Coffee Time: What To Do When You Lose Motivation

[Kurai]

Back with another Coffee Time discussion that focuses on something we all face from time to time. No, this isn't simply a bad case of writer's block, this is a full on and total loss of motivation. You've been staring at the same page of writing for an hour and still haven't type something, that deadline is creeping up on you, and yet there's no urgency. It's not because you don't know what to write or what happens next, it's just that you don't want to write, and no matter what you do, you can't bring yourself to do it either.

So as we've all faced a lack of motivation at some point I thought it'd be nice to share tips and advice on what to do when you reach this hurdle.

My personal bit of advice?

Take a moment's respite from the current episode (obviously this applies to a series) and instead look further down the line at future episodes. You probably have some planning done there, but start going into more depth, hashing out the details. Start planning that amazing, epic finale you've dreamed of. Before you know it you've got yourself so excited about what's to come, you're eager to finish the current episode so that you're one step closer to where it is you want to be.

Any other tips and advice we'd like to share?

[Jester]

Two key things which do really help for me;

1. stopping to review. Seeing how someone else writes and crafts a script, seeing what they get right and what they get wrong really help me if I run out of creative juice. I've learned a hell of a lot from you guys.

2. Going back to the pilot. Sometimes reading where it all began reminds me exactly why I wanted to tell this story in the first place. Reading the more positive reviews also helps.


I'd like to know what works for other people though, cause let's face it; we all hit a brick wall at times.

[ChilledDC]

For me the only thing that really works is to take a step back and do something else. I can't sit at my laptop and try and work through writers block because I know I'll just end up getting really frustrated with it. It helps to just stop writing and walk away for a while, to do something completely unrelated to that script.

Generally I'll switch over to reading and reviewing someone else's work because that tends to get the creative juices flowing but sometimes the only thing that works is to do absolutely nothing creative. Going for a run often works for me but it can be anything from just chilling out and watching television for an hour or reading a book or even just randomly calling someone and having a chat, if it takes my mind off of what I'm stuck on then when I go back to it I'm relaxed, I'm not stressed and I can just start writing again with a completely fresh mindset.

[Jester]

Also, everyone is free to give Jester a bell if they need to bounce some ideas back and forth.