writers block~?

Question

I haven't been able to think of anything for a week, and I have an assignment due soon. Every time I put my composition book in front of me I just end up doodling on it or staring at it like it is my worst enemy.

anybody have any suggestions that work for you?

I think the reason why I have this block is because I don't know what's required of me yet from this instructor I have (beginning of course). I think I will be okay now. I have come up with some ideas surprisingly while I was at work not thinking about the ideas. :)

Answer 1

Try writing some poetry. It can be free verse, haiku, or silly rhymes. Start with something common, like your screen name (or someone else's).

From
"Zombies ate my tofu"

you easily get to:
Zombies ate my doe food
Zombies ate my toad food
I never knew Purina
Made anything that good
If it's good enough for them
It's good enough for me
Toad food morning, noon and night
Through all eternity!

Now you have ideas about odd types of animal feed, what might happen to you if you ate some, how you are or aren't like a zombie, and what goes into animal feed.

With a slight variation
"Zombies ate my toe food"
I knew I should have tried finger food

Now you have some bizarre Stephen-Kinglike ideas about the dining habits of your fingers and toes, or perhaps eating fingers and toes, or processed food (chicken nuggets?) shaped like fingers and toes, or fingers and toes chopped up and processed like chicken nuggets, breaded, and shaped like fingers and toes!

If you still need help, find some articulate small children (4-6 yrs old) who understand rhymes, songs, and games. They are super-creative and can get your muse back to work pronto, just play with them, sing songs, solve riddles. You can also do this with younger children, but you have to talk with them respectfully, really caring about what they have to say. Even their misunderstandings and misstatements are worth exploring: "if we go in the entrance, do we go out the outrance?"

There is a real connection between prose & poetry, and your muse will benefit from both. A last suggestion is to make a list of titles, change them with some kind of play on words, and use the title as the inspiration for the story that follows. For example, there is a famous Cream song "Sunshine of your Love". Change it to "Moonshine of your Love" and you immediately conjure images of hillbillies in love evading the revenue men while they try to sell enough corn squeezin's to pay for their wedding and/or honeymoon.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Sigh, I empathize but can't compare, in my situations. I'm a life long writer and have suggestions.

First of all the word "ASSIGNED" defines someone else DEMANDS.

What you might do, if "writing" is at all some small level of a passion for you, is just "WRITE"

On a larger measure, you can create whatever you scribble, or doodle into some kind of journal/diary, even to the point of denying the WHY of the assignment.

Since you give NO real detail it's difficult to advise, as it relates to TOPIC or on your level, HOMEWORK (no offense) BUT it needs to be important to you in that it's expected of you. BTW you aren't unique in being bored about what is "ASSIGNED"

In the Universal scheme, does it matter anyway? Again without knowing the topic at all, on any level, I can likely cite dozens of profound compositions of "A" quality, expressed in a single word, or sentence.

Steven Wolf

Answer 3

What's the subject?

Whenever I get caught like this, I just do a little more research, maybe even read papers similar to the one I want to write. Then I just sit back and try to visualize what I want to say. Sometimes I visualize the ideas as different colored bubbles and I try to put them in some kind of order.

Answer 4

You're being overly critical with your writing. Relax. Just put words on paper. Don't think whether it's good, bad, correct, or incorrect, just write. Once you finished writing enough to met your assignment requirements, stop. Take a break. Watch TV. Eat. Go out with a friend. Afterward, return to your writing and start editing it to make the paper presentable. You're just being over critical of yourself.

Answer 5

There is a phrase that I like to expound on when I have a block: If today was tomorrow yesterday, would tomorrow ever come? Or, if you need more or different ideas, write about a time in your life that you would change because you didn't like the outcome.
Roy K.

Answer 6

Try starting in the middle. You can write the first sentence later.

Good luck.