What do you do?

[Aquarius]

I wish I could help you, Aquarius, but I'm very much in the same boat as you are in regards to my Endeavour stuff (and my Star Wars fics and my NCIS fic ... but in those cases, I blame the utter and complete suckitude of the source material for killing the inspiration with two shots to the chest, and one to the head.) I know exactly how the next installment needs to unfold ... I'm just finding it extremely difficult to get the words or general inspiration to function. With my ongoing Divergent Paths story, I just set it aside for a small eternity and was somehow able to pick it back up without too much difficulty.

If you figure it out, though, could you clue me in? Please? Pretty please?

You got it, Rigil!

[Kotik]

I wish I could help you, Aquarius, but I'm very much in the same boat as you are in regards to my Endeavour stuff (and my Star Wars fics and my NCIS fic ... but in those cases, I blame the utter and complete suckitude of the source material for killing the inspiration with two shots to the chest, and one to the head.) I know exactly how the next installment needs to unfold ... I'm just finding it extremely difficult to get the words or general inspiration to function. With my ongoing Divergent Paths story, I just set it aside for a small eternity and was somehow able to pick it back up without too much difficulty.

If you figure it out, though, could you clue me in? Please? Pretty please?

I hit that particular snag with one of my stories back in february. I had fallen off the horse for the umpteenth time and had enough bruises to show for the stunt. Being at home, it should have been a perfect time to get some writing done, but the muse didn't hit as I had not written something for almost 3 months (which I spent in endless but fruitless attempts to become a better horse-ridist)
I finally managed to overcome that case of writers block by just sitting down and re-reading what I had written until then. Sometimes during that, the vibes, which had started my story in the first place, came back and I was able to continue my writing.

A second method that works for me is re-reading some of my favourite fanfics - mainly HoT material. I can remember at least 4 or 5 cases of writers block that were cured by re-reading HopefulRomantic's Reconnecting series or Zane Gray's "Differential". Your "Elysium" did it recently as well. What I really like about your stuff is the sort of effort you put into it - your putting faces to your OC's makes a real difference as well.

[ginamr]

Hey, look at my story "Coming Home". Sometimes it flows so easily with no logical explanation. You're just feeling the story. That's mostly how I work. If I'm feeling the emotions necessary to write the scene the way that fits, it comes out well-written even to my high standards. Just let your characters tell you what they want. Let it happen. I've written my share of sucky scenes when I didn't know what to write or how to write it...

The best thing to do is just to start. Given enough time you'll get on a roll.

[panyasan]

How to solve writers block? For me, it helps to read the last chapter, take my time, read a couple of my favorite TnT fic's and have some silence. It also helps me to have time to develop scenes in my head - under the shower - on my bike - resting.
If there has been a time between my last writing, I probably go in a different direction. I deleted my first version of Anomaly (by accident), but the rewrite (different that the orginal) turned out to be much better.
Reading positive remarks helps me as well. And like some one who help me to start writing: I just start writing and polishing. Sometimes a stories just flows, sometimes it comes with difficulty, but mostly the last one's are the best.

[aadarshinah]

Usually I end up getting my ideas while out running... and when one of them catches my mental eye, I tend to focus on it so much it should explode under the pressure.

Anyway, I got this idea while out running this week and, over the course of said week, have devloped it into this entire idea for a story seperate from what I'm working on now, but not entirely apart... and as a result have spent the last hour or so working on an overly elaborate (I'm sure) timeline what I'm working on now to connect the two. This should mean my writer's block has broken, as usually when I start creating complicated timelines, family trees, maps, languages, or similar I generally can actually write when I'm through with it.

[WarpGirl]

This should mean my writer's block has broken, as usually when I start creating complicated timelines, family trees, maps, languages, or similar I generally can actually write when I'm through with it.

Somebody else besides me does this?

[aadarshinah]

This should mean my writer's block has broken, as usually when I start creating complicated timelines, family trees, maps, languages, or similar I generally can actually write when I'm through with it.

Somebody else besides me does this?

You should see some of my original stuff... I spent 3 or so years on it before I got into this perminant state of writer's block and, from the smaller ones that happened in between, I have a wall full of maps and a family tree with 52 generations and 2100+ people, all of whom are so interrelated it takes about a page to write out how they're related to themselves, let alone other people...

[WarpGirl]

I was thinking about my fictional Russian Imperial family! But I need to do one for Trip's family. T'Pol's is small so I can keep it in my head. Trip... Not-so-much.

[Kotik]

You should see some of my original stuff... I spent 3 or so years on it before I got into this perminant state of writer's block and, from the smaller ones that happened in between, I have a wall full of maps and a family tree with 52 generations and 2100+ people, all of whom are so interrelated it takes about a page to write out how they're related to themselves, let alone other people...

That sounds to me like the start of the bible I never made it past the first few pages - too confusing for an atheist...

[aadarshinah]

I've a thing for family trees. Never created my own, but for my stories... I've a Family Tree Maker program that I admittedly use only for this purpose. I can't even pull up the complete family tree because it's so huge and convoluted; I have to do it in parts.

But, alas, my writer's block has returned. I blame my brother who, after calling me down to the repair shop to pick him up, made me wait 30 min for him to actually show up, asked me to pick him up fast food (which was hardly fast) and bring it to him while the car was looked at, and drop off said food before discovering his car didn't need to be left overnight at all, negating my whole purpose for showing up. Le sigh. Needless to say I'm peeved and can't seem to write because he's fuming at me because, apparently, I wasn't polite enough handing over the fast food for his liking... I swear...

[Alelou]

Crap like that would make me want to go board myself up in my office to write, write, write in my own little world.

[Aikiweezie]

Chocolate helps. Chocolate always helps.

What about a glass of wine?

I still haven't had the guts to write any Enterprise stuff, even though I have a few ideas floating around in my head.

When I was writing Robotech fan fiction I would go months without being able to write, and then something would get me going. I wish I couold say what, exactlly I do almost all of my preliminary outline in my head, while I'm doing stuff around the house, driving (is that dangerous?) or about to fall asleep. The problem with that is I frequently forget what I was thinking if I don't write it down.

[Aikiweezie]

A second method that works for me is re-reading some of my favourite fanfics - mainly HoT material.

That gets me going a little, too, but since I came into this whole thing kind of late, I worry sometimes that the "ideas" in my head aren't strictly my own. There so much out there and so much has been done, that I'm afraid to accidentally steal someone elses stuff.

[Kotik]

I've a thing for family trees. Never created my own, but for my stories... I've a Family Tree Maker program that I admittedly use only for this purpose. I can't even pull up the complete family tree because it's so huge and convoluted; I have to do it in parts.

But, alas, my writer's block has returned. I blame my brother who, after calling me down to the repair shop to pick him up, made me wait 30 min for him to actually show up, asked me to pick him up fast food (which was hardly fast) and bring it to him while the car was looked at, and drop off said food before discovering his car didn't need to be left overnight at all, negating my whole purpose for showing up. Le sigh. Needless to say I'm peeved and can't seem to write because he's fuming at me because, apparently, I wasn't polite enough handing over the fast food for his liking... I swear...

There's nothing wrong with sis' punching bro in the face sounds like you had a Kotik-day

[Kotik]

A second method that works for me is re-reading some of my favourite fanfics - mainly HoT material.

That gets me going a little, too, but since I came into this whole thing kind of late, I worry sometimes that the "ideas" in my head aren't strictly my own. There so much out there and so much has been done, that I'm afraid to accidentally steal someone elses stuff.

There's nothing wrong with that. With the sheer amount of fanfic, there's hardly any idea left unexplored. Just make sure to give credit to the original author. Thre's a brilliant story called "Firebrand" by Cinoflex on HoT. At least two authors used that idea and they still managed to make it very unique.