What Do You Do When You Have Writers Block?

If you figure it out, let me know. I lost my mojo a few years ago, and haven't managed to get it back yet.

I will definitely keep this in mind and if someone wants me to set it up sooner than later, let me know. One thing that would make me sad is if people read my drafts here and then didn't leave me reviews on ff.net, but I guess I'd get over it.

Hi MeltIntoSpring ! Definitely late, and am not an expert, but I sometimes find that letting it rest for a while really works—even just for a day or two! I usually recommend creating a playlist to get you into the mood, but the past few months, I found that reading (fics or books or articles. Literally anything to read) helps immensely because sometimes it can help shift your perspective/approach when it comes to writing something, rather than sometimes, finding the need to stay focused and on theme even when you don't "feel" it anymore. It also helps to look at paintings and pictures, or even watching movies.

Hope it helps and best of luck! I seriously love your new story, and I'm sure you'll absolutely nail it

yes, exactly. The dead horse is not going to get up and walk.

Thank you so, so much. That's very kind of you 

I've dealt with writer's block both ways, by 1) leaving it alone and letting the "knot" settle - the trouble with this is sometimes I leave it for months, or occasionally lose inspiration completely and never get back to it, and 2) powering through it, but it generally leads to a few nights of hair pulling and pounding away at it before the knots work themselves out.

Some things I've found helpful to get past a particular block:
- sketch out only the dialogue, or only the description - whichever inspired the chapter. Even if the dialogue sounds out of character or the description sounds stilted (literally sometimes when I'm fed up the page is full of "this happens, then that happens, then..." you can go back and revise it later
- switch POVs - sometimes the thing you're forcing just flows from another character's POV (or switch narratives)
- bringing in something (dialogue/scene) that happened earlier in the story can be a good jumping point for a new scene (and it's already been written!)
- quoting the movie (or watching the movie... you know, for inspiration... )

I'm also a big reader - sometimes the book I'm reading inspires the way a chapter flows.

As for ideas and stories that don't get finished - I keep them as a (long) list, and so many times I find these half-sketches make their way into another story, sometimes years later! Don't give up on these!

I am late to the party, but I think how you approach the block depends on how you feel about what you're stuck on and what exactly is bothering you!

If I'm feeling terrible about the entire work, I let it be for a while and walk away (whether that's working on something else or taking a break entirely). And I do mean let it rest-- take as long as you need (I've taken months away from a story, truly). To me, there's no sense in forcing yourself through something when you know going in you're going to hate the way it turns out. If it's just a part that I can't get through, I try to jump around and write another part that excites me. I'll jump around for weeks until I have the right mindset and motivation to tackle the rougher part!

Like others have mentioned, I also find re-watching the film helpful (or, at the very least, fun) as well as reading just to figure out how I like things to work as a reader. I'll let my preferences there influence how I approach it when I am ready to write!

Finally! The block has been lifted! Thank you all so much for your wonderful suggestions and words of encouragement. I have just uploaded my most recent chapter and I can finally say that I'm happy with it. I'm a bit of a perfectionist (not in the good sense), so it will never be perfect to me, but I'm happy all the same.

I can't thank you enough for helping me through this godawful difficult chapter. At least I can finally continue to post further chapters relatively quickly (seeing as I have written them and gotten them to a point where I'm happy).

If you would like to take a look, It'd be greatly appreciated. Any comments, notes or constructive criticisms are welcome 

I didn't see this earlier in the thread, and I could have overlooked it, but I need help. Does any one have this issue, where you can visualize what happens in your story (like watching a film in your head), but you can't put thoughts to words? I am having this issue with a few different stories (one of which is My Maria) and am really wanting to update each of them but again, I can't put thoughts to words. I have tried various things like rereading what I've written, reading other people's fics, watching clips of Die Familie Trapp & TSOM, and thinking of the stories from different points of view. I'm not sure what else to try. Got any suggestions?