(no subject)

[the_rck]

I know, I really do, that I made the right call not to try to do Yuletide this year. I’d have ended up defaulting, just as I expected. it just makes me sad that I didn’t write something this year. I mean, I’d have loved getting a story, too, loved it quite a bit, actually since that’s a generally really great thing, but the writing is the most important thing for me. I enjoy that handful of comments that tell me that I got the voice right (assuming I did) and the characters right (again, assuming I did).

I’ve been poking at the list of prompts, sorting out the ones I maybe could write. Later, I’ll pare it down to ones I actively want to write. I’m a little afraid that that last will leave me with pretty much nothing because writing still seems daunting at the moment. Really, really daunting. I have no idea how to start writing again.

Anyone have advice for techniques for getting those first few sentences/paragraphs written after a long period of stress and ill health? I’m hopeful that, if I can get started, even if it’s not with something that’s going to go somewhere, I’ll be more able to write other things. It might not work, but it might.

Comments

[minim_calibre]

Random ficlets from prompts helped me. No pressure, just ... a handful of words.

[retsuko]

I find that random prompts are great, as are short poems, like haiku. They trick your brain into thinking about language without the pressure of "it must be perfect".

[redsnake05]

I don't know if you want to catapult into an exchange, but I've recently nominated for chocolateboxcomm, which has a low minimum word count (300 words) and no restrictions on fandoms. It's a valentine's day exchange, and appears to be super low pressure. If you think you might be interested, here is the tag set to take a look at and decide if you want to nominate. If you end up not signing up, well, no harm done, right?

[kalloway]

I still sometimes use something I learned in one-day workshop... write about what the character has (or doesn't have!) in their fridge (or equiv).

I guess it's a combination of thinking about the character + putting words on the page so it's not just daunting and blank. Every now and then I'll open and old notebook and there's a snarky fridge description followed by chunks of story, so I guess it works? ^_^;

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Give yourself permission for it to be terrible. Just say, "I'm going to write down what happens" rather than trying to make it be good. So you might start with something like,

Harry Potter is nervous about going back to Hogwarts because he's still thinking about what happened to Cedric and that makes him sad and also guilty, but on the other hand he loves it and the alternative is staying with the Dursleys…

Or some such. But if you keep going, it will start sorting itself into something more like you usually write.

[rosiedlotrfan.livejournal.com]

My energy levels seem to be low to non-existant these days (fricking bipolar disorder), and I find that getting started on a story is always a huge effort, but when I finally sit down and write any old thing without worrying about how good it is (or even whether it even has anything to do with the story I'm trying to write), that gives me the energy to carry on, and then I start feeling good about myself for writing, and my energy and enthusiasm increase.