When you want to write, based on a specific occasion or coming event, but can't

[srebak]

Let me try to explain this with examples:

Whenever Halloween or St. Patrick's Day are just right around the corner, i really want to write more in my Fantasy novel, since it has supernatural creatures, leprechauns and magic in it; both of which are well-known parts of the two aforementioned holidays.

Whenever Memorial Day is coming, i want to write more in my WWII fiction story (this has also become the case with Armed Forces Day, which i recently became better aware of).

Whenever i watch something on television or in a movie that relates to Teen Drama and modern day romance, i want to write more for the fanfic i have that falls into that category.

Whenever i watch a movie or TV show relating to royalty, i want to dive into the fanfic that i'm writing, which also relates to that.

Whenever I...well, I think you get the idea


The problem is, what do you do when you want to write more based on these kinds occasions and situation but can't get far (if you can even get anything done at all)?

 

[willsonjohn90]

Let me try to explain this with examples:

Whenever Halloween or St. Patrick's Day are just right around the corner, i really want to write more in my Fantasy novel, since it has supernatural creatures, leprechauns and magic in it; both of which are well-known parts of the two aforementioned holidays.

Whenever Memorial Day is coming, i want to write more in my WWII fiction story (this has also become the case with Armed Forces Day, which i recently became better aware of).

Whenever i watch something on television or in a movie that relates to Teen Drama and modern day romance, i want to write more for the fanfic i have that falls into that category.

Whenever i watch a movie or TV show relating to royalty, i want to dive into the fanfic that i'm writing, which also relates to that.

Whenever I...well, I think you get the idea


The problem is, what do you do when you want to write more based on these kinds occasions and situation but can't get far (if you can even get anything done at all)?

I usually write on 3-4 niches not more than that and I try not to write on something on which i am not sure because if in the starting only you feel like you can't then it becomes difficult afterwards to complete that. But if its necessary to write or your boss has told you to write on some topic and you are not able to to that i would suggest to search more on that topic or try talking to people who know about that topic and who can really help you out even then you are not able to do it then take some break and start over again.

 

[Penpilot]

The muse/inspiration isn't a dependable method for sustained writing. Here's a post I wrote way back in 2008 in a different forum that I think still holds true.

The muse is a big fat lazy witch that wants to do nothing but eat bon-bons and watch Oprah all day long. That right I said it.

After finishing my first novel and doing rewrites to it, I found that I achieved so much more if I didn’t wait around for her, my muse, to get up off the crumb riddled couch. Sometimes you just have to write whether you’re feeling it or not. You put on the greased stained, wife-beater, tank top, grab that witch by the hair, drag her to the computer, and pound her into submission with each key stroke. (Please be advised this is in no way condoning violence toward women.)

This isn’t to say that the muse and inspiration doesn’t have its place, but I’ve come to the realization that those things alone will only take you so far before you hit a wall, and you’re left with two choices in my opinion: start something else that you’re “inspired” about or roll up the sleeves and go to work.

As I’m going through the rewrites to my novel, I find myself remembering things said by my collage writing teacher. He told the class that one of the purposes of writing for the course was to empty ourselves. I wasn’t sure what he meant back then, but I think I have an idea now. You see, as you write, the more you write, you purge yourself of all the pent up ideas, all the preconceptions and expectations that get built up over time about what you want to write and how you want to write it. This allows you to just write and let the words come instead of forcing them to be this or that instead of what they should be. In some ways, I think this means that you’re purging yourself of the dependence on the muse to get you to write, or to make your writing “good”.

The more writing I do in the “uninspired” state, the more I realize that the “uninspired” writing can be equal if not better than the “inspired” writing. I find that things that I wrote while “uninspired,” which I thought were complete trash, turn out, when looking at them from an objective eye, to be rather good. I’ve also found that the reverse is true too. Things I wrote while inspired, which I thought were brilliant, turn out to be trash.

This brings me to the thought/theory that I have, maybe, this is one of the things that separates a “successful” writer from a “struggling” one, of which I believe I'm somewhere just past struggling. The “struggler” can only write when they are inspired and passionate, while the “successful” one can write no matter the mental state. They can just do it. Just a thought.

 

[MineOwnKing]

Use the moments when you feel inspired to draft an outline instead.

 

[Vilya]

I say it is probay best to try and stay focused on your current projects, if these new projects are distracting, but for goodness sake, write those ideas down. Even if you don't have the time to write the stories now, they could be useable ideas for stories down the road.

 

[StannisTheMannis]

This is a problem I've had - for years, I've only allowed myself to commit to one story, for fear that exploring other works would lure me away. I realize now that this was horrible for me, because this story is drained of all vitality and I've wasted valuable years with waiting for inspiration to strike me. I do, however, write notes down all the time. Good quotes, ideas, the like, but I never get to use them.

Think it's time to change that.