How do you deal with writer's block?

[Dannyalcatraz]

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?

I write my own campaigns & adventures, homebrew, write fiction, design jewelry, compose music, paint, etc.

And I've experienced creative blockages in all of them.

The simplest thing is to do something else. ANYTHING else but what you're trying to do. Don't force it.

I once had writers block for FRPGs so bad that I ended a campaign and stopped trying for 2 years. I had ideas for Sci-Fi, Supers and other genres, but my fantasy well had run dry. Since then, I've designed a few campaigns of epic scale (in a variety of genres) and reworked one of my classic supers games for a new set of gamers in a completely different system.

So...

Read a book. Go for a jog. Lift weights. Swim. Romp with your dog. Watch some bad TV. Just don't try to force yourself to be creative.

And in anticipation of the moment when the blockage is relieved, always carry some kind of notepad so that you don't lose that spark. Even keep it next to your bed, in case a dream reawakens your drive to create.

 

[Stormonu]

Skimming the monster manual or DM's guide does wonders for helping me come up with something. Often, I will randomly open one or more of my MM's, and pick out three creatures. From that, sit down and come up with an adventure that features at the core, a "boss" encounter with those three things. (Actually, in my case I've made an MS Access database that contains a list of all the monsters & CRs and it randomly picks them based on what CR I input).

Also the random dungeon generator in the old 1E DMG is a wonderful jump start to get the juices flowing. There are numerous implementations of random generators on the web, and they are helpful for putting together a skeleton you can then tweak and have fun puzzling over in how everything works together (my own adventure-for-sale, Dragonriders of the Dark, started with a random generated dungeon, for example).

Reading other people's works - short stories or simply perusing other pre-made adventures can help a lot as well.* Not only that, but they often help to expand your own works by giving you set ups you might not have even considered by giving you access to someone else's style.

* I hear N1 - The Forest Oracle, is extremely inspiring for many aspiring adventure writers .

 

[Stormonu]

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.

There are no cliche tropes, only poorly implemented ones. The best adventures are at their heart cliche, yet cleverly hidden with subtly twisted implementation.

 

[Gilladian]

If you're comparing yourself to your earlier work, and finding your current work lacking - STOP!

You were a different person then, with a different amount of time to spend writing, and a different view on what you were doing. Right now, all you and your friends remember is the VERY BEST of what you did back then, and that's not what was always going on.

I've been running DnD for 30 years and if I constantly compared my work now to my "best" past campaign, I'd never run again. When I was in high school and college, or only working part time, I spent HOURS on my game. Now I spend less than half that time. Guess what? My players hardly notice the difference!

They will be happy with what you give them, if you present it as something you're proud of instead of apologizing. Just write what comes to you, don't think about it in comparison with anything else, and run it. Force yourself, if you have to.

OR, you may need to PLAY a game for six months, and not try to write anything at all. Every time you want to write, just say "NO, I'm not doing this right now. Wait until..." and set yourself a date. By the time that date rolls around, I bet you'll be sitting in a stew of great ideas.

 

[Insight]

You're putting too much pressure on yourself. Or not enough.

By "putting too much pressure on yourself", I mean that you're probably thinking too much about the writing. And all of the mechanics that go into creating an adventure. Step back from the process. What about the creation of an adventure (or even a single encounter) is fun and enjoyable to you? What makes an encounter of adventure fun for you and your players (if you have any)?

That brings me to the second point. Maybe you're not putting enough pressure on yourself. There's nothing like working towards a deadline to break through writer's block or procrastination. Do you have a current gaming group? Are they expecting you to run a game? If not, there's a good chance that your wanting to create an adventure is closely related to your wanting to game in any measure and not necessarily just a need to create an adventure.

But enough pop psychology. Write something. Anything. It doesn't even have to be game-related. It'll do wonders for your "writer's block".

 

[redboxrazor]

Wow! What meaningful responses from everyone. I think a few of the latter posts really touched on what I feel I am doing. I really do think I'm trying very hard to trump my previous work.

I'm gonna try winding down a little and just writing, as was suggested a few times.

Honestly, everyone had some great advice for me, so thanks for that. : ) I feel a little spark coming on right now.

 

[Somebloke]

What's that saying? 'Nothing is a cliche when it happens to you.' Try a basic dungeon romp and see what happens when you actually start to interact with the players.

 

[Mikaze]

On one of the episode commentaries for Venture Brothers, Doc Hammer talked about how he got through his writer's block panic attack.

Basically he wrote the most vile, tasteless, obscene, and terrible piece of crap he could imagine. Centered on Colonel Gentleman, no less.

Apparently that did the trick.

I'm not suggesting that writing a Springtime for Hitler-style throwaway is a definite cure, but there may be something to it.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Sit down for 1 hour. Write.

IMPORTANT: you are not allowed to stop writing. The pencil or keyboard must remain in full motion for 1 hour. Whatever you write does not need to make sense.


It's amazing how this usually gets things moving...and only the first 5 minutes or so is usually horrible, after that, your brain basically gets exhausted writing "and I'm writing something because I have to be writing and keeping the keyboard in motion and my cat is walking through the house, I wonder if this adventure should be about my cat...." and you get some real product.



Also, if you want more inspiration, roll randomly. Roll for book and page number three times from any library you have. Combine those three ideas.

 

[Raven Crowking]

May I suggest taking out an older module, and then rewriting the encounters therein to suit your taste? This allows you to begin writing without forcing you to do anything specifically creative. The creative part of your brain, however, may well feel invited to play.