Tag: tips

NaNo Special: Writer’s Block

Good morning, my special friends! It’s time for another NaNo Special! Today, I’m going to talk about probably the most frustrating thing a writer can go through (in my opinion, at least). Yep, we’re talking about Writer’s Block.

I like to envision writing a bit like driving… Which is funny since I can’t drive. And yet, in my mind, I’m driving with my characters along the road that is the story’s plot. Sometimes they take the wheel and drag me through detours, while other times they just sit back and let me work. But sometimes, the road leads to a dead end. And, upon that dead end, I imagine a massive stone monument: a slab of Writer’s Block.

I try to keep my toolbox full of things to break the block down, naturally. Sometimes it requires a hammer, sometimes it needs to be set aflame. Many times, though, the only way I can get past a writer’s block is another detour. That, or take a trip to another story that has less blocks on its course.

See, I find detours and changes in direction the best methods for me to deal with writer’s block. If I don’t do those, I just end up sitting and staring at the block for an hour with absolutely no progress. By either jumping to a different road in the story or taking a route to a different story for a while, I manage to give the block time to sink into quicksand on the road, and return to it later with much clearer ideas and abilities to conquer it.

Another helpful thing is to have creative snacks. I remember reading once that someone recommended blue ice cream as a good writing food, but there’s a lot of options to get some sugary goodness that’ll get your motors going. For some reason, sugar is helpful for creative projects like this. Whether it’s blue ice cream or interestingly shaped cookies, there’s all sorts of snacks out there just waiting to be devoured for your writerly pleasure.

If you’re really hitting the wall with a hammer and having no luck, sometimes it’s good to take a break from writing altogether. Take some time for self care- go take a soothing bath or do a facial mask. Take a nice walk outside if the weather permits, or maybe just chat with a friend. Relaxation is a good way to help ease out of writer’s block and avoid burn out. Don’t forget it’s good to take a break once in a while either way, both for your stress levels and your eyes!

I know this isn’t much, but it’s all I can think of that might help. These are things that help me a lot, but they may not help you. Still, they’re things to try. If you have any tips for writer’s block of your own, share them in the comments so I can try them! If we all work together, we can all get a lot more done, don’t you think?

Topical Tuesday: Starting Fresh

Hihi! Thank you for returning (or visiting, if it’s your first time here) to my blog.

Now, for those of you that don’t know me, I have many things I’m known for. One of those things is restarting a project no matter how much progress I had because I know there’s a way better way I could be doing things. This “Topical Tuesday”, I’ll be focusing a little bit about my recent work on rebooting some old projects. We’ll mostly be focusing on ‘how?’ and ‘why?’.

Let’s start with my main reboot, Alien Irony: Redux. Alien Irony was my first comic, and it’s always been a very personal project. The heroine is based on the first character I ever made for myself when I was just a little girl, and a lot of my life problems and misconceptions play a crucial part in building the story. This time, my goal is to make the comic good enough to sell- but also just to fill in all the plot holes, inconsistencies and other such things from the original. For more information about the project as a whole, feel free to look at my Alien Irony: Redux Blog.

The way I’m going about rebooting it is simple. For starters, I’ve been writing a script for it, to have more consistency and a better flow than the original had. Scenes got moved around, added and just generally improved upon. Characters are getting more fleshed out, I find, and I’m learning more of the plot holes that I’ll need to tackle as I write the script. It’s amazing what a different medium can teach you about your story!

The other reboots I’ve taken on are simple ones just for fun. I’ve restarted my Comic Diary, which you can see on my DeviantART, along with my recreation of my shoujo ai comedy that I never really got far with, Our Days in Cooking Club. Now, ODiCC failed for a lot of reasons, but it was mostly because I was thinking too hard on it. ODiCC is meant to be silly, carefree, and pretty random. So, I’m mostly writing it when I’m in the mood to just fool around with ComiPo. It’s a simple but fun project now… And it helps that I love my characters’ designs even more thanks to a friend making me some awesome hairdos for them!

See? Aren’t they just lovely and interesting? Another thing that makes this a simple and fun topic is the characters- there aren’t too many you’ll actually see, unlike in Alien Irony- that gives time for more gags and goofiness, since I won’t be introducing extra characters all too often.

So, if this was too long and you couldn’t read it, here’s the point: sometimes, a remake is inevitable. It can be for your sanity or for your story- it’s okay, sometimes, to throw out the old draft and restart. Just don’t do it as often as I do… Because you’ll never finish anything. Some things are fine the way they are. Find a balance, and you’ll be fine.

That’s all for now! Bye bye~!