Do you suffer from Writerus Blockitis?

[Ninquelote]

Ach, my setting is fantasy, and thus I try to keep a certain theme within the names among certain groups of people.

[Kalile]

Well, back to writerus blockirus.

I finally got going on a story that I really think I can finish, and I lost my notebook at school... Waaaah!!!! Still looking, and thank you to this forum and thread. I really do think I can finish it now.

[frodosgirlfriend]

*sob* My story I’ve been working on for a year (40 pages) and it's been going so well! I want to write it, there a part i really want to get to and I know once I do I'll have no trouble writing at all. I plane out my story before I write it and I’m between two major parts and i can't think of anything to put in between!

[IronParrot]

I haven't worked on my novel in three weeks. This, my friends, is what video game addiction does to you.

[Earniel]

That's not suffering from Writerus Blockitis, that's a serious case of Videogamitis. But I know from experience that's just as bad.

[The Ben]

Originally posted by IronParrot
After several attempts and rewrites over the past three years, my full-length novel is still on the fourteenth page.

Anyone else having a similar problem? Of course. Now fess up.

You bet I do. I ... oh darn it. What should I write? lets see... lets see...

[Lotesse]

Originally Posted by Kalile

c.Find a cool name in a book and use it, or change a few letters

This is a good idea. I bought a "baby names" book to reference when needing to come up with a suitably descriptive name for a particular character. Every name means something, contrary to what Butch says in Pulp Fiction... ('I'm an American, our names don't mean sh**') Even if a name doesn't mean something per sey, it can SOUND like what your character's key distinguishing characteristics are. For instance, in my RPG, a fellow mooter came up with the brilliant name of Saphtan to give to a guy, and his name really says so much. It sounds like who he is.

[Bombadillo]

Ooo, writer's block. I think that this hits people hard mainly because of their writing style. Lief of Ninquolete, if someone had a writing style similar to yours (close attention to detail, compulsion to make each scene complete before moving on) except less structured, they make it harder on themselves. Whereas styles like Joseph Conrad's in Heart of Darkness, in which the speaker actually says he's not trying to tell each and every event of his story but just to convey the feelings that each conveyed to him, and therefore reads like a dream, just flow right out of the writer's mind. Of course that sort of style isn't appropriate for all stories, but it is certainly easier to contuniously write.

Also, if you're like me, you find prewriting and plot outlines and such too frustrating to be worthwhile. Often, if I'm outlining the story, I'll get so carried away with a specific detail of it that I'll write about 50 lines on it under just one bullet point, and then if I try to add all that actually into the story, it doesn't flow smoothly. IOW, I always wind up wasting my time. I think that actually discussing your idea for a plot with someone beforehand is immeasurably better. The only hard part there is finding someone who would appreciate your idea and really be able to help you with it, but once the two of you start talking, ideas just lead to new ideas, including motifs, themes, character dynamics, relationships, twists, ect. And you sort through your plot "in realtime" so to speak, and it's fun to boot, carrying on with a person like that.

EDIT: Lotesse, I think about that sometimes. What my name says about me is that I've killed or cheated my way to the crown. (That's my first and last name together.) That's a cool enough title to mention, but it's ridiculous how much it doesn't suit me.

[Elanor]

Badly. I learned long ago that I'm not a creative writer, as much as I would like to be. The only thing I can write is parodies, or essays. Or limericks expressing my frustration with the same:

So many ideas I've got!
I've often constructed a plot,
But as soon as I write,
Then it's gone, out of sight!
I can't write as fast as I thought.

Double meaning on "thought" there. I have written a bit of fanfiction, but it has to be short. I just don't have the patience to map out detailed plots and mix dialogue with description.

Hey, IronParrot is in this thread. Where did he go?

[Bombadillo]

Hey, good limerick though! Really.

I think IP is still lurking around here sometimes, but most of his posts are movie reviews in the entertainment forum now.

[Curubethion]

To get unstuck, you might want to consider throwing in a dilemma of minor to grand scale. Possibly tie it into the plot...

Or, if you're getting hung up on a scene, write its conclusion as is, and go on. You can edit later.

[Lady Marion Magdalena]

Name dictionaries are good investments. I recommend getting one that gives lots of lingual and cultural variations of names. For example, I liked the meaning of the name Alvin, but due to chipmunck associations there was no way I was going to stick my male lead with that name. The old english spelling though is Alwyn, which sounds and looks much better and fits the character perfectly.
If you don't feel like buying one there are plenty of free name dictionaries online, and they often have a bunch of obscure and interesting names that you wouldn't find elsewhere, as well as the old standards.

Now, I haven't got writerus blockitis. But I am currently suffering from writerus slothitis. I've got plenty of stuff to write, I just need to get my lazy fingers in gear and click on Word instead of Internet explorer.

[strider8]

I just can't think of names, for people or places. Why can't i think of original names?

[rohirrim TR]

I know what you mean, I make up name from all over, tolkien's elvish names, greek names roman names, latin, spanish, my storys are kind of a melting pot of languages and culture, but hey thats what fanasy is for I think

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by Lady Marion Magdalena

Name dictionaries are good investments. I recommend getting one that gives lots of lingual and cultural variations of names. For example, I liked the meaning of the name Alvin, but due to chipmunck associations there was no way I was going to stick my male lead with that name. The old english spelling though is Alwyn, which sounds and looks much better and fits the character perfectly.
If you don't feel like buying one there are plenty of free name dictionaries online, and they often have a bunch of obscure and interesting names that you wouldn't find elsewhere, as well as the old standards.

Now, I haven't got writerus blockitis. But I am currently suffering from writerus slothitis. I've got plenty of stuff to write, I just need to get my lazy fingers in gear and click on Word instead of Internet explorer.

Haha, Alvin brings many chipmunk images to my ming.

Now, I stay away from names like Alawyn, Trywynn etcc...I'm just not good at matching names like that with the characters I write. In my Big Story, I use a lot of typicla french names, and german.

Hmmm....I'm not sure if I have Writerus Blockitis, or Slothitis...It's pretty bad whatever it is. My Big Story ( "A Tale of Dr. Frankenheimer and co.") is undergoing MAJOR plot revision, pretty much the whole deal in some spots. A lot of work to do on it, besides finishing it as well. Thinking up an ending is really stumping me even though I've made a lot of moves in that direction...

[Bombadillo]

I don't write fantasy, but I once thought of a foolproof way for picking fantasy names. Really, it's not meant to be taken seriously, but try it anyway and maybe you'll get lucky. Just ombine the name of a musical instument with a geographical formation. That should give you a quick idea, and just play around with it.

estuary + stratovarius = Estarius
For the comic relief character, use words that sound dumb:
dolsimer + plateau = Platimer

At least it's fun, if no real use to you.

I had bad writer's block all this week. I had an essay to write for school, but couldn't get myself to even pick a topic. (I was debating between six from a list of twenty.) Finally I just picked the two that seemed most complimentary and wrote my paper on both of them, in five minutes. I barely thought about it, and was very, very vague. But that's perfect, because it was supposed to be a research paper and now that I've got all my ideas out, I just have to plug in the research. Yay!

[hectorberlioz]

It's amazing how intelligent your stuff can turn out when you write mindlessly.

[Curubethion]

I found a small book called "The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth" by Ruth S. Noel, and it's really helpful for coming up with names. Just tweak 'em a little so they're not totally from Tolkien's Elvish...and there you go!

[rohirrim TR]

yeah thats kind of what I do except I just take stuff from the Silmarillion index of names.

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by Curubethion

I found a small book called "The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth" by Ruth S. Noel, and it's really helpful for coming up with names. Just tweak 'em a little so they're not totally from Tolkien's Elvish...and there you go!

My sis owns that book, and she' actually learned a bit of elvish. It IS a good name factory