Writing a story

[Anonymous.]

I'm trying to write a story again. But, I seem to have writers block. I'm trying to think of a story that relates to real life, but I have not been out there much because I have been very protected. I need some story ideas/plots/titles if possible. Can you help a fellow writer out?

[glittermist]

HI Chloe,

ahh...writer's block is horrible! I know the feeling!

Well, as for inspiration - guess it is all around you, you just need to choose which bits to interpret and select for your plot. You can watch things like tv shows, youtube clips, even read other books, look at facebook feeds, even scan over threads and etc here. Of course you should aim to take bits and pieces from all over so as to make it more original and therefore leaning away from plagarism and writing without informed consent.

The main thing is to just let the words flow, don't think too much.

Take care!

[MadPoet]

Hey Chloe. Ugh, writers block. That causes me so much misery at times.

Different things give different people inspiration, but one thing that seems to inspire me is nature. When I have writers block for whatever reason, I try and spend some time outside, just relaxing, taking in the weather. For some reason this calms me, and being calm allows me to be able to think, and I tend to have a lot of emotions run through my head when I'm given the chance to relax. So put yourself somewhere quiet, and just take everything in around you. Writers find inspiration in so many things, and if you give yourself a chance to BE relaxed and inspired, that writers block just may ease up on you.

I'm not sure what to tell you to write about, because I feel that when I'm writing something I write best when I've found the inspiration on my own. By this I mean that if someone else tells me what the meaning behind my story should be, it doesn't seem like MY story anymore. The best way to go is to find your own inspiration, and it will be a million times easier to work with that inspiration.

Good luck writing your story! Let us know how it goes

[molliegym]

Hey,

I'm a writer too, so I know how frustrating writer's block can be. I'm not going to directly give you a plot because I think you should come up with your own plot. I will try to help you think of a plot though.

Something that helps me a lot is MUSIC! I listen to music for awhile and eventually... I might get an idea. A lot of what I've written is inspired by music- I just finished a story that was somewhat inspired by "The Adventure" by Angels & Airwaves. If I'm working on a story and I've got writer's block, I'll often listen to the music that inspired me initially for inspiration- when writing the aforementioned story, whenever I got writer's block (which was, erm, a lot), I'd listen to a lot of Angels & Airwaves and some Green Day (who also gave me some inspiration for the story).

Also, if you're having writer's block, remember that you don't necessarily have to write a story in order- beginning/middle/end. My usual strategy is I begin writing, and once I've got an idea of where the story's going, I'll write the ending (which usually gets changed quite a bit, but it's good to have something), and then work from there. Often times I'll know that I want "this thing" to happen at one point in the story, and once I write it out I'll have a better idea of how to get there.

When I get an idea, either for a story or a song, I write it down. My cellphone and iPod have tons of digital "notes" that I jot down for myself; I prefer paper, but if I'm really desperate I'll write on my hand.

Also, putting down the notebook- or not opening the file if you're typing- for a few days can help too.

[The Patron Saint]

Hey, writers block is never fun. Don't even know how to fix that myself, but I like to write about anomalies, things that can't be explained and don't even need to be. So try thinking of something extremely weird and then build off of it. Also, just take a look (for fun) at Kurt Vonneguts rules for writing:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Yeah, they don't instantly make a good story, but they're kind of fun to play around with