Amatista Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I've had writer's block for a long time. :( I want to do NaNoWriMo or at least write a story. I can't write is because nothing comes to mind. My writing is normally dark and it talks about serious topics like humanity and society and such, but I already wrote about every topic I can think of. I realized recently that the reason I have trouble writing poetry and stories is because I have no real life experience. I mean, I have never been to any real parties, never met anyone unbelievably interesting or life changing, never did anything crazy, don't even have many friends. I go to community college and come home then go online all day, that's it. My life is no Looking for Alaska. The most that's ever really happened to me is getting bullied in middle school, but I can only write so much about that. How do I get the kinds of experiences that people would write about? And what kinds of experiences would they be? Link to post Share on other sites
GamerStacey Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Use your imagination? Or watch movies, or read books, put yourself in the characters' shoes. I'm a writer with...pretty much the same life you have(community college student, spends all day online, with few friends), but I little trouble doing a lot of writing. I may not have that kind of life experience, but I can always imagine what it would be like if I want. You don't need personal experience to write about something. I've never been stabbed before, but does that stop me from putting a dagger into my characters? No. No it doesn't. Also, just relax. Writing doesn't work out so well if you're stressed. And you can't force yourself to get inspired; believe me, I've tried. And about NaNoWriMo...You don't have to participate this year if you're not ready; I'm not. Take the next year to prepare, think about what you're going to write, make your characters, choose a story. Next year will be here before you know it. ^-^ Link to post Share on other sites
Stained Glass Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I was hoping to also do NaNoWriMo as well! :lol: Good news: people love to read dark stuff you can use bits and peices of your life that spin off into a story. you can even take the same theme and give it a new twist to convey a similatr idea. lots of authors do that. Here are some ideas: -If you went through bullying, you could have a story of some guy or girl dealing with those issues. You can even throw in other things u can relate to, like asexuality! -***start by writing bios for random oc's and they begin to make their own story -daydreaming helps -talk about something u feel passionately about/ want to spread awareness on, even if u never experienced it (do research!) ex: a story of a transgender finding acceptance -listen to music Good luck! message me if you would like to discuss writing! I am quite the poetry/story nerd :P Link to post Share on other sites
astrobean Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Just because you've never experienced something doesn't mean you can't write about it. That's what research is all about. I don't have to become a doctor to write about being a doctor. I don't have to become sexual to write about sex. I don't have to be abducted by aliens to write about being abducted by aliens. I write sci-fi, so I don't know that I'd have prompts for the dark human experiences you're looking for, but I'm realizing that every one of the characters in my current book has some for of PTSD from something I did to them in a past book, and being genuine about that is a bit overwhelming. If you want to hear the human experience, get a job where you interact with people and get to talk to them about their lives. Interview people. If human interaction isn't your thing, read biographies of people who survived war, abuse, holocaust. Go to your library. The stories are there. All you have to do is research. Then take a long walk, distill the information, and mis-remember in such a way that out falls a completely unique story. Link to post Share on other sites
Ficulnean Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I don't think you need life expereinces to write. One, all the classics were written by people who can't and didn't do half as much travelling as we do today, and they didn't even live in as large societies. Also, the category of science-fiction exists. I think reading is more than enough to get by on this account, so all you need is to find something that interests you, which is usually triggered by experience, yes, but doesn't require it, Link to post Share on other sites
fuzzipueo Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Every published author I've ever heard or read on the subject of inspiration has said pretty much the same thing: read as broadly on as many topics you can. Newspapers are full of stories that might spark ideas in your brain. Watch the evening news, listen to the radio talk shows (even if they make you mad! It might lead to a new story, or the beginnings of one.) Watch stupid "reality TV" shows or fall back on older stuff, like Grimm' s fairytales. Astrobean beat me to the biographies suggestion. Try a true life crime book or watch some of those real life crime shows like Dateline does on Fridays; talk about some of the darker end of the spectrum stories. You don't have to live the experience to extrapolate what might happen in a particular situation. As Ficulean said, that's what research is for. Just sit down and write or think out how you would react in a situation and go from there. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites
argar Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Do some people watching and ask yourself why. Why is the lady doing that? Why does the man carry that? Getting outside yourself can sometimes give you perspective and make your writing come from a different place. Link to post Share on other sites
Sally Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Give yourself some time off to live. You don't have to write (about anything) right now. Let that weight fall from your shoulders and just be alive. When you discover you have something to write about, then write. Link to post Share on other sites
Calligraphette_Coe Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I've had writer's block for a long time. :( I want to do NaNoWriMo or at least write a story. I can't write is because nothing comes to mind. My writing is normally dark and it talks about serious topics like humanity and society and such, but I already wrote about every topic I can think of. I realized recently that the reason I have trouble writing poetry and stories is because I have no real life experience. I mean, I have never been to any real parties, never met anyone unbelievably interesting or life changing, never did anything crazy, don't even have many friends. I go to community college and come home then go online all day, that's it. My life is no Looking for Alaska. The most that's ever really happened to me is getting bullied in middle school, but I can only write so much about that. How do I get the kinds of experiences that people would write about? And what kinds of experiences would they be? My experience is that life drags you kicking and screaming through experiences, a white-knuckled ride like that Pepsi commercial on You Tube where the NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon takes an unwitting used car salesman on a joy ride. Or like moi, flat-lining in the back of an ambulance. Not stuff that you planned for when you woke up that morning, but handed to you on a platter you don't get to turn down. Or, in the case of some of the absurd ones, like a pie in the face from the Cosmic Trickster who snuck up on you while you were worrying about the electric bill. The spontaneous ones are always the best, as well as the most dangerous. And the ones that HURT the most. Because not all the experiences are pleasant, most aren't. Or, you can always hitch a ride on other peoples' experiences and then use your imagination to devise your own experiments in human interaction. Like the first time I passed as a woman. Because when you *really* think about it, who can lay claim to being an experienced dragon slayer. Or coming face to face with the creature in 'Alien'? Link to post Share on other sites
Exanimis Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 *googles NaNoWriMo* Ooohh, I thought it was some japanese thingy. Have you tried reading philosophy? It can bring wonders and contemplation on its own, and depending on how you develop it, you can always surreptitiously inject it into your story. I dunno, it is a good way to develop dialogue and narrative at least, or so I think. Link to post Share on other sites
fuzzipueo Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/10/23/the-real-life-people-who-inspired-iconic-monsters-2371938?lt_source=external,manual Just what we were talking about. :) Link to post Share on other sites
argar Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Thank you fuzzipueo. That was a fascinating article. Link to post Share on other sites
Boo Cat Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Most days I never even leave my house -- I'm schooled online so yeah. I can tell you from my "lack of experience" that you don't need "real life experience" to write about stuff. My ideas have nothing to do with real life. This summer I dreamed out the entire plot of a story in my sleep, and the biggest story I'm working on also started out with a weird dream I had, although it was more vague and only introduced one character (he even gave me his name). Other story ideas come out of mindless daydreaming. Then I proceed to write poetry and songs inspired by those stories. I've got my own circle of worlds right here... real life is so overrated. :) Someday I'll have crazy experiences IRL, but until then I can work with what I've got. My imagination! Link to post Share on other sites
apokalyptisch Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Honestly, I think you have a great advantage for fantasy writing. If you aren't exposed to a ton of the world or what's already out there, the potential of your thoughts to be unique is very high. Why not write about something totally new that has never happened? One thing I like to do is just think of one character and a setting. Follow that character through their day. Take on all of their attributes (even if right now it's just words like "confident" and "artist") and imagine how they would handle everyday situations. The writing might not make it into a story of any kind, but for things like this I tend to end up with a lot of dialogue. The dialogue introduces you to other characters, who can give your character little breadcrumbs of things to build the story. Or maybe in the setting, they run across something. You don't even need a plot. Just follow your character. The plot comes. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.