Advice/Help How do you regain energy for role play?

[Echoris]

This is my biggest question as of late, for context I have not felt like role playing for nearly five months now and it all started when we went into lockdown.

I normally use role play as a way to switch off my brain after a long day of school and socializing, but since the social isolation began, I have felt little desire to do my role plays. In one way I blame my long freetime, because at first, I went with the "yes I can reply all the time I want now" but now it is more of a "ugh, do I have to reply, hell no".

So what is some good advice as to how to start writing again, I take any advice with a big thank you for sharing.

So I am not sure which category this belongs in and do change it if I had the one.

 

[zulidy]

I took a long break from roleplaying because I was so busy with college and only wanted to play video games, but then I came across a game and I was so connected to the characters that I got an urge to roleplay again. I guess it's a bit different if you only do OC roleplays, but I imagine that funding something new that excited you still applies. It could be a new show, a new game, a new book, anything! That's how I got over my slump, however everyone works differently! Don't be afraid to take a longer break, or force yourself to roleplay if your mind just doesn't want to. Let it happen when it happens.

 

[Crow]

Long story short - not roleplay.

Do other things - games, videos, all that.

In the context of your problem, start with small tiny roleplays.

 

[AndPeggy]

You have to actually enjoy writing in general.

If you just do it just because it's something to do, there's nothing wrong with that, but naturally that means you won't want to do it all the time.

If you love writing and you're invested in the story and the people you write with, you'll want to write more.

 

[baggysack]

If you just want to write-write, try free-writing! I get super jittery about it but it might vibe with you. Just pulling up a prompt and writing whatever you think of first, no self-criticism. For roleplaying, maybe starting a new rp will also help, or least starting to think of ideas for one - something with a simple premise. "We're adventures who meet in a tavern, but one of us is the mole for the bad guy" -- something like that.

Honestly, I'm in a weird place myself where I don't even know if I want to roleplay -- maybe just start the new Harry Potter phenomenom and make millions of dollars instead?

 

[Rabbit.]

I totally agree with, Crow. Give yourself some space when you're not up to writing. There's no use in forcing the words out when it's not necessary or a project that has a deadline. When you come back with a fresh set of eyes, it's energizing and you'll surprisingly gain some new perspective.

If you want to get back into writing, I'd start with something easy. Try writing about your life, daily events, etc. and seeing what you can do with it from there. Try writing the events as if you were a alien or a mafia princess or whichever character you're interested in.

Also, just keep writing or typing. Try just writing in stream of consciousness, don't try to re-write it until it's perfect. Just try getting your ideas out there. See how much you can write in 3 minutes without stopping and then, try to increase to increments up.

If writing is one of your hobbies, it should be fun and bring you some joy. If you're not having fun, it's okay to take a break and enjoy something else.

 

[Sludge]

As crow and rabbit (hmm?) pointed out you can just take a break and consume different media to get the creativity machine going again.

If you want a more permanent solution then you can maybe try writing in shorter internals. If you tend to spend an hour or more per post then breaking that up into multiple 5-30 minute chunks can make it seem like less of a time investment. Over time this will make it easier to sit down and start writing each time.