Young Writers Society

This seems to be a common thing that I can't find a topic for, so I thought I'd start my own.

What do find helps getting over procrastination or writers block?
Also, what kind of things do you find induce them?


My favourite methods:

Food. Get a bowl of your favourite sweet/candy or crisp/chip. For each sentence you write, you get one.

Pets are great. Whenever you can't put your own feelings onto paper, tell them to your pet, then write it all down from your pets point of view of what he/she has just been told.

Write every day. The longer you don't write for, the harder it gets. I have a story that makes no sense at all and has more spelling and grammer errors than an illiterate clingon, but it keeps me writing every day.

Supress the inner editor! I don't know if it's the same for other people, but sometimes I get so worried about what other people will think of my writing, and try so hard to make it perfect, that I end up writing nothing at all.


These don't always work, but they help. I'm wondering if other people have methods as bizarre as mine.

Procrastination

If this is the department of procrastination prevention, then I own the department of pre-exam procrastination. Here's our fool proof guide to wasting time: weblog_entry.php?POST_ENTRY_URL=17549

As for writing (which is actualy enjoyable =P), I don't really procrastinate--I just get very distracted. I think my biggest enemy is the internet: I check websites like YWS for new posts, every five minutes or so. Get distracted by trying to remember what show the theme song stuck in my head is from, and then start watching stuff on youtube. Looking for avatars is also a good one.

OH! The ultimate way to procrastinate: daydreaming. Why bother writing when you can watch the story play out in your head like a movie? Never mind that once you've watched it movie style you lose all will to actually write it down. =P

Procrastination prevention

As for anit-procrastination...just get started. Once you start, it's easy to forget all the other little things that could get in the way.

Writer's block is also something I don't suffer from, mainly because my mind is so abstract I can always pull an iea out of somewhere. But here's some ways I beat writers block when looking for a new idea:
a. Word banks : take random verbs, nouns and adjectives and mix them together into a short sentence that you use as the main 'idea' of a plot. Not all plot are any good, but it works.
b. Reading. Imagination is an illusion. We cannot think what we do not know. If we had never seen a lizard, we'd never be able to imagine a dragon. Thus, by reading you expand your knowledge base and have more information you can turn into an idea (but you always have to be careful of taking an idea someone else had =P)
c. Pictures. Imagine up a still scene, or find a picture, and inspire yourself. I don't do this much, though I did imagine up this dramatic commercial in my head once and then write the plot that it supposedly explained. =P

Umm...I think that's it!

^_^ The queen of pre-exam procrastination!

Prevention...

Turn off the computer, or exit the internet if you need the computer. [currently failing]

Don't go on YWS, Myspace, Facebook, emails...anything else. [also currrently failing]

Turn off the tv. [...failing trice]

Radio is okay some times.

Proper lighting. [F again]

Prepare notes.

Focus.



.....now, as I am trying to write a paper...lets so how long it takes me without doing any of this haha.

When I procrastinate, it's because I can't think of anything to write. It's not exactly writer's block, since I have an outline but it's more of finding the right words to convey it. So I just wait for the moment to come to me, you know?

Well. I guess that has to do more with writer's block. As for procrastination, I did a little article on it, back in the writing tips sections. It was more of a rant, but some people messaged me and said it really motivated them into writing again. But yes, it looks like I'll have to do some more ranting for procrastination. And then I'll post the link here.

:]

Eat. Maybe a bowl of cereal, but not too big or you'll get sleepy.

Listen to music, preferably a playlist for your story and just close your eyes and see the emotion in it.

Take a walk outside. OUTSIDE, the treadmill doesn't count. Get some fresh air.

Go on myspace and satisfy all your internet-related needs, maybe an hour and a half until you're bored. Then go do your story.

Watch some TV. Look at the plot arrangements in the movies.

Go to sleep. Sleep everything off, that way you won't have the pressure to actually write.

Go to a cafe, like Starbucks or the Hardback Cafe [Hastings' cafe, if anyone is unfamiliar with their place; the caramel frappe is better than Starbucks'] for 3 hours or so. The environment is usually peaceful, and even if it isn't I usually work better with background noise.

Read some writing books. :] If you try to read any other book than that, you'll get distracted and when you want to write you'll still be thinking about the book.

Do your homework. Then, when you're done, appreciate the fact that writing is actually
enjoyable than solving linear equations.

If all else fails, just wait. Wait until everything comes to you. Space out your writing schedule; I find it hard to adhere to a set time for getting Chapter so-and-so done, it just makes the pressure even more.

--Seree.

[quote]Supress the inner editor! I don't know if it's the same for other people, but sometimes I get so worried about what other people will think of my writing, and try so hard to make it perfect, that I end up writing nothing at all. [/quote]

That's my problem, right there. I think I'd become a heck of alot better at writing if I wasn't so set on ALWAYS being good at it.

Great tips! ^_^

1. Write something else and put it on YWS.

2. Work on story until someone comments.

3. Repeat.

The thing about procrastination is that as soon as you find things to do to prevent it you are, technically, procrastinating. Unless your prevention tactic is to just get on with it.

Personally I embrace my Procrastination as an art. No! As a friend.

Sorry I'm being useless.

I am procrastinator extraordinare. Fear me.

Actually, my muse fears me. I fear myself. Am I making any sense?

See, by doing this I so just procrastinated again!

Elelel: ....what?

XD

Well ... I think quite a lot of my procrastination takes place when I try and cure my procrastination. Like, I would say "I'll have some hot chocolate because that will make me feel more like writing and thusly I will stop procrastinating!" Only making and drinking the hot chocolate were, in fact, just a way of procrastinating and as soon as I finished I would find something else to do that would, in theory, end my procrastination.

... or something?

Haha.....it's no doubt that for some writers procrastination is one of the nastiest evils around. I think my personal problem is that I just can't get myself to sit down......I begin to think that I have homework to do or somewhere to go. And in the end I decide that I just cant do it. Almost as if i fear those whte pages.
Prevention. Well, if you're old enough and independant....which I cant really call myself, you can sit through the night at let everything come out. Franz Kafka finished his story The Judgement over one night. Well, it turned out not so good and it was short too so this might not be the answer.
Editor killing. Yes, that's another shortcoming in me at least. eg. I was just about to put a hiphen between editor and killing and was also going to put inverted commas around the second time I used those words. Not a bad idea at that, but I'm short of time.
Distraction. No, not one of my problems really and i cant say i have writer's block anyway.
A suggestion.......start a diary and note down how much you have written. Study yourself and make the effort. I just started this.
Oh wait....I have something else to say too...........poetry. Poetry always drags me from prose. Nope, not good. Gotta do something. Maybe I'm wasting my time here.