The Role-Player's Guide to Writer's Block

GojiBean

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Hoyo peeps!!

I'm confident others have posted about this before, but I wanted to offer my thoughts and advice about this topic as well as I know it's a major issue for a lot of us (myself included from time to time). Everyone gets Writer's Block every now and then, and everyone suffers the consequences of it as well.

I'd like to offer my thoughts on Writer's Block, as well as some thoughts about how we can all learn to recognize it, where it might be coming from, and some things we can do to cope with or overcome it entirely.

I'd like to begin with one of the most devastating consequences that can arise from writer's block, as learning to recognize the problem is one of the biggest keys to dealing with it. And with any luck my experience and advice will help anyone stuck in it to find a way to cope with and/or overcome it.

So, here we go!


1) Negative Self Image

This is the big one which is why it's the longest of this entire thread.

Forming a negative self-image is arguably the most debilitating, and the most mentally/emotionally draining, consequence of Writer's Block. And, sadly, it's also very common.

It often starts small, but can quickly spiral out of control.

For example, it can start with thoughts like this: "Dammit, I just can't think of anything." Before you know it, those thoughts evolve into: "Maybe I'm just not good enough" or "I'm not creative enough to think of anything."

If you take a long hard look at those two simple sentences above, you can see how easily these kinds of thoughts become self-defeating and will only compound and prolong the problem. Often our negative self-image is born of personal insecurities as well as a fear of being called out or rejected because of them. And this is normal. We've been rejected and called out most of our lives. I'm certain everyone reading this has at one time or another been a small child on the playground who was made fun of because of how they dressed, how they did their hair, how they looked, what clothes they wore, how they run, how they speak, how they actually raise their hand in class, etc. Anything and everything we could have been called out for or laughed at for, we were.

And when it starts young and isn't dealt with properly, as it almost never is since most adults just say things like "shrug it off" or "just don't listen to them" (as if it's really that simple), it becomes a seed that simply bides its time to mature until later on in life. As we grow, age, and gain more independence and autonomy as individuals, it becomes easier and easier for that seed to suddenly sprout and turn into a gargantuan tree with deep roots buried in our past insecurities that were born of that treatment.

Now, this isn't to say it's always because of mistreatment. Sometimes it's as simple as developing an insecurity from a personal competitiveness where part of your brain says "bruh, do better!" But then you never see the improvement that your brain knows you could. And that leads to feelings of doubt and diminishing self worth since you aren't achieving the goals your brain has set for you.

This negative self-image very often either leads to, or was born from, a phenomenon known as "Imposter Syndrome."

Imposter Syndrome is a condition whereby an individual will constantly question and demean their own talent, skills, and accomplishments and live in near constant fear of being targeted or made fun of as a failure for them. Another symptom may be the idea or fear that you only got where you are by luck, or by thinking you've found a way to trick others into thinking you're smarter or better at something than you believe yourself to be.

As one who was professionally diagnosed by a counselor with this issue, I can personally attest to how debilitating it is and can be to anyone caught in its grasp. And, sadly, there's no easy way out of this. And I'm still fighting to free myself from it.

I'm not going to pretend to know how you can overcome this issue, nor will I waste time trying to repeat the advice my counselor gave me as doing so would be irresponsible if your issue isn't imposter syndrome, but another form of anxiety altogether (in which case the steps to cope with and overcome imposter syndrome are basically useless). If you believe based on the definition of imposter syndrome that you are suffering from it, I would highly advise taking a breath and reaching out to a counselor about it as they'll be able to diagnose whether or not it is indeed the source of the problem.

The Solution

As I remarked before, it's never as simple as "just don't listen to them" or "shrug it off." Genuine help for issues like this don't come from passive suggestion.

Instead, you need to take action.

So what can you do?

For starters, arguably the single best thing you can do is to practice your writing chops.

Role-playing isn't just a hobby (even if you think of it as one), it's an art form. And just like any form of art, you need to practice to improve and to acclimate yourself to the idea of creating on the fly since that's basically what role-playing is. Writing on the fly.

So, how do you practice?

Come up with very simple scenarios and then just write a response. For example:

Scenario: In a futuristic world of SciFi and High Tech fantasy, an alien invasion is happening and tens of thousands of civilians have already been killed. What do I do now?

There's a plethora of options here for you to try out. You could be a solider engaging in battle alongside all your comrades. You could be a refugee on the run and trying to hide from the chaos and destruction. You could be a civilian who's armed and trying to fight back to protect your home and/or family. You could be a scientist racing against the clock to finish the final step of activating a defense weapon that will save the city.

Pick one of those options and then write something. It does not matter how long your response is. Nor does it matter how "good" the response is. We're not practicing for quality. We're practicing the craft and using a mental exercise to acclimate to simply writing the first thing that pops into your head.

While it is indeed debatable, I would argue this is the single most important personal practice method you can use to improve your improvisation and writing skills. So much of what we do in role-playing is about intuitive and instinctive reactions to the scenarios our characters are presented with that a lot of the time people get lost in "how would the character react" or "is what I want to happen in keeping with the character?" While those are both very important questions, trying to stay in character is useless if you don't at least have an idea of the direction you want to go.

So practicing how to simply react to a scenario is key to being able to take that first step and give yourself some much-needed direction.

When it comes to Imposter Syndrome, as I said before I can't pretend to be a counselor and I won't spit out what my counselor told me. However, in the interest of trying to share at least something with you to overcome some of the symptoms that imposter syndrome shares with a few more basic forms of anxiety which don't require a counselor to deal with, here's a few things to try:

1) Write out a paragraph of uplifting and positive self-imagery.

I know, I know. It sounds stupid. And it might even feel stupid as you do it. But do it anyway. Write something personal for yourself that hypes you up and points out your strengths. Here's an example (just off the top of my head):

My name is (insert your name), and I am (insert your age). I've been interested in (list your primary passions or hobbies), and I've managed to do (insert accomplishments, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem). I know what I can do. I can do (insert a list of anything you know how to do, again no matter how small or insignificant they may otherwise seem like cooking a certain meal or playing a certain sport). When it comes to what I can do, I'm best at (list the specific skills or techniques you know how to perform with respect to the list of things you know how to do such as how to season your meal or how to perform a certain technique in the sport). My friends all say I'm good at (list anything your friends have said you're good at), and they're right. I am good at it/them.

Again, while it may seem a bit trivial and stupid when you're writing it for the first time, just write it and do not delete anything!!! This exercise is about generating positive self worth. If you delete something, unless it's a simple spelling mistake, then you've just taken a step backwards and are introducing negativity into the exercise. Keep it positive, and keep writing. It doesn't matter how small or insignificant your mind is telling you these things are. Write them anyway. Write them out, read them through from start to finish, and finally get up and go do one of the things you listed as one of your skills/talents. This helps to reinforce the idea that you can do this, and that you are doing it.

2) Ask your friends and family if they think you're good at anything.

Again, it sounds dumb. And it's probably embarrassing too. Do it anyway. Ask your friends and family if they think you're good at anything. And they'll tell you.

The important thing here... listen to them!!!

They are not saying these things just to say them. They'll give you an honest answer. Your job is to listen. Listen actively. Don't dismiss what they're saying, and do your best mentally to avoid thinking "yeah, right, whatever you say" or "you don't know me as well as you think." Thoughts like those which are dismissive of praise from others are self defeating and will only serve to set you back. Push on. Let your friends and family talk to you and tell you what they think you can do and why it's impressive to them.

Take their praise to heart.

You deserve it.

3) Recognize the difference between Humility, and Self Deprecation/Defacement.

A lot of people think being humble requires you to think less of yourself or what you can do in order to avoid sounding arrogant.

In a word... Bullshit.

Humility is not about belittling what you can do or trying to pretend that your skills are less than what they are. Humility is about acknowledging the fact that you and your abilities, no matter how strong they may be, could always be stronger and to keep your mind open to learning something new at every given opportunity. There's always room to grow. There's always room to learn. There's always room to improve.

When it comes to you and your writing abilities, you can write. When it comes to your ability to role-play, you know how to role-play. You know how to create a character and fill out a character sheet. You know how to come up with dialogue that fits this character. You know how to write a basic action sequence or at the very least respond to actions being taken around your character. You know how to recognize when someone is taking things too far and ask them to back off or ask the GM to talk to them.

It's okay to say "I know how to do these things." There's nothing arrogant about that statement. You're not suggesting you're the best. You're not suggesting there's nothing left for you to learn. You're not suggesting that it's your way or the highway. You're simply acknowledging that you know how to do something. And that's perfectly okay and remains in the realm of modesty and humility.

Self Deprecation/Defacement, however, is a willful refusal to acknowledge one's abilities, belittling one's own abilities, or being excessively modest about one's own abilities.

This is not the same thing as humility.

Humility, as I said before, isn't about being self destructive in one's criticisms about one's own abilities. It's simply an acknowledgement that there's always more to learn and a practice of keeping your mind open to any and all chances to learn, grow, and improve oneself.

Deliberately going out of your way to belittle, demean, or dismiss your abilities is nothing more than an unhealthy mindset that will eventually lead to self destruction before it leads to improvement.

DO NOT put yourself or your abilities down.

DO lift yourself up, maintain your positivity, and keep an open mind about always growing, learning, and improving.

That is what it means to be humble. And that is healthy for you and will lead to significant gains in your creative endeavors moving forward.

Lacking Direction

I touched on it at the end of the point above, but having a direction is another big step of being able to overcome Writer's Block.

When you lack a direction, whether it's from the GM or personal to you, Writer's Block can and will hit you much more frequently.

The Solution

There are a few primary reasons why one would lack a direction. Either the GM is doing a poor job providing one for the RP, or the individual is being too passive about taking agency with their own character and formulating a private plot and story for them to follow while they're on this journey.

In the case of the former where the GM is doing a poor job of saying "we're aiming for this and will do this, this, and this," the best solution is to raise your hand and ask questions. If the GM can't answer them then the GM has a poor sense of direction for the RP and it's probably more worthwhile for you to leave now and save yourself the trouble of being directionless for the entire experience, short as it will be. If the GM can and does answer the questions then you'll start receiving some direction which will make it much easier to maintain an active and creative flow of ideas for what your character should do and say next.

So be proactive and get after the GM with questions about what should be done or what's expected for the sequence you're in.

For the second issue of the individual being too passive with taking agency for their character, this one's a bit more complicated.

The actual solution is easy. It's doing it that's the hard part, especially for younger or newer role-players. However, the solution is to step out of your comfort zone and start taking agency for your character.

What do I mean by that? I mean you have to play for yourself. Do not ask anyone what they want your character to do. You do what you want to do with your character. Don't ask anyone what they want your character to say. You write what your character would naturally say. Don't ask anyone what your character should focus on in a big action sequence. Focus your character on what they would naturally perceive to be the most immediate threat in need of defeating. Don't ask anyone where your character should be right now. Put your character where you think they would want to be, or feel they need to be.

Arguably the easiest way to give yourself direction is to simply give yourself agency. Having the courage, confidence, and drive to make your own decisions regarding everything your character does will go a long way towards freeing your mind from the blockages that come from a lack of certainty either born of poor communication from the GM, or from one's personal reluctance to take charge of their character.

No Ideas

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes you just can't think of anything.

When this happens, what can we do?

Well... There's a host of advice online you could look up. Some people say to go for a walk, others say take a break, others say go do an activity like a sport, others say to wait it out.

Really, there's no right or wrong answer to this. However, there is something you can do whether the ideas are flowing or not...

The Solution

Work around the lack of ideas.

What does that even mean?

It means don't stress about the details. Simply read what came before your post (don't skim or skip, as I know some of you like to do), and react directly to what that was. If someone posed a question, answer it. If someone took a course of action your character liked, respond positively to it. If they didn't like the course of action, respond negatively.

Just be direct to what happened and don't worry about going out of your way to explore other possibilities.

You are under NO OBLIGATION to create something new in every post.

I've seen suggestions on numerous sites and forums across the net that every post needs to be unique and that you need to respond to what happened as well as do something else, see something else, or in some way introduce something new in each post.

Bullshit.

The point of a post is not to create a wall of text about every little stupid detail that the world is providing us. We don't need an essay on the details of the open grasslands beyond the battlefield with the mountains looming in the background like mother nature's sentinels and the forest of dead trees looking like 10,000 hands stretching and scraping at the skies. All of that information is nice, but unnecessary and does nothing to actually move the scene forward or in any way affects your character. All that's needed is a simple response to whatever came before your post about what your character is perceiving from the information and interactions, and what they do to move forward in time such as engaging in dialogue or responding with a course of action of their own.

So keep it simple.

Read what came before and simply respond directly to it. If you find after the direct response that the creative juices are flowing and you want to add more details, go for it. But the best way to role-play is to keep it simple and be direct. The extra details can come if you want them to. They're in no way required.


Apologies for this rather lengthy rant/tutorial.

Writer's block is a big issue that affects everyone, and I wanted to put my two cents out there for everyone to check out and hopefully glean something useful from all this to use in overcoming any blockages that might be plaguing you. There's a lot of advice you can find online, but I've found the majority of it is unhelpful and I've tried to include only what genuinely helped me, as well as advice which I think is helpful enough to make a difference so long as it's approached and applied correctly.

Cheers!

~ GojiBean
 

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