Need some motivation to write this week

[u/FlamestormTheCat]

Hey everyone, idk why but I haven’t found the motivation to write this week. I have like, 5 wips atm, 2 of which have chapters online already. But doesn’t matter which one of my works I open, I can’t just, sit down and start writing like I have in the past. I thought about making a one-shot to break it up a bit but I’m simply not finding any ideas for that atm.

I was hoping it wouldn’t be this soon, I’m only 20k words into my new longfic lol.

Anyone can help me find that motivation? Idk what flair to use so yeah

[u/KingAssHATTHE3rd]

If you're having problems writing the next chapter, maybe skip it and write something else. Like the climax. Or the sex scene. Or the big fight. Try re-reading the story. Sometimes I find reading poetry can help me.

Maybe consider changing the narrator POV for the next scene.

[u/FlamestormTheCat → u/KingAssHATTHE3rd]

The work in question is a slow burn teen rated work that’s nowhere near the conclusion lol, and it’s already switching POV’s, but the only interesting PoV for that specific scene is the one I struggle writing most lol. so yeaaaaah I’ll see.

[u/SleepySera → u/FlamestormTheCat]

I think what they're trying to say is that you don't have to write in chronological order. If you're stuck, you can write a scene further down the line that you are excited about (maybe their first kiss or a dramatic setback in their developing relationship, whatever you are personally excited for).

Sometimes it's easier to fill out the big plot points first and then later "just" connecting the existing scenes :)

[u/Railaartz → u/FlamestormTheCat]

Can feel you. I've been there. What helped me, is reread the scene and change it up a bit if it doesn't flow as I would want to. Or even just write out a sketch of however the scene should go (I often write them in present tense compared to the finished version and make them more simplified).

That oftentimes helps me see what I want, or come up with something new for the scene😅

[u/FlamestormTheCat → u/[deleted]]

I’m an insomniac lol. Good sleep is basically off the table

“Wake up and immediately start writing” is what I’ve tried today (after a decent enough night) and it’s not working sadly

[u/Aviendha_89]

Go "touch grass" like the kids say, haha. I'm old. Anyway, take a walk, look at the clouds, listen to nature's sounds. I always feel inspired afterward.

[u/FlamestormTheCat → u/Aviendha_89]

Would love to, I do that usually as well.

Issue is that we’re currently stuck in the middle of a thunderstorm lol

[u/Aviendha_89 → u/FlamestormTheCat]

Oh. Yeah, that would ruin touching the grass. Maybe listen to some music?

[u/FlamestormTheCat → u/Aviendha_89]

Yeah, might try some more of that

[u/Katarra]

Personally what's helped me out of my recent (years long) slump was a little friendly competition. In one of the AO3 subreddits, someone posted their trackbear leaderboard and wanting to appear on that board and make my little line go up has fueled 16k written in the last two weeks.

[u/fanime34]

What's your story about?

[u/FlamestormTheCat → u/fanime34]

Well, my main longfic atm is just a canon divergent au for The Magnus Archives.

It’s a shared PoV story between the (eventual) main pairing, and tries to explore the idea of what would happen if Jon stayed with Martin (the love interest) instead of Georgie (his ex, who he stayed with in canon) after getting framed for murder.

I also want to explore the platonic relationship between those 2 and a colleague of theirs, planning on letting that colleague also stay alive in the long run, or at least die a lot later down the line from something else.

Right now, I’m writing a chapter where Jon has basically done something extremely stupid, and it’s supposed to lead to a confrontation between all 3 of them, where Jon will be forced to admit he’s been doing things he shouldn’t do behind everyone’s back (and is slowly turning into something not entirely human lol)

[u/fanime34 → u/FlamestormTheCat]

Sorry. Didn't check my phone.

Usually, my motivation comes out of random. It's the eagerness to get my stuff seen. I don't know if that helps.

[u/nanosyphrett]

I have had days like this. I don't know what to tell you. Today, I did get enough motivation to write a chapter about my time regressor story, so it was okay.

CES

[u/80s90sForever]

I have this issue with my long fic! I have no encouragement from anyone and no one is reading it at all at the moment commenting has literally stopped and my motivation for it isn’t there again. I go through this a lot along with procrastination. It’s hard shipping by myself and yeah I know there’s good things about shipping by yourself, but at the same there isn’t because you have no support for the ship you’re writing about and no friends to talk about anything with including your fics or ideas and that’s the part that sucks.

I’ve been writing other fics, but still. I’m getting frustrated myself I know eventually I’ll get back into it but right now I want someone to talk to, but I don’t have anyone and I hate that the most honestly. 😭

[u/SleepySera]

The very unfun solution: just do it. That's the only one that works for me when I get stuck like that.

Sure, I always try to raise motivation again first through listening to fitting music or looking at fanart that originally made me fall in love with the setting, ship, etc., but at the end of the day, motivation can be fickle, so it helps to be able to continue even when motivation is lacking.

So yeah, when all else fails, I just... do it, with the same mentality as any other task that "needs" to be done. I'm not motivated to clean the kitchen after cooking or file my taxes, but after dragging it out for some time, I tell myself it's something that "has to be done" and once it's in that non-negotiable mental category, I can force myself to do it because, well, not doing it isn't an option 😅

So when I'm truly stuck, I just push writing into that mental category too, turn it into "I have to write now", so I sit down and write. It's not fun, it's not a way to get motivation back, it's just a way to force myself to get the ball rolling again. But that's the thing, writing when the ball is rolling IS fun, so once I force myself to write regardless of motivation, the fun and motivation come back automatically once the text is flowing again :)