Young Writers Society

I can't write. I haven't been on this site for a week or two and used to be on every day for hours.

For some reason I'm afraid to write. Everytime i go to sit down with a pen and paper i begin to kind of panic(its hard to explain!) and I just can't write. This only started recently. Some people say just sit down and write anything at all but i'm really impatient and this isn't working.

I feel like anything I write will be crap!!!

Aaah, I might know why?

You've seen other people's work and you're upset that you can't be as good as some of them? And even if the ideas are really good you find them rubbish and give up? You need to have more confidence in your self?

Aaaah, well that was me, and my work will do as I know that I am better than someone in this world at writing.

As maddox said "In everything, there is a bottom, that bottom is you."
And you could refer to any one of us, so your at least better than them.
As they are better than you.

But yeah, go outside and write, change location, listen to something differnet (if you listen to anything at all)

Critique a zillion things until you get the idea what NOT to write. That'll give you at least a couple things to cross of your list.

Give yourself permission to write badly.

Well... me being the silly essayist I am, I look at the story I'm working on and find something to research indepth. For example, the effects of heroin. It's cool, trust me.

Or, if you don't have a story being worked on at the moment, PUT EVERYTHING DOWN AND DO NOT WRITE. Instead of writing, do something active. It'll help get the ideas up and around.

Well, I'd wait until something really outrageously funny came to me, then write about that, because stuff I'm laughing at never seems so hard to write. Or you could take a break, stop thinking about writing for a while, like Sam said critique stuff, then go back to it. Or ... and I'm NOT recomending this one, it's dangerous ... force yourself to write something no matter how bad and just keep plodding on until the old rhythm comes back.
The problem with the first one is sometimes nothing outregeously funny comes to you. The problem with the second one is that you might never get round to writing again. The problem with last one is that it could easily kill your love for writing. The problem with all of them is that they might not work.

I have this cycle (which me and my friend call the writer's menstrual cycle) where for one period of time (I'd average it at about a week or so, maybe more) I'm inspired by everything and can't stop writing. Then that'll end, and I won't be able to write anything, and if I try to force something out it's usually pretty bad. Then the whole things starts over again.

So basically, I'm saying that I know how you feel. My best advice is not to force anything. Because it may not come out how you want it, and that'll just make you more frustrated. Just let it sit, and wait for something to come to you on its own. Just wait it out

I have had nearly the exact same experience, except that instead of feeling like my writing is going to be crap, I just can't think. Worst thing is, I had an english project this week and this happened again. I'm making some stupid crap about side-kicks and super heroes, a subject I never want to bring up for personal reasons.

Well, anyways this happened to me a lot of times, and I usually just wait it out, but sometimes, I write and erase, write and erase, write and erase, until something good comes out. Or at least better than what would happen during this period.

Akisha, I recently had writers block and couldn't write anything either. If you want to start writing again just get a blank piece of paper and write down any kind of story that forms in your head, you can listen to music (which is what I do) or you can go outside. Watching people is a great way to write, you get to understand people better by watching how people interact with each other.

Best of luck!