Inspire Me

[witchyemerald.livejournal.com]

HOW TO RECHARGE YOUR MUSE

Ever find yourself without inspiration? Feel like your muse left you without a forwarding address? What do you do to get your mojo back?

Not to long ago I had a case of the blahs. You know that feeling, you want to lay down, curl up, and practice on your sighing. Everyone was like, just write something, or let me give you ideas. But that was not the problem. I had ideas, but some times you just need a recharge.

So what can you do when your brain is on vacation?

1. Get out and move! - Be it enjoying your self, or people watching, sometimes your eyes need to see more than your computer screen. What better why to right about people, than seeing them in their habitat.

2. Read - either a good fanfiction, or crack open a book to a new world.

3. Watch TV - with me I call it mindless entertainment at this point, but I have gotten into 2 new fandoms this year by watching Netflix

4. Start a journal - I have a couple myself by now. Not just writing but for life too. Try to do one on prompt ideas also. I may never write a everything in there, and some might be shit. But it does help sometimes.

5. Try prompts - and I mean non fandom ones. Drabbles let you play with characters, or devolve your own. You should see how many I write more about.

What do you do when you find yourself sitting and watching the clouds go by?

Comments

[kitty_fic]

I think all of your suggestions are good ones. For me, my #1 is definitely reading! It helps me to feel better and more inspired to get lost in a good, long fic.

Something else that helps is being creative in a different way, (art, crafts, something other than writing)
And video games is another good way to get lost in doing something different. :)

[swissmarg]

Sleep. I go over a lot of what I want to write when I'm drifting off to sleep. It's much easier for me to picture the scenes in my head in the dark than it is when I'm sitting in front of the computer screen. Sometimes I'll kind of work through a scene all night, mixing in with my real dreams, until it comes out the way I want.

[sylvaticginger.livejournal.com]

Your no 1 is my no 1 also! Get out and move – in my case run. It is the only option I have in my life now to be alone in my head and I can declutch my brain and just let everyting roll. I hate the first 10 minutes of every singel run, but then the ideas come for every possible thing: life, work or art. But, sometimes I need inspiration to actually get those shoes on. And this is what I use then!

"Run like a mother - how to get moving and not loose your family, job or sanity"

[bloodisshrp.livejournal.com]

Ooh, those are some pretty interesting ideas I could try the next time I get stuck.

What helps me the most when I just can't think of something is to immerse myself in doing something really mundane, like cleaning my cupboard (ugh.), while plugged into my iPod. Even travelling to and fro from school for that matter, the music keeps me thinking and often I'm able to work where I'm stuck and fix it. :)

[digthewriter]

Lately I have gotten into art... I am not very good but it helps me relax my mind.

When I am writing, I can't watch TV. But with drawing and photoshop... I watch an episode or two while I am editing something online in pixlr or gimp... I kill two birds with one stone.. and then a day or two later, I am refreshed and ready to write again.

[dracogotgame.livejournal.com]

#1 works for me, as does #3. When I get stuck, I usually just stop for a while and watch a movie or something. It helps me to recharge a bit.

Another thing I read on a previous Inspire Me post (or it may have been somewhere else, but I think it was here) was to write a 'letter' to the characters you're working with and imagine them writing back- how would they respond to your plot, for example? What would they say about it or where your story is going? I find that works sometimes- I once wrote a letter to Sirius Black and it helped me to hash his character out a bit.

Plus, it was very entertaining. By the time I was done, I was ready to write an actual fic instead of faffing about :)

[slashedsilver.livejournal.com]

I read! Definitely. If I don't feel like writing or producing anything, a good fic is enough to give me the feels again :) (Or sign up for random challenges for that adrenaline rush.)

I saw what praevarus said about writing by hand, and I do find that it works for me too! If I'm blocked on the computer, I try to change my medium of writing (sometimes that means changing a writing programme, or writing on an entirely blank page -- something that shakes it up a bit).

[xonceinadream]

I generally try to write through it. Even if what I write is crap then it's easier for me to try to write than not. And if I just really seriously can't then I just take a break. Do anything but that. Odds are in no time, I'll have enough ideas that I just have to get it all out.

And prompts are always fun to do. I live off of prompts (although mostly fandom ones).

I'll have to try taking a walk. I'm not generally one for that because it's too leisurely for me (always on the move!) but I'll try it sometime.

[meglw0228.livejournal.com]

I love all your suggestions, and have used all of them at least once. I especially like #1 and #2, they've helped me a lot.

Another way I find that motivates me is similar to #1, cleaning. I know definitely not the funnest thing to do, but I've found it can help jog ideas really well. My all time favourite though is listening to music. Usually just listening helps me figure out what to say next, or even just helps me find a word.

[kitty_fic]

Oh yes I agree with others... something I forgot to mention is music! It's a great way to rejuvenate my muse <3

[lyonessheart.livejournal.com]

I go out to a cafe or take a walk, so Number 1 works pretty well for me. Sometimes I start baking - because if I can´t write I start making something with my hands - its carthaic in its own sense. At the end of the day I have something done, and mostly it tastes good too :)

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

I listen to music and if that doesn't work I listen to this specifically (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrp4a_DDmR8qmEF2jbxPvs6j0ZoJHvrVj). Drowning out the noise in the rest of my house usually helps me. Sometimes clean, because I've noticed that doing tasks that don't need my full attention help me think about...well I guess technically it is daydreaming, but that is where stories put themselves together.

And I pace.