I started worrying the last couple of weeks that my imagination has all shrivelled up. I don't think it's d-e-a-d dead, but definitely totally dormant.

School (university) takes up a lot of energy, and over 99% of what I read is for courses...alas, my eyes have not tasted the sweet elixer of good quality fantasy for such a long time.......

I used to consider myself a writer--or storyteller at least, seeing as he has reams more paper work than I-- as much as Tigersong does. But in the past 2 years, I've been so busy with school, and work, and enjoying editing his work, that I have not done anything of my own!

I HAVE NO STORIES TO TELL!!! (panicking)

For the LOVE of ....SOME HIGHER POWER...can anyone tell me how to get it back???

get drunk numerous times, behave like a wild chimpanzee, try inhaling peanuts through your nose, then try all of them at once.

by the time your done, you'll have tons of hilarious stories to tell

or just bunk off uni and write bizarre sentances on pieces of paper. Once you get the trick of it, you start flowing, and thoughts start returning. Imagination never dies, it just occupies itself as something else in my experience.

THIS is close to the can of worms that I proclaimed to, on joining these here forums. You say you no longer look in the direction of new ideas? Too busy looking at theorem and hard-broiled education?

Then stop, I'd say. Stop looking at all. Then look once more beyond the boundaries and see if there is stuff waiting for you. Might sound wierd but it works for me ... gosh I'm feeling cryptic today ....

Like Pab said, just stop trying to get inspiration and it will come to you. You can try too hard. Just take some time out from it, and don't try to direct your thoughts. Let them take their own path. Another thing, try to condition yourself to wake up at the end of dreams and write them down, then go back to sleep. Dreaming can provide just as much inspiration as the real world (if not more), you just have to remember them.

Alternatively, just write some random crap and then refine it into something storyish .

I know the reason I started my story was cuz of one dream I had that pretty much shaped in my brain. I have had writter's block too, but it was more of a hiatus away from the story more so cuz of school. Ya, let it come to you, or get thoughts from people who also have read your material, always good to get feedback from fans lol. Hope that helps

You keep it fresh in your mind and on a seperate sheet of parer, write anything that comes to mind. ANYTHING. Even if it's stupid so long as it has to deal with what you're writing. I don't get writer's block anymore. Also, try going somewhere with some mellow energy, like a bar or a nice pizza joint, to chill out yet gain motivation to write.

i know what it's like to use up all your creative energy on school work you don't care about, and then not have any left for yourself. but if you are anything like me, this will work:

-make some very strong black tea. add at least 3 tablespoons of honey, and as much lime juice.
-now gulp it down, but not on an empty stomach!
-as soon as you've finished the tea, sit in your bedroom by yourself. no tv, no music, no boyfriend, no phone.
-try to meditate. after a while, your highly caffienated mind will become so bored with you trying to void it of all thought, that it will rebel and begin daydreaming.
-let your daydreams play out in your mind, then write them down.

or

get the creative juices flowing by writing some really bad fanfic. often writers block occurs when you feel pressured to create something perfect in the first draft. by purposely writing drivel, you will be alleviating the pressure.

hope that helps.

Will that work with coffee? And what happens if you're drinking it on an empty stomach?

Sometimes, if I have a problem getting my imagination going, I'll sit down and pick something in the room, could be as simple as a bit of lint. Then I imagin what that bit of lint has seen, where's it's been, how it was created, so on and so forth. then I start writing what I see down and vuala my imagination is in full gear (though that's not always a good thing)!

okay.. trust me on this...
-get one pile of dirt, sink or bath tub
-add several GI Joe action figures or transformers (or whatever you liked to play with as a kid)
-play for at least a hour, make up your own world, war, romance etc.. but mostly just play.

Personally - when I feel the need to overcome writer's or drawer's block - I look back at past work and gain inspiration from what I've done (or even only started) before.

Often we discard goods ideas in favour of the ones we are set on completing... having completed the work, we still have those discarded good ideas. Re-read your older work and you should remember the plots, storylines and themes that you previously threw away.

OR

Many people thoughout history have attempted to overcome such blocks by stimulating their minds:

Van Gough drank absynth (v. strong alcohol with halucenagenic qualities)

Some Gonzo journalists of the 60s and 70s used a heady cocktail of alcohol and an assortment of illicit narcotics...

J K Rowling had a few cups of coffee in some Scottish tea rooms...

Pablo Picaso found inspriation for some of his most distrurbing works from the horrors he witnessed in the Spanish Civil War (thanks mainly to the success of Nazi Germany's support of Franco with their Blitz Krieg)...

And the Pre Raphelites - from Nature, Mythology and Romanticism.

Good Luck.

There are lots of exercises you can do to get your imagination up and running. The following works for me.

Think of a person, just a stereotype nothing too deep.

Think of an Act.

Think of a snippet of conversation.

Write a sentance for each then try and link them together, it may well be rubbish but it may also spark something off, whatever happens it's the act of doing it that will start your imagination working.

If you want to see one of the places this led me you can go here -----> http://www.ookami.co.uk/html/portrait_of_the_artist_.html

RJ

i'm sure it works with coffee too, but i don't know for certain- i don't like coffee so i've never tried.

empty stomach is bad 'cause black tea, epecially black tea brimming with citric acid, is hard on the stomach. that's why so many people add milk to their tea. why is tea hard on the stomach you ask? well, scientifically speaking, there are these microscopic gremlins in tea, and if you don't feed them, they will try to eat your stomach! pesky little blighters!

Thanks for all the tips guys!

Personally I think that trying to shove peanuts up my nose while drunk is an incredibly fascinating idea.....not sure it will improve my epic fantasy fiction though! Jicama had great suggestions too, to get the juices flowing....but yeah, if I read my old stuff, I probably will want to change some stuff, pick up old ideas that got put aside, stuff like that. That sounds constructive. But after my exams, of course!

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

My best advice would be to just sit it out. I can't guarantee that would work, but I haven't found anything that helps. I recently just started writing again after a big break away from it. It feels good to be back, but there wasnt anything in particular that killed the block. It just took a bit of time. If you know a better way, though, go ahead and try it. Something has to be better than nothing.

well one time I was having "writer's" block (although I do computer-generated artwork (http://god57.deviantart.com))... feelin' really unmotivated... and so I was gonna make this piece that was just white with the words "I feel unmotivated." in black. However, upon doing this I thought it boring, so I duplicated the words.. and one thing led to another and I ended up having a fairly complicated piece.
I entitled it "Feelin' Inspired"... I enjoyed the real life irony of it.

point: write about your writer's block or something and perhaps it shall be broken.

I know exactly how you feel.

Try this: Pick out any number then pick a noun that appeals to you, then pick a color and an adjective. ANything.

Example:

24, fuzzy, monkey, green, evil.


Then, turn your random choices into a sentence, and from there you could come up with a story:


One hazy summer day I was treading through the jungle, exhausted and thirsty. I tripped over a root, and as I fell, I landed in a pile of something fuzzy. It was hair. I looked up, and swinging above me were 24 green, grimacing evil monkeys!


Hopefully that helps.

Well, most of the writing I do is autobiographical, so if I feel like I have nothing to write about I take a few weeks off and get crazy. Always helps.

But yeah, if you really just don't have anything, let your tired brain relax for a while. Put everything on hold and don't write anything. The creative juices will start to flow again and you can get back to everything. It's a classic case of burnout, slowdown, man.

Sure u do either;

1) write autobiographically
2) find a story u like, break it down into components & then build it up agen adding different elements 2 it
3) smash ure fist down on the keyboard randomly in search of a word & when u hav something that looks realistic build something from it, like so;
Siodmgib - i'm sensing something rather arabic here; a noble perhaps with a family of 9 living in a house on the edge of the city foigjhm at the end of the eastern empire. He has many peasants working 4 him & lives happily, until .... DA DA DAAAAAAAA!
4) Don't listen 2 me & read all the comments above; the one about getting drunk is esp useful - Douglas Adams anyone?