# I have writer's block... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 25, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628 "2005-08-25T21:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/1 "2005-08-25T21:31:12Z")
Not that I’m any sort of accomplished writer. I’ve always struggled with the fact that I can never seem to finish anything I’ve started, but I’ve never struggled with being able to start something. Until now. Suddenly, where it comes to setting pen to paper (or, more realistically, fingers to keyboard), I’m completely, hopelessly stuck. It’s driving me absolutely insane. I always have a few ideas floating around in my head, just waiting to be put into words, but even those are running rather low now. So, few ideas, and an inability to even put the few I have into words. Gah. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/2 "2005-08-25T21:41:05Z")
write about, ummmm a puppy, people seem to like puppies. how about a giant puppy from Zarplackneofuespek that has tenitacls coming out of its ears umm and one that eats, ummmm styrofoam, yea thats good, so it eats styrofoam and craps out… buttons, yea I’m always loosing them, that could be handy. Or Safety pins, those things are great. yea and so this guy starts to breed them and collects all the trash and makes a button masion and becomes really rich on, well, buttons I guess. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/3 "2005-08-25T21:53:36Z")
One thing that always helps me is to have someone, anyone, tell me three unrelated nouns and one verb. Those become seeds for some of my best stuff. My favorite short was grown from: “brain surgeon, rubber hose, water, tingle.” I called it, _A Gray Matter_. ---
**Author:** ![Shadez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shadez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadez)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/4 "2005-08-25T22:31:36Z")
Have you tried writing in a different place? At a different time? With a different medium? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/5 "2005-08-25T22:35:00Z")
I’ll tell you one thing that helps with writer’s block: not believing in writer’s block. Once you stop thinking of inspiration as a fickle muse that you have to wait for, the whole thing gets less mysterious. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/6 "2005-08-25T22:51:59Z")
Have you tried starting with the middle or end of what you want to write? That might help you with your previous “finishing things” issue, but also might help you get back to the beginning…? GT ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/7 "2005-08-25T23:33:31Z")
Reading does the tricks for me. You need to throw some culture and information into you head and create a potluck of ideas and styles. Read a psychology textbook, a bible of somekind, A Brief History of Time, and maybe something with history involved and see if that doesn’t help. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/8 "2005-08-26T01:27:24Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > Reading does the tricks for me. You need to throw some culture and information into you head and create a potluck of ideas and styles. Read a psychology textbook, a bible of somekind, A Brief History of Time, and maybe something with history involved and see if that doesn’t help. Yup. This works for me, too. I don’t get writer’s block. I get writer’s lazyass. Er, I’m suffering from that right now, though my current project is almost done. I need a whip. Ooh. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/9 "2005-08-26T03:06:28Z")
Well, I was the same way, but worse. I would get ideas for stories, then not be able to finish them, or even get the dialog right. What I would always do was to start trying to write something else. Often, it would be fan fiction. Of course, it never worked, till just a little bit ago. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/10 "2005-08-26T03:31:44Z")
Just write whatever crap comes into your head so that you can get through it. Remember: you can always go back and revise. Don’t try to produce a masterpiece on the first go-round. Just write. As for how to come up with ideas… when I figure _that out_, I’ll let you know. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/11 "2005-08-26T09:00:28Z")
The ideas part isn’t so crucial - I still have enough of those for the time being. It’s just… getting that ball rolling. I think I just overwrote myself in the past - prolific doesn’t come close to describing how much I wrote (and never finished). Hopefully all the good words haven’t run out. But I did go back and read the one piece that I actually did finish, thinking maybe it would motivate me. Did give me a little of my self-confidence back, anyway. And as for the reading suggestion, this sounds like a good idea. I’ll have to see what I can find while I’m out today, because my entire reading collection is back in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-writers-block/318628/12 "2005-08-26T11:09:59Z")
I’ve always found that the later at night it is the faster and more cohesive my thoughts gel. Or, when I am in a chaotic place ( my kitchen with kids running amok or at a McDonald’s playland with me plugged in to a spare outlet) I can focus like a friggin’ laser beam. But if it is just me, an empty house and my laptop…oooooh look at that!And THAT and THAT and geez…I really should dust, vaccuum, scrub the toilets.