D20 Writers: How do you stay inspired?

[RSKennan]

Hello, everybody...
I'm currently working on my first d20 book for publication, though I can't get more specific than that. I was wondering if any of the published authors and other creative people in here could help me out.

I'm recovering from an inexplicable loss of inspirado. I'm quite passionate about my subject matter, but I've found myself having trouble concentrating on my project. Part of it was that I'm a little overwhelmed by the sea of words this is becoming, and another is anxiety about how it will be received when it's finished. Add a twist of self-doubt, and you have the recipe for what I've been going through. It seems to have lifted, somewhat, but how do I prevent it from happening again? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Alzrius]

I totally understand what you're going through. As an aspiring writer myself, I find myself frequently battling the same thing. Having had to deal with it many times, I find there is really only one way to beat it: smash right through it.

I don't know how to prevent it from happening, but when it does, you have to grit your teeth and push through it. If you don't feel inspired, work anyway. Do not let it make you not do something when you know you should be. Set a short-term goal for yourself, such as "I'm going to type out 2000 words" or "I'm going to proof-read this entire chapter aloud" and then reach that goal in one sitting. Usually, if your lucky, once you get into the project a decent way the lack of inspiration evaporates like mist in the morning light.

 

[Eternalknight]

I take a different approach. I walk away from my work for a while. I might put my head phones on and listen to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack or other fantasy-inspired instrumental music, or go for a walk, all the while thinking about what i am going to do next. Then, once I have a plan of attack, i come back to it and try again.

 

[Alzrius]

I take a different approach. I walk away from my work for a while. I might put my head phones on and listen to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack or other fantasy-inspired instrumental music, or go for a walk, all the while thinking about what i am going to do next. Then, once I have a plan of attack, i come back to it and try again.

See, if I did that, it would bury me. All too often that would turn into day-long procrastination, and I'd go to bed feeling bad that I accomplished nothing.

 

[Eternalknight]

It will be interesting to see the different methods writers use. I think, that if I did it the way you do, I would end up getting even more sick of what I was doing and lose even more enthusiasm.

 

[RSKennan]

Thank you both, these suggestions are very helpful. Any more?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I second the vote for powering through.

If I need a "diversion," I turn to a second project.

But the key is to keep yourself writing. Listening to music and taking walks is great, but it's not writing, and what you really need is get yourself in the habit of writing-- even when, and especially when, you don't feel inspired.


Wulf

 

[arwink]

I'm with Wulf. Once you start looking at any kind of writing as a professional thing rather than a hobby, inspiration becomes a luxury rather than a necessity. If you feel yourself becoming disconnected from the project, so be it. Keep working, or look at a different aspect of the project and start work there. Take a break if you must, but keep is short. A half-hour walk maybe all you need, a day of procrastinating is probably detrimental.

Everyone's going to have their own take on this, and everyone approaches writing in a different way, but the need to keep working on *something* is usually a constant no matter what kind of writer you ask.

 

[tf360]

Every supplement that I've ever written, I start from the middle and then work outward. I often find that the Introduction and Conclusion, although the shortest passages of the work are usually the most difficult to complete because you're trying to either summarize or introduce the work in its entirety. It becomes really hard if you haven't finished what you're trying to summarize.

As far as the other tips, I find that walking away from the work for a little while proves somewhat ineffective. A few hours or a day, yes, but extended breaks just ruin your concentration. You've just got to keep plowing through the work to its conclusion. Even if you only produce a few hundred words in a given day, at least your train of thought and focus remains on the work and not scattered on a myriad of different unrelated topics. I find that as I focus on the project, new ideas that I didn't think of previously come to mind as well. Good luck.

 

[Sixchan]

I'm not a rulebook sort of writer (I write stories rather than d20), but when I lose inspiration, I write something else. I think up a silly idea for a story, write that for a while, and go back to my original. Remember Fern Gully? I wrote a sort of reverse of it, where the Faeries go into the city. After about 50 paragraphs, I went back to my original, creative juices flowing.