[Haleth]

Been there. Done that.

What worked for me was shutting off the computer for a few days and reading a book (or two or three) by author(s) whose style I admire.

It offered a break from writing, gave me a good example/goal to aspire to and put a bit of distance between me and my dumb ideas.

Good luck and let me know how you manage.

[Aenigmatic]

The danger I face actually, in leaving a story away for a while (could be due to excessive work, writer's block etc) is that I might not have the motivation to come back to it (inertia is too great and it's indeed hard to get the wheels turning again - worse, it doesn't flow as well, and there's this very obvious discrepancy between the previous chapte and the one that you are working on); instead I might suddenly get the impulse to start a new story and then face the same cycle all over again.

Don't honestly have a real solution to writer's block; it seems to be getting to me a lot these days. Maybe it is also because I'm at the moment 'literary-empty' - meaning inspiration comes heavily and the clockwork gets oiled only when I'm saturated with stories and themes from other writers. So perhaps that's one of the ways out - to get oneself soak in the language of your favourite author, and get inspired by your favourite quotes in their works.

[Anna]

Talk, talk, talk to someone about the characters in your story. Talk about them like they´re 'real', if you get my point.

Read what you´ve got out loud and 'play' the different characters. Just a warning -- friends, family etc might think you´re wierd if they see/hear you.

If nothing helps -- leave it be! At least for now. If you´re meant to finish it, you will. Eventually.

Actually, Mora´s on to something there! Try porn! It releases tensions, kickstarts the hormones, relaxes you... erm, I´ll shut up now...

[Ivy]

Still giggling about that porn mention.

So I could say a million things. Sit in a bathtub, take a cold shower, light a candle, burn incense, sit in a tree, wash your car, sing to the stars...

Those are all things that have worked for me, strangely enough, but I think I have to agree with Anna the most. When I'm suffering from writers block (hey, we ALL do... It's kind of like getting your period (Talking to girls here) You hate it, you deal with it, you yell at a few people, it goes away, you enjoy your life for a while, free of pain and emotional instability, and then when you least expect it, it'll come back.) Talking is probably the best thing you can do to get your creative juices going. I've got a particular friend who also likes to write, but she doens't do fanfics. Even if I'm not working on a LotR fic, if I'm suffering and nothing's coming to me, I'll sit down in the darkest corner of my school library with her and I'll kind of talk out what I've just written... and magically, I'll start talking about what I want to happen, and then I'll have my creativity all kick-started and magical again! (woohoo!)

Though all good things (like CHOCOLATE!) tend to be double-edged swords. Sometimes if you share too much, I find that something can lose it's intensity and become less personal to you. So if you take my (And Anna's) advice and talk your problems out with someone, make sure to leave enough blanks to make your writing process fun, too, and not just a recreation of what you and your other person talked out.

...And I suppose if you're a recluse, you could talk to your little turtle or something... it could achieve the same effect... :0)

...And I guess if all that fails, revert to the aforementioned porn.

-Ivy-