The wise thing to do is go reread the story you are writing from the beginning and as you go, make minor corrections. (I really should post up a threat about, simple rules for writing then I can just link to it when the topic comes up.) But if you ABSOLUTELY need to write, because you got a deadline...
Drugs. I fall back on drugs. Meth is a personal favorite. I know some people who swear by LSD, but frankly-
I'm kidding! I kid!... (70% Kidding.) I only take prescribed medication... I just happen to work in the medical field and know exactly how to phrase requests to get the medication I want.
BTW. Meth, Crack, Speed, or massive amounts of caffeine is actually a really DUMB way to write, unless you want to write shit. You can try that 5 hour energy crap when you are on the TAIL END of writing something, it won't get you going. A lack of sleep is the number one killer or creativity. If you happen to work a lot of night shifts, or your sleep schedule changes constantly, I highly recommend Provigil. Developed by the US Gov so you could send men on patrols for 48 hours straight, it is amazing at resetting your sleep clock without actually giving you that jittery feeling of stimulants. The only downside is that if you abuse it, you won't have any REM sleep and if you skip REM too many times, then there are all sorts of problems. You take it when you wake up, not to keep going.
Get it through a doctor. It's a triple script and you are looking at a felony if you buy it illegally.
Some people swear by Ritalin, but I highly recommend against that. It might help you focus, but it also makes you focus to the point you can't do any of that creative thinking that writing requires. BTW, it's in the same drug family as Meth, so it falls under my anti-stimulant stance.
Anything that helps you relax or calm down, NONE of that will help with writing, but... it you take it right before bed, it might help you sleep better, then when you wake up, you might feel well-rested and THEN you can write better. However, too many sleep aids are actually just depresses your body and makes you breathe slower. You aren't actually sleeping better, you are actually oxygen deprived and passing out. Furthermore, many of these drugs last too long, so you wake up feeling groggy.
So we come back to REM sleep. Sleeping pills, Nyquil, alcohol, and all that crap might put you to sleep, but if it lasts too long, it will also cause you to fall into a DEEP level of sleep.
That's bad.
I know, you might think, Deep sleep: Good! Yes? No.
You want shallow sleeping because that's what allows you to have REM. No REM, no dreams. No Dreams, your brain starts to misfire.
I have come to the conclusion that REM is basically your brain De-fragging. You can go without de-fragging your brain a few days, but as the errors build up, eventually your brain will FORCE you into REM, and that's when you get nightmares. You ever go to sleep, have a night of vivid dreams and wake up even MORE tired than when you went to bed? That's most likely because you've been skipping REM sleep. REM happens at the end of the night. You physically can get by with a 1-2 hour nap every 12 hours, but no REM and your brain starts to go haywire.
Go without REM for more than 10 days, you are at risk for DEATH.
Yeah. NO REM will KILL YOU.
Many health problems come from an inability to have a good night sleep. Yeah, sooner or later your brain will FORCE you into REM if you skip it enough, but I promise you, Not the best way to live. You are taking years off your life and as far as writing is concerned, you might as well not bother.
You want to write better? Drink a glass of warm milk, do to bed, take an anti-inflammatory in the morning, eat a breakfast heavy on the proteins and light on the sugar so you don't feel weighed down, then get writing.
Oh. REAL proteins. If you are vegan, hate to tell you this, you are missing a few important amino acids. All the muscle milk in the world will not substitute meat. However, you don't need much. Chicken once a week, Then ham or beef once a week, you'll be fine. I have seen way too many people go on Vegan diets then slowly go insane, only to return to normal when they start eating a burger once a week.
I'm not going to get into the morality of it. I'm concerned with your health. And if you want to discuss morality, I worked on a farm when I was younger. MURDER ALL THOSE DAMN COWS. SLOWLY. They are fuckin' monsters and deserve to die. Chickens? Honestly, they couldn't survive without humans, so really, at this point, if we didn't keep them. I do like them, but they are too stupid survive in the wild without us.
I feel bad about eating any sort of crustation. Those things are fairly intelligent and frankly, eating them is wrong. Lobsters mate for life, don't ya know? If their bonded partner dies, they will stop eating until they die as well. Humans could learn a thing or two from the humble lobster.
But cows and chickens? Yeah, at this point, if we didn't eat them, the only merciful thing would be to exterminate them all.
Another way to get your writing going is to hop on the forums here, pick a topic and start writing without editing your thoughts. Just type and type, jumping from topic to topic, as quickly as possible. See how fast you can write something without worrying too much about what it is. The purpose is the practice of figuring out how to write something on no notice.
And finally, don't write CREATIVELY. Work on the outline. Write very mechanically. For example
- Toshi Next needs to meat Urisagi
- Urisagi is a horndog who is sleeping with anyone who he can get in the pants of.
- Toshi is trying to stay loyal to one girl.
- Urisagi drags Toshi out to go to a party an tries to get him hooked up with a girl.
- Toshi refuses.
- Urisagi gets pissed off because he wants to justify his own choices and wants Toshi to do what he is doing so he doesn't feel bad. However, he doesn't understand that on some level he knows his hedonistic lifestyle is actually causing him more pain than fun.
- Toshi, being an old man in a 16 yo's body, knows that pleasure is not the same as happiness. Living a virtuous life is what allows one to have self-esteem. Self-esteem is the key to happiness, not orgasms.
- He fails to explain this as Urisagi is not willing to accept help.
- Flag him for future Scene where he is lamenting how screwed up his life is, juggling multiple sex partners at the same time.
See? I did some writing. I might actually use that. It's just an outline, but it's a good series of events. It has potential.
Just working on the order and PURPOSE of events can help you write LATER. If I was going to actually use this, I'd need to come up with a 'tone' for Urisagi. Certain behaviors. His clothing should reflect his current state of mind. What should the weather be so as to reflect the situation? What time of day? What is the WORST thing that could happen in this situation without completely derailing the story?
Anyrate, that's what I do when I'm stuck.
jerryjenkins.com
