How do you deal with writer's block?

[redboxrazor]

It's been a year since I've written anything adventure-related. I've been trying to scratch that itch for awhile, but every time I sit down to write, the inspiration seems to fade so quickly.

I used to crank out adventures like it was nothing. Now, just designing encounters is a difficult task.

Doesn't matter which edition or rules set I'm using - the spark burns out whenever I whip out the pencil.

I stare at my books across the room with a vicious hunger for adventure. I flip through monster manuals and imagine epic scenes. Pre-made modules leave me dry, but so do my own attempts at creation.

Has anyone else experienced this? How do you deal with it?

 

[weem]

I don't generally write adventures or anything, but I do enjoy writing.

The one thing that seems to work pretty regularly for me? Reading.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I was going to suggest taking some time off but if you haven't done any writing in a year I doubt that will help.

What do you think about before you pick up the pencil? I have a nasty 2 hour commute to work so I create things for my game (places, NPC's and their goals, etc.) while driving to and from work.

Perhaps some fresh scenery, and a blank note pad might help. Get away from the game books, go for a walk, and think about cool stuff you would like to see in your game. Write down all your jumbled, messy, and unconnected ideas. Later on you may look over your notes and get the spark that connects all those elements into an adventure.

I don't know how many times I have been out and about and saw/heard someone who would become an NPC.

 

[Bedrockgames]

It's been a year since I've written anything adventure-related. I've been trying to scratch that itch for awhile, but every time I sit down to write, the inspiration seems to fade so quickly.

I used to crank out adventures like it was nothing. Now, just designing encounters is a difficult task.

Doesn't matter which edition or rules set I'm using - the spark burns out whenever I whip out the pencil.

I stare at my books across the room with a vicious hunger for adventure. I flip through monster manuals and imagine epic scenes. Pre-made modules leave me dry, but so do my own attempts at creation.

Has anyone else experienced this? How do you deal with it?

Have you run a game recently? Are you unable to put scenarios together or just having trouble constructing something with structure?

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[redboxrazor]

I was going to suggest taking some time off but if you haven't done any writing in a year I doubt that will help.

What do you think about before you pick up the pencil? I have a nasty 2 hour commute to work so I create things for my game (places, NPC's and their goals, etc.) while driving to and from work.

Perhaps some fresh scenery, and a blank note pad might help. Get away from the game books, go for a walk, and think about cool stuff you would like to see in your game. Write down all your jumbled, messy, and unconnected ideas. Later on you may look over your notes and get the spark that connects all those elements into an adventure.

I don't know how many times I have been out and about and saw/heard someone who would become an NPC.

I usually write whenever I happen to have a cool NPC motivation, ideas for a great setting, or some interesting plot ideas. Maybe writer's block isn't what I should call it. I just feel the urge to write an adventure, but once I sit down to do it, I become quickly disinterested.

At some point, it just felt like that spark had escaped me.

 

[redboxrazor]

Have you run a game recently? Are you unable to put scenarios together or just having trouble constructing something with structure?

I ran an Eberron one-shot a few months ago. A few months before that, I ran a 10-session adventure that ended when I moved out of state. Since then, I've just been trying to come up with something believable for a long campaign.

I can link scenarios well, but lately I've been overly-concerned with D&D cliches and shallow NPC motivations. When I write, i intially think the idea I'm working on is interesting, but soon find myself thinking "this is lame", or "nobody would do that", and I scrap the idea.

Maybe I'm struggling with complexity.

The first campaign I ever ran was deep, complex, and dramatic. My players still regard it as their favorite. Minimal railroading - but the NPCs felt real and vibrant. Their goals made sense. The world was vast. The problems were believable.

I seem to have trouble achieving that level of maturity in my recent works.

 

[Dykstrav]

Usually, taking a break for a few days works for me. But as you've been in a dry spell for so long, this probably won't apply to your situation...

Try re-phrasing stories into a gaming context. Pick up a piece of fiction. Read it. Now imagine how you could translate that into an adventure. Do it again. Do it a third time, if needed. By this time, you should have a few ideas, probably as a mix of elements from the different pieces of fiction that you've read. Remember, creativity isn't in coming up with a new story. It's in re-writing an old story in a new way. It's hiding your sources, filing off the serial numbers and mixing things up in such a way that your source material is unrecognizable.

What really helps me is to set a minimum page count for a day. Even if I have to force myself to write (and yes, sometimes I do nothing but copy stat blocks or generate random dungeons), I end up with something usable.

 

[C_M2008]

Maybe I'm struggling with complexity.

The first campaign I ever ran was deep, complex, and dramatic. My players still regard it as their favorite. Minimal railroading - but the NPCs felt real and vibrant. Their goals made sense. The world was vast. The problems were believable.

I seem to have trouble achieving that level of maturity in my recent works.

Maybe thats the ticket. Don't come up with adventures at all.
Craft NPCs, Organizations, fantastic locales, with all thier goals, ambitions and plans; throw a few hooks out to the PCs and let the adventures take shape organically.

 

[Celebrim]

Has anyone else experienced this? How do you deal with it?

Yeah, writer's block has to be one of the most vile spells that was ever contrived.

You deal with it by writing, and, in my experience, it helps to be around other writers. I did my most consistant writing when I was around someone else who was being productive.

It also helps to not have a real job or a family, I'm discovering.

Right now, I've got ideas for all my major subplots. I just need to turn them into dungeons and event hooks. But, despite having ideas for the richest most intrigue filled settings I've ever attempted, I can't seem to turn ideas into paper.

Things that are helping me right now:

1) Noticing just how simple at the core most published adventures actually are. Part of writers block is just simple fear at turning out crap. Don't be afraid to turn out crap. Semi-polished crap gets turned out all the time, and much of it turns out to be entertaining to the players. Even the good stuff is rarely more than a linearly connected series of mini-dungeons with clues lying out in the open about where to go next. High standards are your enemy. Once you get stuff down, you can always hit it with your wand of cool and polymorph it into awesome. The trick is to get that material to work with in the first place.
2) Be random. Another way to overcome fear is to just let the dice decide what you are going to do. Random up a monster. Force yourself to figure out an encounter with this monster. Repeat a couple of times.

I tell you what is not helping me right now. Realism. I've been discarding alot of ideas on the grounds that, "Noone would build that.", or, "Someone would have noticed/explored/taken care of that long before now.", or "This area is relatively civilized. If there was anything really dangerous nearby, wouldn't everyone know about it?", or "That's nothing like a working ecology." Of course, the problem with that road is that if you go down it to far, you soon realize that adventures are themselves unrealistic. And, while on the one hand I need the urban setting to do what I want, I'm realizing why I avoided it in the past.

Oh and the tropes. I'm so totally done with, "An innocent has been kidnapped/A mysterious curse is plaguing a village/A stranger comes up to you and offers you a job/monsterous humanoids are raiding the outskirts of the kingdom/It's the middle of a festival when something suddenly attacks/a series of ritual killings are occuring/the widow of a condemned man wants you to clear his name". Yet, I seem to get dragged back to them again and again.