Harsh Reality- What To Do When The Drive Is Gone

I also don't think it helps that DWB is so talk, dark, and sexy

 

This has happened to me in every fandom I've been involved in...I write for a while, then get bored and go away. Sometimes I come back. (I was writing (terrible) "Buffy" fanfiction in 1999, took a four year hiatus and came back under a different name, heh.) And I've never really regretted stopping writing in any of those fandoms--I've missed the community, but when that's happened, I've just stayed involved as a reader (or, in some cases, just as an off-topic friend and poster). Even in fandoms where it seems like everyone is quitting, I can't force myself to write.

I found my interest in writing SW fic specifically dwindling last March, for a number of reasons--I'd bitten off more than I could chew, fic-wise; I hadn't really liked the last few novels (I'm an EU kind of girl); and I had all kinds of DRL nastiness that unfortunately had to be dealt with and took precedence over things I actually liked.

I don't know. I tried not to force (heh) myself into writing or even being involved--I kept in touch with my friends in fandom, and I lurked around the boards, but it felt artificial to get involved when I didn't really care. That said, taking a break isn't easy, as Persephone pointed out--when I came back to the boards a month or so ago, a lot of the people I'd known had kind of disappeared, and people had (understandably) lost interest in the WIP I'd ignored for nine months.

So for me, maybe, the question is what to do when the drive is back

 

I have come to the conclusion that my periods of greatest creative productivity are strongly correlated with my periods of most extreme boredom. Which means that while I'm in school, I frequently don't have as much drive to write, because my mental capacities are focused on doing my schoolwork. And right now, I have this crazy drive to graduate and find a job that supercedes my drive to write. Though I really do want to write more. Maybe I'll go home and write now... it's not like I'm doing anything where I am currently located.

I get inspired completely at random, anymore. But at least there's still glimmers of inspiration.

 

When did your interest start to dwindle? Was it sudden or a long process?
The thing is that the build-up for ROTS was so great and the endomorphins so high that it's impossible not to feel let down when it was over. I know I felt that way for a long time after ROTJ was over and there was no new SW in sight. So I expected a drop-off in interest after ROTS.

As for writing, well, it comes and goes. Like everything, interests change over time. I would suggest getting a second hobby or interest so that you can swap back and forth as one interest wanes. I know I do that a lot. I have 3 hobbies and, when one gets overwhelming or just isn't that interesting, I go for one of the others.

Do you think it's temporary- meaning, could it be solved by merely reading a good piece of fanfiction? If not, what could be done to solve it?
It might not be temporary. As people grow, they change. It's just the way it is. On the other hand, my SW interest has never really waned, just transformed from one medium to another (painting to writing).

I think if your interest is lessening, maybe you need to do something completely different. I actually wouldn't recommend reading fanfic (at least SW fanfic) since that may be tied into your waning interest. You might want to start fresh, clear your mind, sweep out the fanfic cobwebs and bring in something completely new. Fan films or new genres, maybe.

If you are in a rut but still want to write, write something outside your comfort zone. Have someone who knows your style challenge you to go against your inclinations. I know that when I get challenged by someone who knows what I like to write, I'm in for a rough time but, in the end, the story is better because of it.

As writers, what can we do to relive the glory days when we lived to read and write fanfiction?
I admit that I miss those heady days. But I don't think you can bring them back, only try and create new ones.

 

For me, I know that nothing can regain my interest more or reinspire my writing than a good Plot Bunny.

How about making a list of irresistable Plot Bunnies to get some of us out of our funk?

There are a few rules:
1) NO CANNON. We have enough traditional A/P, sithly JINO, and et al running about.
2) It has to be something not seen on the boards before.
For example (and I know this is lame)... what if Han Solo were something else besides a smuggler? How would the Trilogy have been changed?

All ideas are to be PM'd to me, and I will post and number them here. When you want to pick a topic, just PM me with the number and I'll take it off .

With that said, let's get some enthusiasm and stories going here, peoples! Away with boredom and DWB- let's show these Boards what we're made of!

AnakinsFavorite

 

When did your interest start to dwindle? Was it sudden or a long process?

I can't really pinpoint when it happened. I think it was around the time I start working on my original fiction and started building the worlds for them. In a way, I owe Star Wars and by extension George Lucas for it: They showed me the importance of creating a lived in world, in making as real as possible; the irony being that in the process, I've become consumed by worlds of my own design. Doesn't mean I don't have idea, just that I don't have the spark or really the interest to presue them; more of a "wow, this would make a good fic...oh well, if I have time."


Do you think it's temporary- meaning, could it be solved by merely reading a good piece of fanfiction? If not, what could be done to solve it?

I like to think it's temporary, my wife's tells me it's temporary. But with DRL sucking away more and more of time, I have to prioritize in favor of my original stuff. Maybe, someday, but I can't see it right now.

As writers, what can we do to relive the glory days when we lived to read and write fanfiction?

I don't know. I think it's different for each of us. But if there's even a ember of the old spark left, and there's a chance it can be fanned back into a flame, it might just be the most unintended thing. The right idea, the right inspiration, who know when and where it'd strike.

 

When did your interest start to dwindle? Was it sudden or a long process?

I think I've always been like this with fandoms of any sort. I'll get interested in it very quickly and stay interested for a while for then it slowly starts to slide off. It happens gradually, over the course of a few months, then I lose interest in doing much in that fandom at all. I'm not sure if that's happening with Star Wars fanfiction but it might be soon, night be in a decade. I don't know. I know my interests will evolve and that's the way it's suposed to be. But DRL isn't helping one bit.

Do you think it's temporary- meaning, could it be solved by merely reading a good piece of fanfiction? If not, what could be done to solve it?

Hate to be pesismistic but I don't think you can stop it at all. Just go with the flow.

As writers, what can we do to relive the glory days when we lived to read and write fanfiction?

I sure hope I'm not past my glory days yet. I know I have ways to improve and that's what I intend to do.

 

When did your interest start to dwindle? Was it sudden or a long process?

well, A long process. My intret comes and goes, btu usually comes back after reading the Eu booksor a good fanfiction.

Do you think it's temporary- meaning, could it be solved by merely reading a good piece of fanfiction? If not, what could be done to solve it?


Usually it can be fixed. I am a teenage fanatic, but become more of a *fan*. I'll always love it, but I am losing interst. Sometimes i just can't get back into the game...

As writers, what can we do to relive the glory days when we lived to read and write fanfiction?

Doing the extrodinary. Bringing back Anakin Skywalker from the dead. Have a secret, frozen embroy of Padme Amidala's. Make more naberries, make them meet the Skywalker/Solo....


Do the outside of the box.


~Shi~

 

I love Star Wars dearly, and I haven't burned out on fanfiction as of yet. However, college is physically and mentally draining me so my interest in literally everything has decreased. There are times where I can't bear to look at my computer because I'm so exhausted.

However, with the last immediate assignments out of the way I hope to get some work done. Plus when spring break comes I hope to be a madman at the keyboards.

But if I have to get a part-time job, my time on these boards are officially over. I won't be able to do much other than go to class, study, work, and sleep (and I don't get enough sleep as it is).

 

I have been a SW fan since TPM. SW-love has been one of the few constants in my life since then. I discovered fanfic in late 2002, and I've been been writing and posting at various sites since then. I like to think I'm a slow-burn kind of fan. I don't love SW based on the hype, or even for the sense of community. I didn't go and see RotS unil nearly two months after its theatrical release ? I'm not really the sort who has to stand in line for hours to see the films on opening night. In fact, because of Darth School, I did not see AotC in the cinema at all. I first saw it when I borrowed the DVD from a friend.

Confession time: I don't own a single DVD. When I want to see any of the films, I have to borrow them from other people. I don't own a single costume, prop, or action figure, or SW paraphernalia of any other kind. That said, I don't think all that makes me any less of a fan. I don't see myself becoming less of a fanfic junkie anytime in the near future. For me, SW fanship [!] is hardly ever either an overriding passion or an indifferent thing. It's just there, always ? it seems to have become a part of me! Since I started out writing, there's been days, the sum total of which I can number on the fingers of one hand, in which I do nothing but read, write and post fanfic. Far more frequent are those occasions when I go for weeks without reading and months without writing. Most of the time, it's somewhere in between. (Un)fortunately, the 'drive' hasn't gone away yet, and it doesn't look ready to leave anytime soon.

For me, 'it' does wax and wane, although it never entirely disappears. Personally, whenever I feel in need of a pick-me-up, I just put writing on hold temporarily and read. Fanfic or essay, it's all good to me. Of course, it helps that I wait several months after starting story before posting it here, so I don't have any readers to disappoint when I pause the writing.



edit: I just realised most of my post has no bearing on the thread topic at all! Sorry ? and here's my tuppence worth:

When did your interest start to dwindle? Was it sudden or a long process?
N/A here, I think.

Do you think it's temporary- meaning, could it be solved by merely reading a good piece of fanfiction? If not, what could be done to solve it?
Like I said above, it generally helps me to just stop writing and read my old favourites for a bit. I wouldn't know what to do for those who are experiencing a real, permanent decline in interest, though. Just one request: please don't come back to come to point and laugh at us pathetic souls if you ever get out of fanfic and get a life.

What P_K said holds true for me, also.

As writers, what can we do to relive the glory days when we lived to read and write fanfiction?
Why would anybody want to do a thing like that?
Seriously though, I think that usually, when you lose interest in something, it's permanent, unless you maintain a deep-seated, intense desire to like it again. When you grow apart from fanfic, if you *want* to go through the insanity again, I hink it's important to make the effort to try and discover something new about it all, a fresh reason why we do what we do.

Even on days when I've managed to beat down DRL, I avoid the urge to throw myself into fanfic. I make a conscious effort to keep it at arm's length, to allow my greatest passions (please don't laugh) to retain a certain mystique. I want it to remaan my escape. I don't want it to become my home. I don't know what I'll discover if I were to become as familiar with fanfic as I am with my life as a student, but I'd rather not. I'd rather let it remain my shadowy, mist-shrouded Avalon.



Ah, I think I've managed to go OT again.

 

Haha, with such eloquent and vivid prose I don't think anyone minds, Cael

As for a waning interest in SW, this wasn't my first fandom. I was involved in Angel and Buffy alot in my younger, less experienced writing days I was working with a friend to get a virtual script series running but it died before completion, which in turn gave me time to get sucked into Star Wars A blessing in disguise, huh.

Anyway, I've got a theory that while the mystique of Star Wars is built around canon characters, the revival of fanfic in the future will lie with OC fics. People are going to inevitably get tired of the same old characters no matter how many unique AU situations they can be put in. That is where some innovative OCs and original storylines will come into their own, says I.

Think about it - there are legions of fans of the EU out there. But every character in those books (save for the core group) was an OC to begin with. Jag/Jania/Jacen/Anakin/Mara/etc are constantly featured in fics around these boards. I can see a bright future of fanfic where writers who create their own OCs and giving them funny, action-packed and suspensful adventures through the GFFA are in the vast majority

 

Ugh, I've been battling this for a while.


When did your interest start to dwindle? Was it sudden or a long process?

Long process. I've been a SW fan for 10 years now, but a fanatic for less time. I was obsessed with the X-Files in high school. Meanwhile I was slowly catching up on EU novels, watching the Special Editions and TPM, and reading a bit of SW fanfic. But with school and other hobbies, and weekly X-Files episodes, I didn't devote myself fully to SW until college. The X-Files ended, I dropped other hobbies for various reasons, and I discovered TFN.

Now, however, I have more free time on my hands but don't always devote it to fanfic. Lots more time to watch TV and find new shows to love. Lots of DIY projects that take me away from the computer. While over the past year there were novels, comics, games, and what-have-you, I wasn't as affected by news because as in high school, I had other things holding my interest and taking priority in my life.

I mean, my obsession with the X-Files has become a comfortable love. I don't race to the TV for daily Scifi channel reruns unless it's one of my favorite episodes. But if I catch a random episode, I'm reminded why I obsessed in the first place, and I feel like watching more. It's becoming the same thing with SW now.


Do you think it's temporary- meaning, could it be solved by merely reading a good piece of fanfiction? If not, what could be done to solve it?

In some way it's temporary. I'll always love the movies. I found some of my best friends through SW fandom, and we love to be geeks. I always giggle at SW references in current culture, and in my head I'm often making SW jokes for situations. The stories in the films, novels, and comics are inspiring in many ways - one of them happens to be for writing. And there are always songs, poems, and general happenings in life that conjure up ideas. So if I feel like telling a story, I'll tell it.

On the other hand, even if I read the Greatest Fanfic Ever, I may not feel like writing something myself. I'll probably just hope the author has enough steam left to continue entertaining me.

One thing that really helps is to read or write something completely different than what I've been playing with. I used to read nothing but Han/Leia fics, then Luke/Mara, then Obi-Wan fics, and when I got tired of those I switched to Anakin, then OT, and so on. Now I'm on an OC kick, and I play around with style more than usual. Original fics masquerading as fanfics don't bother me - makes fanfic more exciting.


As writers, what can we do to relive the glory days when we lived to read and write fanfiction?

The glory days are like storytelling - you can have all the rules, discipline, and effort, but you can't force a good tale. Maybe we'll never create another golden age, and there's nothing wrong with that. Things change, people move on, life brings you new interests. But people have been reading and writing fanfic for 30 years. As long as they continue to be inspired by SW material, they'll still read and write.

 

I'm thinking that my dip in interest was definitely due to burnout more than actually losing the drive. It's been a few months now since I've written a novel-length piece, and I've been getting inspiration back, little by little. No huge ideas have come to me yet, but I've written several one-shots, and that, for me, is usually a sign that the muse is returning. Not full-force yet - my attention is too scattered to stay on an idea for months instead of a couple of days - but it's getting better.

Still, even the high-interest periods aren't what they used to be. There's always a fresh feeling coming into a fandom for the first time, or for the second time after a long break and everything's changed. That's gone and for Star Wars, I don't think I'm going to get it back. But that doesn't mean that it's not fun.

Now I just need to find the idea that will get me back into writing long fic.

 

When did your interest start to dwindle? Was it sudden or a long process?


Before I started writing fan fiction, I had written original fiction (though I just called it fiction) for years. I still do, for that matter. But I found myself wanting to explore certain characters and themes in the prequel trilogy, and instead of writing a critical paper, or changing just enough to make it original fiction, I wound up surprising myself by writing fan fiction. I hoped it be would fun and relaxing, to write something I knew I couldn't publish. (There was also the added glee of doing something that I knew, as a serious author with an MFA, I shouldn't do.)

And then?

I had too many stories in progress at once, and writing fan fiction became a chore. I was always behind on updates, and because I need to finish what I start, like marking items off a to-do list, I would then become neurotic with guilt. I think the lesson here is obvious.

And then, I got into Star Wars fan fiction to write about Padme's handmaidens. Alas, I was several years too late, which I had to notice, considering most of the handmaiden stories I was reading were either finished or abandoned in 2002. Those writers had long since moved on. There was a revival of Naboo fanfics around ROTS, the same time I posted my first stories, but that has passed. Oh, and it didn't help that I supplemented them with almost all OC fics set on, say, Chandrila.

So, yeah, I've never been that popular, but then, if that was what I wanted to be, I would be writing entirely different stories. If I only have one reader, that's good enough. It was those times when it seemed as though I wouldn't get even that one reader that I realized I had started to care. And I didn't want to. This was all just supposed to be fun, not a stressful popularity contest. Junior high is over, after all.

And really, I never planned to write fan fiction for very long. Even if I wasn't burned out, I know that someday, I will move on and leave it, hopefully fondly, behind.

Still, there are a few last fan fiction stories that I would like to write. But if I do, I plan not to write and post them by the seat of my pants. Some people can do that, but I've learned the hard and painful way that I really can't.

Do you think it's temporary- meaning, could it be solved by merely reading a good piece of fanfiction? If not, what could be done to solve it?

Every time I think I'm bored beyond tears with fan fiction, something comes along that catches my interest again. Someone posts a fic about a character I've wanted to see in fanfiction, and haven't seen. Someone starts a new community on livejournal. Etc.

As writers, what can we do to relive the glory days when we lived to read and write fanfiction?

When something is over, it's over.

For me, the glory days certainly are, and I don't think they'll come back. And I'm all right with that.

 

Very interesting replies to those last questions... how about some new ones?!

After long dry periods of struggling with your writing, what suddenly inspires you to take up the pen and begin feverishly writing?

Does watching any of the Star Wars movies seem to help?

Would a support system on these Boards perhaps be of help to authors who are struggling in their ability to find meaning in their writing?

 

When did your interest start to dwindle?

Was it sudden or a long process?
For me it was rather sudden. As a newbie, I was okay with people not reading or commenting on my stories, but when I entered a very hard challenge and lots of readers at first and then not even the person that started the challenge continued to read my stories it left me feeling a bit down. I tried to read as many of the challenge entries I could and comment on them and I only had a few that stayed with me. That was very hard, it seemed to coincide with a question I asked that caused a bit of a stir. Then I also had someone in another forum, for a completely different issue become very critical of my writing skills, and i think it came down to personal differences in style. Most of the time I use a program to check my grammar and spelling so I have a hard time believing my grammar was the issue.

Do you think it's temporary- meaning, could it be solved by merely reading a good piece of fan-fiction? If not, what could be done to solve it?

Yup, I think it is permanent, I have one more story to finish, and I don't think I will go back to another one I started. I don't have enough readers to keep me motivated, and I don't have enough passion to continue with it. I have a challenge to do, and maybe I will do some other challenges in the future.

As far as reliving the passion, I like to read, I just think I have failed as an author.

 

Since my complaining here earlier, my drive has returned in a new and unique way.

So...

After long dry periods of struggling with your writing, what suddenly inspires you to take up the pen and begin feverishly writing?

The fact that my biggest RL issue dissolved quite happily. Immediately thereafter I was attacked by bunnies and the desperate desire to write them.

So my lack of drive was definitely a case of DRL and has since been remedied.

I hope that it is the case for others.

 

After long dry periods of struggling with your writing, what suddenly inspires you to take up the pen and begin feverishly writing?

I never ever feverishly write anything - unfortunately. I have been writing drabbles lately, mainly to get back into writing plus they don't take that long. I think of writing stories, especially long ones, as some insurmountable wall that I'll never get past. The drabbles are actually helping me get over that idea plus since they are all linked, they actually form a story.

Does watching any of the Star Wars movies seem to help?
Nope. I get distracted and then go read books, instead.

Would a support system on these Boards perhaps be of help to authors who are struggling in their ability to find meaning in their writing?
Interesting question. I'm weird in that talking about writing and getting over blocks just drives my writing block in deeper (probably guilt that I make my readers wait so long between posts). I certainly appreciate how others deal with their writing problems but it doesn't work for me. I've tried.

 

I find that I spend more time talking about how I should be writing than actually writing.

One method that worked really well for a particular vig was a friend pestering me every night: "Write! Did you write it? How much did you write last night? Is it done? Write!" When someone's prodding you with a stick, you're either going to eventually cross the finish line, or turn around and beat that person with her own stick. Thankfully I didn't do the latter.

I'm most inspired after watching a really good movie or reading a fantastic book, especially if it's from a genre I love. The story I just started a few days ago I'd been working on for literally years, on and off, an idea here and there. It wasn't until I read a couple of gigantic novels and watched a lot of adventure-based TV shows that I got into the adventure mindset. It also helps that fun adventures are my favorite types of stories. Suddenly I'd written three chapters in as many days, just writing whatever I thought would be entertaining and funny.

If I watch the SW films, I tend to get lost in that little saga. Not a bad thing, of course, but it pulls me away from other stories I'd like to tell that don't involve Jedi, the canon folk, or epic stories of good and evil. Listening to the film soundtracks helps more.

 

After long dry periods of struggling with your writing, what suddenly inspires you to take up the pen and begin feverishly writing?

For me, it's always something in a SW book or movie that (a.) gives me a terrific "What if?" (b.) makes me want to explain how something happened that we haven't been told, or (c.) makes me mad at how poorly I think something was done. The last two SW fics I wrote (OMG! Has it actually been a year??) were inspired by the book _Dark Rendezvous_.

Does watching any of the Star Wars movies seem to help?

It can. When working on a fic, I will watch scenes involving my current character of interest over and over. One thing I sometimes do is forward scenes slowly frame by frame. You can catch weird moments, facial expressions and such, that sometimes hit you with a weird interpretation or an idea.

Another thing that has been known to help is the fact that we've seen them so many times we know what's coming. I can sort of zone out during a movie and just sort of wool-gather ... and that's when I've gotten some ideas.

Not lately, though. I now have a husband, who I imagine does not want to watch the same film over and over and over ...

Would a support system on these Boards perhaps be of help to authors who are struggling in their ability to find meaning in their writing?

I, for one, would be interested in reading such a thread. I think there is an old one around here somewhere ... but if I remember correctly, it's like about two years old.

 

I can't answer any of the questions, to be honest. All I know is that I'm losing the drive, the will, the concern to write anything anymore. It might be due to the fact I've tried to take on too many projects at once (three, to be exact, along with certain random challenge responses, plus three other works that I've had on the back burner and keep saying that I'll get to one of these days). But I can't stand going near my characters anymore. I can't care about their situations. Maybe this is just the sum total of what it's like to have depression and anxiety on the inside, and little yappie pressures on the outside. But that drive done gone out of me for right now.

I'm still struggling along with two projects for now, and one challenge response. What's motivating me? The promise I made to readers when I put up certain pieces on the Net. I don't like to have unfinished fics out there unless I really cannot work with them anymore.

 

After long dry periods of struggling with your writing, what suddenly inspires you to take up the pen and begin feverishly writing? An idea. Ideas can come from anywhere; it feels really random. All it takes is being in the right place at the right time, and having a mindset that's open to exploring the idea that comes. If I can't get it out of my head over a period of about a week, it's more likely than not a keeper.

Does watching any of the Star Wars movies seem to help? Not really. I like the movies but I'm more of a book person. Re-reading some of the books - that might help, although it's more likely to give me vignette ideas than long-fic ideas.

Would a support system on these Boards perhaps be of help to authors who are struggling in their ability to find meaning in their writing? Possibly. I'd participate.

 

After long dry periods of struggling with your writing, what suddenly inspires you to take up the pen and begin feverishly writing?

That's the problem - nothing . To try to get into the writing mood, I usually re-read reviews for the latest chapters of my WIPs just to remind myself that there are people out there waiting for an update. Then I begin writing: sometimes, I'm able to write something that's coming from heart; sometimes I end up just staring at the screen.

DRL isn't a problem - at the moment, it couldn't be better. *knocks superstitiously on the wooden table* Of course, college is always college, but my piles of assignements have never 'scared off' my muse. On the contrary, they had always awoken her and I'd always had the urge to write something on my busiest days.

Does watching any of the Star Wars movies seem to help?

Nope.

Would a support system on these Boards perhaps be of help to authors who are struggling in their ability to find meaning in their writing?

And how could anyone help me write if nothing is coming from inside? The only thing that keeps me writing now are (enthusiastic) reviews from my readers.

It might be helpful for the others, perhaps.

 

I have decided to reply to this again, now that I have a better response.

After long dry periods of struggling with your writing, what suddenly inspires you to take up the pen and begin feverishly writing?

Really, nothing. I have very little time to write anymore, and I think that that is it more than justa lack of interest. But yet, I still rarely feel the desire to write, even when I do have some downtime. I honestly can't beleive it's a burnout-- I only started writing in November of last year-- But I still just feel kind of... meh about the idea of sitting down and writing anything. However, I did just write a non-SW ( ) fanfic for another site, and I enjoyed writing that one (I just wrote bits and peices when I had a chance) so perhaps it is just a dropping inerest in SW, which I'm hoping will eventually pick up again.

Does watching any of the Star Wars movies seem to help?

Well, like I said above, I don't have a lot of free-time lately, due to school and studying and such, so I can;t wach the movies. Of course, I havn't tried it, so I don't know.



Would a support system on these Boards perhaps be of help to authors who are struggling in their ability to find meaning in their writing?

It probably would--as I said, I'm hoping my interest will pick back up again; maybe that will hely. Of course, maybe I just wasn't meant to write