being a writer #3 (writers block)

writer's block.

literally the most annoying thing about writing. well, sometimes it's a god send. there's days when i sit at my computer all day, with constant ideas that need to be wrote down and then.... nothing. Yes. Nothing. No ambition to write and in some cases, even look at what you have. ALl because you have no idea what's suppose to happen next.

Last week I had no problem writing 30 pages. To put it in better perspective... that's roughly 18,000 words. Which really doesn't seem like much... anyway, this week I've indefinably had writer's block. I've noticed a few things about writer's block in my world. I plateau at certain parts. So usually the start of the book I'm good. I'll get 25-30 pages in, then I'll plateau. Mostly because my book is a bunch of smaller plots going on within a bigger idea/plot. So once I reach the end of the mini plot I know I'm moving on to the next issue. Which is generally... rising action. Rising action is my least favorite. Mostly because it can get cheesy fast and I really, really struggle to not let cheesy get the better of me...

my biggest pet peeve in cheesy. but let me explain cheesy in my world. that's writing dumb sentences that characters would never say to each other and dumb things that would never happen - if the world they live in was real.

 thus a problem i have with novels in general. but my biggest cheesy, i hate it so much when characters almost come out of character and say something that seems to deviate their character and then you just  know the author let himself slip in a bit too much.

i'm not saying i'm perfect. far from it. but i feel i know my characters so well, i'm very strict about them keeping within their character. it shouldn't matter what situation you put your character in, they should always be able to deal with the situation to the best of their character and ability. i doubt that makes much sense...

if i was stick Kara (my main character) in a situation and she said something totally not her. well, that would never happen. Can you imagine your lead flipping personalities? SCARY.

but now that've completely got off topic from writer's block, i'll go back to it.

once i get all my ideas out, perfect it, move scenes if i need to. then i look at it. that's usually when writer's block hits and i'll need five to seven days to think about what happens next. i've forced myself to write before, that ended with fifteen pages being erased because the scenes seemed forced and - out of character. *shudder* so i guess what i'm saying, if you have writer's block just do something else for a bit and if you start to think of what should happen next - you're on to something. perhaps it will form into an actual scene and drive plot forward. then you'll come out of the writer's block. my writer's block usually last between 1-3 weeks. the longest i've ever had writer's block... almost 2 years. but that was likely due to my life going through some major changes. not to scare the crap out of you or anything. haha...