A Question of Motivation

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

I saw this question over on Absolute Write and thought it was a good one.

How do you motivate yourself to write when you don't really feel like writing?

Comments

[gwionfawyr.livejournal.com]

I keep motivated by keeping my music list of up tempo songs. I guess it's by having a rhythm to write against.

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

I sometimes use that trick for motivating me to do the housework. ;-)

[gwionfawyr.livejournal.com]

MP3 players are godlings. ;-)

[garconetfille.livejournal.com]

I don't. I feel like when I don't want to write, there's no reason to write, because anything I write will be forced and awful, really.

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

Do you have trouble getting back into your work later?

If I'm really struggling and the words just aren't coming, I'll take a break and go away for a little while. I have to be careful with that though because it's really easy for me to get out of the habit of writing if I don't write regularly. That is part of why this first draft is taking me years to write.

It helped me tremendously when I figured out that I'm allowed to write crap in the first draft and now I don't struggle and need to put it down as often.

[garconetfille.livejournal.com]

Lucky for me, when I feel like writing (which is quite often), the words just positively fall out of me. It isn't always good, no, but it's a starting point and I find that I can write pages on just a tiny bit of inspiration.

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

I just went through a burst of, "The words just fell onto the page."
I'd like another bunch of that please. *looks around hopefully*

I love the rush of inspiration from the tiniest little things too. I saw a painting once that gave me the idea for a character and a story. Another time I saw an actor in movie and just from how he looked in that role gave me a fully realized character with a huge back history and everything. Sometimes a song will do that for me too.

[garconetfille.livejournal.com]

That happens to me alllllllllllll the time :) haha it's kind of bad though because I have a bunch of half-finished stories inspired by tiny tiny things.

[lolochan.livejournal.com]

I usually go play games that allow me to daydream and work out plot devices, etc. Then I write it all down, and sometimes get some words out for a story.

I mean, writing is writing, whether your writing a story or planning your notes.

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, daydreaming is great. I also find that my brain seems to problem solve and brainstorm while I'm driving or showering (with no where to write stuff down, of course).

Planning and making notes, yep. Just tonight I was making notes and sorting out how I was going to weave in a new subplot thread.

[orchard-mnt.livejournal.com]

I've outlined the 1st book and sketched the 2nd for this novel I'm trying to write (re-write) I decided to pull the plot twist inside out and shuffle the story about. So, I have some wonderful bits of inspiration that need to be woven into a new design and pace, same characters, places and research to make this Historical Fiction happen. I make myself type, or edit.

Sometimes mowing the lawn or swimming laps loosens the old midnight oil, gets the spark of life going.

Sadly, sometimes flaming with others in different LJ communities is the grease that coats the wheels...

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

I make myself sit down and write anyway...usually. I'm trying not to edit yet, I don't want my internal editor to switch on and get in my way.

Exercise is beneficial for getting and keeping the creative juices flowing. I've heard a lot of other writers say that too.

"Sadly, sometimes flaming with others in different LJ communities is the grease that coats the wheels..."

*tsks* Well, please don't start or engage in flame wars here, I like having things calm and civil around here.

[andros-scrolls.livejournal.com]

Well, lately, I have had a hard time with my writing, but I found that writing fanfiction in fandoms that I don't usually write in (but would like to start to) helps. Even if it is just a small drabble or vignette, it gets the creative juices flowing.

[delurfangs.livejournal.com]

if i am not able to further my plot i try to work on my character sheet or spell list and usualy while thinking about that i can find the next direction the plot needs to go in.