What do you do?

[Aquarius]

This is more of a creative process question, vs. a TnT question...but since it applies to writing TnT fic for our purposes, I'm putting it here.

So, say you were in the middle of writing a story, and you were in this great head space--you knew exactly what you had to do, what the scene was supposed to look like, and how you were going to make that come alive on the page. It was going to be beautiful, you were sure of it.

But then, you get interrupted. And I don't mean the kind of interrupted where somebody comes into the room and says something stupid to you for no good reason. I mean the kind of interrupted where life happens, and you don't touch the thing again for *weeks*!

So, you're not in that same head space any more, and you can't find it again. As a writer, do you have a way of getting back there? Do you just try to pick up where you left off and if it takes you in a new direction, oh well? Do you abandon the project?

I'm curious to know who else has faced this, and what you did (if anything) to overcome this obstacle.

[Alelou]

If I'm back after a long absence, I start by reading what I wrote before, or the chapter previously posted. That usually gets me back in gear.

However, I'm so often surprised by what happens on the page I'm writing that I don't tend to worry too much about whatever it was I had in my head when I started. If it doesn't fit what I was aiming for ... I'll just go with the new direction, at least while drafting. Very, very seldom does the final piece closely resemble whatever theories I may have had about the piece before I sat down. (My fantasies tend to be a lot cheesier than anything I'd want to post.)

Sometimes, after I let the new draft sit a day or two, and I come back to it, I'll realize where I went off-track from something I really did want to do. In that case, I'll throw out the tangent (or put it in a file for possible use later if I like something about it), and start over, hopefully with a clearer idea of what I was heading for originally. (Sometimes the characters just refuse to go along, however. Generally speaking, I believe in letting them win.)

And I do have half-finished projects sitting un-touched on my hard drive for months and years. It happens. It's not worth beating yourself up about it. Pick it up again if you're interested, and let it go if you're not.

[WarpGirl]

Only all the time. I thought Ch 5 would never ever get written. I try all sorts of things from music and movies, to favorite fics, just about ANYTHING. But the best thing I've come up with so far is wait it out. Eventually something breaks. "Everything happens eventually."

[honeybee]

I agree with Alelou, you start by rereading what you wrote and trying to remember the headspace you were in.

However, you're a different person and different writer than you were, even a few weeks ago. It's okay to embrace that. If your plan changes, run with it. It will turn out better than if you try and stick to a plan that no longer serves your reasons for writing or doesn't move you to write.

Also, don't feel the need to write in order. Write the scene that pops into your head, see where that takes you. I think Margaret Mitchell wrote "Gone with the Wind" backwards from the last scene.

Good luck!

[enterprikayak]

And I do have half-finished projects sitting un-touched on my hard drive for months and years. It happens. It's not worth beating yourself up about it.

Also, don't feel the need to write in order. Write the scene that pops into your head, see where that takes you. I think Margaret Mitchell wrote "Gone with the Wind" backwards from the last scene.

Ditto. Ditto.

[WarpGirl]

I wish I could write out-of-order! I tried I just can't.

[enterprikayak]

Aureilia made this:

[WarpGirl]

You go girl!

[Aquarius]

Aureilia made this:

Y'know, somewhere in there, I think there's probably a hidden message with some pretty good advice.

[crystalswolf]

Have had exactly the same problem lately, although life continues to interrupt cruelly. I've done as Alelou suggested as well as listening to the same songs I listened to when originally thinking of the chapter and it works until life's little moments comes around to pull me away again. But music seems to be key for me, though.

[Aquarius]

Music usually does for me, too. I have a specific playlist for every 'ship I write for. Not all songs are useful for all stories/scenes. I actually like my TnT one, because it's...diverse.

But this particular project is a special case, one that I don't have a soundtrack for, and I wasn't listening to anything in particular while writing it. So maybe I screwed myself there?

[Alelou]

I'm actually reading a book about getting organized (hope springs eternal) that suggests having half-hour playlists for just about every chore in your life: a cleaning playlist, a filing playlist, etc. etc. So the music will help cue you to do what you need to do, and also when to stop.

Of course, I'd need to add "making playlists" to my list of things to do for this to work. And my current playlists all seem to suggest "read and write fanfic instead of doing what you ought to be doing."

[Kotik]

Aureilia made this:

This post should come with an epilepsy warning

[EntAllat]

Have had exactly the same problem lately, although life continues to interrupt cruelly. I've done as Alelou suggested as well as listening to the same songs I listened to when originally thinking of the chapter and it works until life's little moments comes around to pull me away again. But music seems to be key for me, though.

Me too!

If it was music that inspired the writing in the first place, I'm good no matter how many days, weeks, months, etc. later I come back to the piece. Music is usually what brings to mind stories and scenes or, at the very least, puts me in the right frame of mind.

If it was something else, like an event or something I experienced, then a little web searching on that event, looking at photos, etc. can put me back in that same headspace. If it was a dream, I'm usually screwed and everyone else is better off for it.

Something that's helped me is to do a stream-of-conciousness dump when I have the idea at first. I don't worry about misspellings, punctuation, whether something is prose or dialog. I just keep typing until I feel I've made enough notes. Some of it ends up being usable prose, some of it dialog but a lot of it is just notes to myself. These usually, though not always, work to help me remember what I had in mind in the first place.

And of course, like everyone else said, re-reading what I did mange to write often helps. Though I've usually lost whatever flow I had before, what I come up with instead is usually better.

[enterprikayak]

Though I've usually lost whatever flow I had before, what I come up with instead is usually better.

I wonder what this "flow" we all experience actually IS.

Like could someone do an mmri with someone writing "in the flow" and then another one of someone writing who's gotten out of the flow, and compare.

Cause one is night and the other one is day.

It's like the difference between hamburger and unicycles. HUGE.