeper, but it does have to be one that is in addition to the sentences already in the story. If you do the one sentence, and still dont feel it, you get to quit... but you still go to bed feeling like you did it, and not that you failed or let yourself down. And how hard is one sentence? (And part of the secret is, most often you wont write just one).
Along with that, is another motto I use often, called 'write it ugly'. Fretting about trying to make it perfect is a pathway to stalling and not completing. Write it ugly and dont look back till its done.
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- Thread starter
- #3
It's not zero desire, i really want to 
it's just zero inspiration sometimes :/
I loved the small wins idea! I think that it will help quite a lot, my creativity maybe has been totally left aside since like ever and i believe that this will be a great way to make it better.
Thank you <3
it's just zero inspiration sometimes :/I loved the small wins idea! I think that it will help quite a lot, my creativity maybe has been totally left aside since like ever and i believe that this will be a great way to make it better.
Thank you <3
Not_Alice
Scribe
From where I'm standing, zero inspiration is just something that happens. Sometimes you just have to deliberately do something else to recover your spark. The small wins idea is a good one, though. What's between you and your inspiration is a wall you need to get over. If you can just quickly hop over it for that one sentence, you might as well continue since you're already on the other side, right?
Super Fantasy
Archmage
Start writing a different short story or novel, or perhaps brainstorm poetry.
Thinking of names of people or cities, cults and so on might spark your interest.
Brainstorm the setting of what your writing and think of creative ways of writing.
Thinking of names of people or cities, cults and so on might spark your interest.
Brainstorm the setting of what your writing and think of creative ways of writing.
I took the word "inspiration" and showed it the door long ago. It's rarely useful and often harmful. Instead, I substitute "feel like writing". Some days I feel like writing, some days I don't.
That's much more pedestrian, isn't it? Nothing romantic at all in that. That word "inispiration" makes what is really just working into something romantic and mysterious and somehow gives me leave to wring my hands and feel sorry for myself. So I got rid of it.
Some days I feel like writing. So I write.
Some days I don't feel like writing, and I write anyway. I don't have very good ideas. Most times, I don't even really write, I just put down notes and ideas and fragments, but my butt stays in the chair and even if nothing from that day ever gets used, I still showed up.
You know when I feel like it's time wasted? When I don't write at all.
Lest this all sound like scolding, I really do recommend writing *something*, as others have said. If the tank is completely empty, I'll jot down other ideas, or worldbuilding stuff, or just anything. Heck, when I'm really empty, I'll come to online forums and give advice to others! <grin>
That's much more pedestrian, isn't it? Nothing romantic at all in that. That word "inispiration" makes what is really just working into something romantic and mysterious and somehow gives me leave to wring my hands and feel sorry for myself. So I got rid of it.
Some days I feel like writing. So I write.
Some days I don't feel like writing, and I write anyway. I don't have very good ideas. Most times, I don't even really write, I just put down notes and ideas and fragments, but my butt stays in the chair and even if nothing from that day ever gets used, I still showed up.
You know when I feel like it's time wasted? When I don't write at all.
Lest this all sound like scolding, I really do recommend writing *something*, as others have said. If the tank is completely empty, I'll jot down other ideas, or worldbuilding stuff, or just anything. Heck, when I'm really empty, I'll come to online forums and give advice to others! <grin>
Finchbearer
Istar
I’m a great believer in inspiration, just not so much on ‘waiting for it’.
Maybe your story idea isn’t the right one. Maybe taking a break from it going doing something else immersive could provide some head space. Maybe sit down to write and see what comes out on the page.
Maybe your story idea isn’t the right one. Maybe taking a break from it going doing something else immersive could provide some head space. Maybe sit down to write and see what comes out on the page.
Prince of Spires
Istar
In my opinion, inspiration is highly overrated. As the others mentioned, just showing up and sitting behind a keyboard is a lot more important than waiting for inspiration.
Having said that, there are some nuances to this. I write 5 out of 7 days (sometimes more, very rarely less). The other two, I play sports and pay attention to my wife, both also important. So I get some time off.
I also outline. This helps an aweful lot with having no inspiration. I don't need inspiration if I know I have to write a scene where my 2 protagonists go do X, because in the next chapter I need Y to happen. I can simply sit down and write that. That means I only have to think about the words of the actual sentence I write, not the whole inspiration thing. And outlining is fun, it's where you can take all that inspiration and put it in a list without all that pesky writing stuff getting in the way.
Another thing I (sometimes) do is writing in sprints. I set a timer for 15 minutes and during those 15 minutes all I can do is write. No research, no social media, no getting tea. Just write. It focusses the mind. After the 15 minutes are up, I get 5 minutes of break, after which I repeat the process. Those 5 minutes are usually for a bathroom break, or coming up with a name I needed in the previous 15 minutes or a small piece of research.
An big nuance though is that mental health is important. Yes, just sit down and write is great advice if you're just not having much inspiration. However, if you're suffering from bigger issues, then that might be harmful advice. Burnout is a real thing, so do take care of yourself.
Having said that, there are some nuances to this. I write 5 out of 7 days (sometimes more, very rarely less). The other two, I play sports and pay attention to my wife, both also important. So I get some time off.
I also outline. This helps an aweful lot with having no inspiration. I don't need inspiration if I know I have to write a scene where my 2 protagonists go do X, because in the next chapter I need Y to happen. I can simply sit down and write that. That means I only have to think about the words of the actual sentence I write, not the whole inspiration thing. And outlining is fun, it's where you can take all that inspiration and put it in a list without all that pesky writing stuff getting in the way.
Another thing I (sometimes) do is writing in sprints. I set a timer for 15 minutes and during those 15 minutes all I can do is write. No research, no social media, no getting tea. Just write. It focusses the mind. After the 15 minutes are up, I get 5 minutes of break, after which I repeat the process. Those 5 minutes are usually for a bathroom break, or coming up with a name I needed in the previous 15 minutes or a small piece of research.
An big nuance though is that mental health is important. Yes, just sit down and write is great advice if you're just not having much inspiration. However, if you're suffering from bigger issues, then that might be harmful advice. Burnout is a real thing, so do take care of yourself.
Jackarandajam
Maester
It helps to try to stop while you still know exactly what you're going to write next.
If you're like me that means NOT writing til 2am cause you're on a runner; instead, writing til midnight and going to bed itching to write the next bit.
Also, having a few different POVs, even a couple WIPs, going simultaneously has helped me. Kind of "something to write no matter how I feel."
Edit: thinking about it, asking a friend for a random prompt has been my most common method to shaking off the block. I like a challenge, and they like getting to see the bit they inspired.
If you're like me that means NOT writing til 2am cause you're on a runner; instead, writing til midnight and going to bed itching to write the next bit.
Also, having a few different POVs, even a couple WIPs, going simultaneously has helped me. Kind of "something to write no matter how I feel."
Edit: thinking about it, asking a friend for a random prompt has been my most common method to shaking off the block. I like a challenge, and they like getting to see the bit they inspired.
Super Fantasy
Archmage
Change your writing style.
Think of funny or interesting ideas for characters.
Imagine your writings as if they are artwork, or as if there was a movie of the story your writing.
Think of funny or interesting ideas for characters.
Imagine your writings as if they are artwork, or as if there was a movie of the story your writing.
If this is what you want, if you want to make words your world, you get un-lazy real quick. There is grandeur and poetry and cathedrals spun of debates to be found here, no doubt, but this is also a job, a craft, as much as it is a calling, and there is only one hard and fast rule: Writers write.
On those days when you're feeling lazy, get in the habit of just getting words on the page in any way you can. Be writing every chance you get. In fairly quick order you'll find you're no longer satisfied with writing gibberish and you'll graduate to story writing on your own. Keep at it. Don't stop. Become immortal.
The End.
On those days when you're feeling lazy, get in the habit of just getting words on the page in any way you can. Be writing every chance you get. In fairly quick order you'll find you're no longer satisfied with writing gibberish and you'll graduate to story writing on your own. Keep at it. Don't stop. Become immortal.
The End.
FatCat
Maester
Don't write? Seems pretty easy tbh
Gallio
Troubadour
There's also WB Yeats's solution. He worked on more than one poem at a time, changing his focus from day to day.
So 'Crazy Jane and the Bishop' on Monday, 'Wild Swans at Coole' on Tuesday, then back to 'Crazy Jane' on Wednesday, etc.
It seems to have worked -- Nobel Prize for Literature, 1923.
"The censorious said she slept in a hammock and understood Yeats's poems, but her family denied both stories." -- "the Jesting of Arlington Stringham" by Saki.
So 'Crazy Jane and the Bishop' on Monday, 'Wild Swans at Coole' on Tuesday, then back to 'Crazy Jane' on Wednesday, etc.
It seems to have worked -- Nobel Prize for Literature, 1923.
"The censorious said she slept in a hammock and understood Yeats's poems, but her family denied both stories." -- "the Jesting of Arlington Stringham" by Saki.
Miles Lacey
Archmage
Most of the writing I do is political propaganda. It's just like writing fantasy as it's built around the idea of how brilliant life would be if it was run along the lines of the ideology I'm peddling. I don't even begin to write until a week before the deadline is due. Why? I need the crack of the proverbial whip to motivate me.
For me my fictional writing is motivated by the very real possibility that I could drop dead of a stroke, a brain aneurism or a heart attack at any time thanks to my health turning to crap over the last several months. I don't have kids, a partner or any other thing to show for my almost 55 years of existence so I am determined to write a book so I have something to leave behind.
Find something to drive you to write and get on with the writing It doesn't have to be good. It doesn't have to be inspired. It doesn't even need to make much sense. Just write something... anything... down.
pmmg
Myth Weaver
Sorry to hear your health has turned bad. What happened that gives you risk of all three of those at once?
An uncertain future might be like having a permanent short deadline. So, get your stuff done.
For me, my Dad dying (on pretty short notice), and then getting cancer right after, put me in a mortality mind set. I don't have an imminent threat, but I do think I need to get it done before I cant.
An uncertain future might be like having a permanent short deadline. So, get your stuff done.
For me, my Dad dying (on pretty short notice), and then getting cancer right after, put me in a mortality mind set. I don't have an imminent threat, but I do think I need to get it done before I cant.
It doesn't even have to be imminent. We published Faerie Rising in April of 2017. To not go into the entire litany, sitting here I'm down two parents, an aunt, two parental figures (who left us this house), half a kidney, three computers, an entire pandemic, about a year or so where I wasn't doing the driving (sorry about that), a mother-in-law with an ASL diagnosis, father-in-law woke up this morning and couldn't see out of his left eye... and that brings me up to now.
Still pumped out two more books and the better part of a third.
I've been telling people this for a while, now. The thing is, you think you have time. The last thing I said to my mom, as we were getting her ready to move from the hospital to rehab in the morning, was, "I love you. I'll call you tomorrow."
Write. You don't have time.
Still pumped out two more books and the better part of a third.
I've been telling people this for a while, now. The thing is, you think you have time. The last thing I said to my mom, as we were getting her ready to move from the hospital to rehab in the morning, was, "I love you. I'll call you tomorrow."
Write. You don't have time.
Miles Lacey
Archmage
I have Stage Two Hypertension (very high blood pressure), weak heart muscle, suspected angina, epilepsy (absence seizures rather than the other sort), migraines and possible arthritis.
And just to top it all up my tablet blew up along with the device I had stored my WIP on today! Thankfully I am really old school and tend to use pen and paper to write stuff down. Writing is the only thing keeping me vaguely sane right now.
