forum Cure for Extreme Writers Block?

Started March 17, 2021 by @SingSongKV group

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I've been having some problems when it comes to motivations and backstories. Like, I'll have a character in a story with a set personality and goal (or goals) but no reason to actually be IN the story. Any help with this problem?

I'd be interested in reading more about the issues with "normie" character personality/motive/backstory. Have you tried outlining the plots of your stories before writing them?

I'd be interested in reading more about the issues with "normie" character personality/motive/backstory. Have you tried outlining the plots of your stories before writing them?

I've not really tried that yet, I'll definitely try that tip!

And my issues with "normie" backstories/personalities are that I can't really find a way to make em' interesting.
with a fantasy character you can throw some crazy stuff in their past and It'll be fine. But with normies, you are definitely restricted (especially with teenage or child characters where you can't throw ten or higher years of "interesting" things In their past.)

I'm not sure if this will help, but I'd advise introspecting on your own life a bit. Try listing some of your biggest personality traits and try to figure out why you have those qualities, try to find what experiences or relationships that you had that shaped the person you devolved into.
Once you can do that for yourself, you might have a better idea of how little not-cinematic things can develop character just as much as big dramatic events.
Also think hard about your character's parents and the people they were around the most, especially as children., because they'll likely mirror what they learned in their formative years.
Additionally, it might be worth it to read over some basic development psychology like the stages of moral, social, and sexual development and assess the why your character did or didn't reach all those steps.
Also, keep in mind where and when they are from different generations and different places have different values. Lastly keep in mind the religion or world view your character has, or what they were raised in or around and how that might have impacted them.
Hope that's helpful but I would love to do anything I can.

I'm not sure if this will help, but I'd advise introspecting on your own life a bit. Try listing some of your biggest personality traits and try to figure out why you have those qualities, try to find what experiences or relationships that you had that shaped the person you devolved into.
Once you can do that for yourself, you might have a better idea of how little not-cinematic things can develop character just as much as big dramatic events.
Also think hard about your character's parents and the people they were around the most, especially as children., because they'll likely mirror what they learned in their formative years.
Additionally, it might be worth it to read over some basic development psychology like the stages of moral, social, and sexual development and assess the why your character did or didn't reach all those steps.
Also, keep in mind where and when they are from different generations and different places have different values. Lastly keep in mind the religion or world view your character has, or what they were raised in or around and how that might have impacted them.
Hope that's helpful but I would love to do anything I can.

This sounds really helpful! Thank you for the tip!

It could be that your preferred genre is fantasy, then; that's not bad.

Some fanfiction of fantasy genres even remove the fantasy parts and turn it into a "coffee shop AU" or "domestic AU"—that can be an interesting exercise if you really really want to write interesting fiction that doesn't include magic or superpowers: Write a "domestic AU" for fantasy media that you like, or even a "domestic AU" fanfic for your own established fantasy setting. It shouldn't become that much more boring, they can still have transferred their ambitions to something more realistic but has the same emotions behind it, have the same close friends, or have the same enemies.

But it's completely all right to stick with what works for you, and if that's high fantasy then it just is.

*

But, for example, in my own work-in-progress, the main character is only 13 years old when his younger sister goes missing. After plenty of personal investigation and interrogation, he discovers that his abusive widowed mother sent her away without telling anybody, and expected him to not notice or at least not mention it.

In another story, more real-world setting and contemporary: parents are lifelong friends with each other and one pair of parents owns the only events venue in their small town. That's how the only-just-an-adult daughter of the owners of that events venue is forced to attend the engagement party of her ex-boyfriend and her parents' friend's daughter—because it's a very small town and awkward social situations can come up because of that.

Another example in a more historical setting—princess is introduced to a friendly companion whipping girl. This was a historical practice of the assigned friend of a royal body be punished for the royal's demeanor. This princess is not the sadistic Joffrey Baratheon type, so watching her friend get hurt for something she did is downright traumatic. She dismisses the whipping girl from court to protect her and does her best to be very good from then on, but the princess is too young to understand that this effort at "protection" really robbed that whipping girl character of opportunities in life.

While all these characters in these stories do discover later on that they have magic powers (so even the historical setting is more like historical fantasy), the presence of magic is not the main reason or the only reason that they have the motivations that they do, or the personalities that they do.

A character could live through wars, plagues, surviving a vehicular collision that was fatal to everybody else involved but it happened in a road in the middle of the desert, a giant asteroid narrowly missing their home planet, parental divorces, getting orphaned, bullied at school, summer camp, finding out they were adopted, moving to a different country than they were born in or had grown up in, finding out that they're a prodigy, having a parent or guardian push them to become famous, accidentally becoming famous, getting internally conflicted about religion, finding out they have dyscalculia or other neurodiversity—any of those, before the age of 15, and without magic, and it can still be interesting. Especially so if the character has a likable personality or temperament, and relatable motivations even if their experience is something that the reader has not gone through. If any of those storylines or similar magic-free storylines are not your thing, though, then…you don't have to force yourself to make it your thing. You can write shiny spectacular fantasy magic if that's what you want, and occasional supporting characters without magic powers could be a baker's apprentice after a long line of professional bakers and that's the only thing about them. That can be just fine.

Personal For when I have writer's block I either workout or have sex but Idk how it is for you and you just might not need to only write these people as just Average, but try writing them as the Heros of their own story. Try by altering the perception of reality and make some things in their ming better than others. Basically, give them the perception of kids who have imagination. They don't have to be innocent, they can be from a really bad neighborhood or house and they use their imagination as an escape and you can even take it further by making them use it as a form to support the psyche from either abuse or to understand the world