"Even if I got rid of all my problems, I'd just go out and get new ones..."

Writer's block makes my head hurt
10:09 p.m. on 2005-02-20

... and not just because I keep banging it against the desk.

Ack, I hate writer's block.

I'm about a third of the way through a lengthy fic but I'm stuck in that awkward phase, where you have to write filler plot, and make it interesting, otherwise it's all fluff. Trouble is, as a reader of other's fic, I know all I want to do is flick through the exposition to get to the good stuff, and as a writer, it's even worse. Yes, bits and pieces are interesting and yes, it's good practice, having to write all the descriptions and to create new OCs and make them something more than plot-spouting one-dimensional cartoons, but... I want to whump, damn it!

It's also difficult because my style in writing fanfic is much different, and more conventional, than my style for writing normal fic. In fanfic, it's almost always third person, which means you have to be very careful about POVs and how many "he" and "she"s you use without bogging down the passages with names. It has a tendency to become clunky, particularly when there are more than two or three people in a scene.

And I have to describe stuff, using phrases that make sense, and not simply random collections of words picked to give an impression of a feeling or sensation.

All in all, it means I'm forcing words onto the page, rather than them flowing naturally. It's not my best work, but I'm excusing myself on two grounds - firstly, I can compensate with the scenes that do flow nicely, and that I do think are well written, and second, well... let's put it this way, it might not be my best work, but it's still not a badly hacked up Mary Sue.

What makes it all worse is that whilst writing this fic, several ideas have come to me for some others, and I'm suddenly more interested in them than I am in the original story. The one I'm currently posting, that all of at least two people are expecting updates on. So what do you do? Do you ignore your ideas and concentrate on the current plot, forcing out scenes that aren't your best work for the sake of finishing it off, and thus potentially losing the "moment" with those fresh ideas? Or do you ignore your original fic and instead immerse yourself in a new creation - then running the risk of slipping into a pattern, failing to finish one fic only to start another, and have that one lapse when you discover another new idea?

Then there's always the third option. That usually involves Coronation Street, a cup of tea, a Creme Egg, and me snapping at the screen: "Oh for god's sake Shelley, do you not see? He's evil. EVIL I TELL YOU!"

Listening to: Tom McRae - Karaoke Soul

Quote: "It's like wearing metal boxer shorts and someone giving you an atomic wedgie!"

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