How to Kill the Inspiration-Sucking Bug (or at least make him unconscious)

We’ve all gotten to the point in our writing where we start to wonder if we should really continue. We wonder if our story is good enough, if it has a good plot, if it really should be written. And once in a while, we lose interest in our stories. You stop and close the document, and that is never touched again. But sometimes, when you feel this way and want to quit, you also feel that your story should be written—but you don’t know how you can continue.

I’ve been there plenty of times. I started writing when I was 11, and I am currently 16. I cannot tell you how many random documents I have on my hard drive that are unfinished books. Some of them are second attempts, but I scrapped those as well. I have plans for a few books, and a few of them are the same plots of my previous ones. I am currently working on a story that I love and I can’t wait to share with you guys, but for those of you who need some help in this aspect, here you go.

Whether you’re uninspired, unmotivated, or just unsure about your story, I hope this helps.

1: Chat With Your Protagonist

Most of the time, if you’re unsure about the story or you think you can’t continue, it’s because you can’t connect with the characters. Try listening to music that they would like, or try to learn about them more. Become that crazy person who talks to imaginary people. Imagine you can talk to them. Ask them their deepest fears, what they would give their life for, what their favorite type of cloud is (idk). Fill out a character bio. There is a website I suggest that lets you keep track of all your characters, and you can fill out a questionnaire, link them to other characters. It’s called CharaHub. I find it very helpful. They ask questions that you may not have thought about, allowing you to connect to your character. I’ve fallen in love with my characters again because of this.

2: Write Random Scenes

You don’t have to write your book start to finish. You can jump around and write certain scenes that interest you. It doesn’t have to be a scene you are going to use, you can just write something to get a feel for the characters and story. You can write it just for fun.

3: Listen To Music

If you haven't already, I suggest making a playlist of music that either fits the story or that your characters would listen to. I have one playlist for each book and one playlist for each of my main characters. I even have a playlist that “belongs” to one of my characters, and it is full of music he would listen to. This can help stimulate scene ideas, it can help you figure out more about your characters, and I find (and this may just be me) if I make a playlist for my book it becomes almost all I listen to and it makes me want to write.

4: Take A Hike

If you’re unsure about your book but you want to keep writing it, just walk away for a little. And by walk away, I literally mean walk away. Go outside, walk a few laps around your neighborhood, take a walk in the woods, walk to the Starbucks on the corner (if you have a Starbucks nearby, or a Caribou, or really anything—McDonald's can work too). This can help either take your mind off of it so you can go back and look at your manuscript with fresh eyes, or it can help stimulate ideas for the book.

5: Remind Yourself Why You Wanted To Write This In The First Place

It can be helpful to think about why you wanted to write this story in the first place. Was it to get a message across? Was it because you were inspired by a picture/movie you saw? Was it to tell the story of one of your OC’s? Whatever it may be, remind yourself “this is my story and I want to write it because [fill in reason]”.

(This is actually a board I made for the protagonist of my series)

6: Create A Pinterest Board For Your Book/Character

I find making an aesthetic board for my character or my book helps me be inspired for scenes and it also looks really pretty.

7: Read For Inspiration

Now, this one you have to be careful with. While it is good to read books, it is not good to read them and end up absolutely hating your own work because it “isn’t good enough”. What you’re writing now is an early draft, even if it is your 9th or 12th. Read books in the same genre you’re writing in. This may be difficult for a few of you, because I know that at least one of you writes a sort of Steampunk story. But there are books out there in pretty much every genre. If you write in Action-Adventure, read some Alex Rider or other action filled books (if you write Espionage like I do, I highly recommend the Gallagher Girls Series). If you write Fantasy, check out some Falling Kingdoms or Wings Of Fire. See how they created their world, their characters, then apply it to your story (and by apply it I mean take into account what they specify don’t plagiarize because plagiarism is bad).

8: Walk Away

Sometimes, the only thing to do is walk away from the story. But never delete it. Never delete it. You may have just needed time away from the story, and you can continue it later. Or you may come up with another good story and you could take snippets from this story—such as scenes and characters—and put them in the new story.

That’s all I got for this. I hope this helps. Also, if you are looking for writing music, I suggest checking out SoundFuel. I listen to their playlists so often and it helps me get a certain feel for a scene. This could also help inspire you.
#notspon

~Olivia Ann