Writing skills diminished?

[Soline]

I'm having quite a problem. I -feel- as though I've become worse at writing. I compare what I write or RP now to how I used to and don't think it's as good. At the same time I'm struggling to produce at anywhere near the speed I used to, for example I wrote 25k words in a little over a fortnight simply for a trade, and I'm still struggling on past the 5k mark, two months on (granted I had a series of issues that kept me from writing for about a month of that) For a PAID commission, from a FRIEND, not to mention in 2011.

I think I was undercharging myself, writing 20k words for a little under 30 bucks, but again for this last one (literally, I've closed my commissions. I think it's part of the problem) I've refunded the money because of the time, and I'm writing it purely as an apology, and because I'm 5k words in and don't want to drop the whole thing.


The problem is I can't remember how I USED to feel, I -think- I'm writing worse, slower and with less enthusiasm than I used to, but I can't remember how pleased I actually was with my work. All I know is I miss enjoying writing like I used to. I much prefer drawing, even though my drawings are of lesser quality, and I don't -want- to wind up giving up writing for drawing, I want to sit down and type for fun again.



Any help I would be extremely grateful for, but there's one aspect I'd love help with. Checking the word count. One thing I KNOW I never did before commissions was checking wordcounts. I imagine essays and workloads probably contributed, but while writing just some random stuff I found myself constantly checking how many words I'd written, total and in the last 10,15,30 minutes, even though it didn't matter! I didn't have a deadline, there wasn't a time limit, no one was relying on me to produce it! I made a physical point of -not- looking at the count, but that just made it worse.


I would link to my works, but pretty much all of them are adult, sexual and vorish. Which brings me to a side question, anyone know a good site for sharing written works and getting feedback where it's not pron? I know I -can- do that on FA, but the response from non-friends is virtually non-existant if the story isn't smutty.

 

[Sundown]

Could get a writing partner I suppose. My beta/penpal is a lot of help when I actually manage to produce anything. ^^; (I'm a slacker.)

Sometimes it's nice just to exchange little snippets of writing. Plus it's surprisingly helpful in developing characters. Maybe you could try the reverse and write a story in the smallest word count possible? Or you could listen to music or read some inspiring poetry... my personal favorite is to take a book I love and admire and read the whole thing. That usually gets me fired up to try writing again.

When even THAT isn't enough, it's time to pull out the big guns.

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/11/22/the-writers-prayer-the-penmonkey-paean/

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/11/02/the-inkslingers-invocation-the-writers-prayer-ii/

^^^The Big Guns^^^

(Also I would read your non-smutty stuff if you like, though I'm not sure how much help I'll be...)

 

[Landown]

You need to remind yourself why you write in the first place. Get back to the core of the passion of it and what fueled it. Was it just because you love to write? A creative outlet? Maybe a stress relief? Only you know,and only then can you get to the root of the problem. I myself am working on a huge writing project and sometimes I can get 50 paragraphs written,and others less than five. Sometimes our performance fluctuates,but it doesnt define us.We always have our highs and lows. Its a matter of pushing through them. I never worried myself with word count,because I feel its not about how much written but what is that matters. I hope this helped.

 

[Poetigress]

I think I was undercharging myself, writing 20k words for a little under 30 bucks

I would say yes, absolutely -- but then, one of the big reasons I don't do commissions is that to make it worthwhile for me, I'd have to charge prices that I doubt anyone would be willing to pay, so I'm probably not the best one to talk to on that aspect.

The problem is I can't remember how I USED to feel, I -think- I'm writing worse, slower and with less enthusiasm than I used to, but I can't remember how pleased I actually was with my work. All I know is I miss enjoying writing like I used to. I much prefer drawing, even though my drawings are of lesser quality, and I don't -want- to wind up giving up writing for drawing, I want to sit down and type for fun again.

And of course, the more you stress about it, the less that's likely to happen.

We all have creative rhythms, and we have to learn to work with them and not against them. I would say follow where your energy is now, and don't beat yourself up over it. For several years I wrote mostly poetry, then switched to short stories, and now I'm writing fiction almost exclusively and the poetry is a surprise when it shows up. I used to do a lot more art, but I've realized that I don't have enough time or creative energy to go at both art and writing full-tilt. That doesn't mean I've given art up, though. So if you're getting more pleasure out of art, follow that for a while. It doesn't mean you're going to wind up giving up writing entirely; it's just taking a break to recharge. Skill-wise, I doubt you've truly lost anything (except maybe momentum), but I think it's perfectly normal to have some ebb and flow in how much you write and even what the quality is like. Artists' progress -- whether it's visual art or written -- isn't always a neatly linear thing. You can try prompts, try exercises, try making lists of random things, anything to keep yourself feeling productive until the fire comes back, but if it's making you miserable, and you don't have deadlines or outside pressures anyway, then I'd say go with the creative thing that is a joy right now, and do that fully, and be patient with yourself.

anyone know a good site for sharing written works and getting feedback where it's not pron? I know I -can- do that on FA, but the response from non-friends is virtually non-existant if the story isn't smutty.

There's FurRag, which is fine for posting either adult or general:
http://furrag.com/

And all I know about this is what it says on the website, but there's also a critique group forming here:
http://awrfstories.wordpress.com/

 

[Little Ghost]

Some good advice so far, guys. What I typically do when I'm faced with the beast known as creative block/lack of emotion is listen to music. While music is my personal preference, I'd recommend turning to any other form of media for inspiration. Look at art, videos, other works of fiction, whatever - just something to get you in the proper mood to write. I find that if I'm not in a certain mood, a sort of emotional one, it's almost impossible to write something good, and music helps me get in that mood. But that's just me.

 

[dietrc70]

What you're experiencing is not uncommon. These kind of artistic plateaus are very frustrating, but I think nearly all good or potentially good creative people have to deal with them.

Working on drawing is not a bad idea at all. I actually switched nearly all my energy to art in the past few years because my writing had stalled out. My understanding of the characters and stories that I want to tell has improved as my ability to visually portray them has grown. I think that this growth is helping to clarify the creative dilemmas that stalled my writing.

The other advice here is good. I'd suggest not pressuring yourself with commissions, maybe join a writing group, read more, and set aside some time for writing every day without pressuring yourself about the quality.

 

[MythRat]

Creative plateaus suck. It's sounds to me like you've gotten stuck in a left-brain rut; you're thinking too much instead of just writing. My best advice to you is to take a break and do some reading. Go down to a used book store, wander around your favourite genre section and pick a book that you've never read before that seems interesting and set aside an hour or so a day to read it. If you get an idea while you're reading, just scribble it down in a notebook and come back to it later, add to it if you get more ideas that build on it but don't interrupt your reading break to start working on it right then.
Reading is a good (not to mention fun and easy) way to relax, expand your vocabulary, improve your writing style, and find new inspiration. It doesn't take any work except the reading itself, all the rest happens on its own. Reading stimulates the parts of your brain that handle language style, memory, emotional empathy, and imagination. The important thing to remember is that while you're taking your reading break, don't do any actual writing. Scribble down notes for ideas that you get but don't work on full writing projects. Part of the reason for this is that it's supposed to be a break from writing, a chance to relax and let someone else tell you a story for once; it's also because, in your brain, writing is a completely different process from reading (focusing more on logic, story analysis, language structure, and correctness) and it can disrupt your rhythm. Reading is more right-brain, writing is more left-brain and switching gears suddenly from one to the other can throw off your groove, as it were, and make you stall.
So just take a break, read something, focus on drawing if you like while you're taking your break and definitely find time to tell other people about the book you're reading. After all, telling someone a story and writing it down aren't so different from each other and it helps to cement what you're getting from the reading so you can use it easily later on in your writing.

Also, one thing to remember is that your writing style is going to change over the years and that's a good thing. My writing is nothing like what it was when I first started 14 years ago; most of the changes are for the better, it just took me a while to realize it. You honestly don't want to be stuck in the same style forever, no matter how good that style is, because styles in general change. Sci-fi books from thirty or forty years ago have a lot more technical detail than they do today, fantasy was much the same (seriously, look at the different between Tolkien and George R.R. Martin, lol). Now it's moved from being more cerebral to being more dramatic, less about the world and more about the story taking place in it.
So your style changing isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just something you need to be aware of and make work for you. If you look back on old writing and find you don't write like that anymore, don't try to go back to your old style, it's bound to fail (I should know, I did it twice before I learned, hehe) but have fun discovering the differences in your new style and how you can use them to make even better pieces than you did before.

Lastly, don't worry about word count, even if it is a commission or an essay; just write until you're finished, focus on the story and what you know about the subject. Wait to worry about word count until after you're done writing. Remember that expanding something is easy and trimming down isn't always necessary, you can always add a flourish here and some back story there to get those few extra paragraphs if you come up short, or if you write a little extra you have the option of adding a dollar or two to the price. I very rarely hear people complain about getting more than they asked for even if it's a few dollars extra.
So don't bother worrying about it, just concentrate on the story you're telling and work out the rest later, disable the word count display if you can. If you catch yourself checking the word count, stop and take a ten minute break; get a drink or something and tell yourself the story you're writing or go over the scene you're working on out loud to yourself, then go back to working on it. Rinse and repeat as necessary, hehe. If you keep getting stuck on it, then just stop for the day and work on something else, sleep on it and come back to it after breakfast. It might take a day or two extra to get the work done but it'll be better work for it and you'll be able to feel more accomplished and satisfied with it in the end.

 

[Kluuvdar]

Could get a writing partner I suppose. My beta/penpal is a lot of help when I actually manage to produce anything. ^^; (I'm a slacker.)

Sometimes it's nice just to exchange little snippets of writing. Plus it's surprisingly helpful in developing characters. Maybe you could try the reverse and write a story in the smallest word count possible? Or you could listen to music or read some inspiring poetry... my personal favorite is to take a book I love and admire and read the whole thing. That usually gets me fired up to try writing again.

When even THAT isn't enough, it's time to pull out the big guns.

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/11/22/the-writers-prayer-the-penmonkey-paean/

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/11/02/the-inkslingers-invocation-the-writers-prayer-ii/

^^^The Big Guns^^^

(Also I would read your non-smutty stuff if you like, though I'm not sure how much help I'll be...)

I'm bookmarking those links, they're fantastic.