Possibly if you were on a stricter, parent-controlled and technology-restricted diet, you might have to replicate that by forcing breaks between episodes, only playing the album at home (no portables). Just a hypothesis I have, not tested.
Otherwise, acknowledging that now you are more keenly developed, you need more acute stimuli. I suppose as a kid, stories were far more foreign and therefore wondrous, but having grown up, it's all been seen and so the stories have lost some lustre? In that case, best to seek more complex, nuanced stories and engage with them more purposefully to really extract inspiration ("meaning"). On my end, I've been writing on Goodreads and rym. Is this "cheating" by "forcing" a sense of wonder? Only to the extent that you don't see it as something you'd like to do. Otherwise, it's just an adult version of doodling your favourite heroes fighting their nemeses, play acting, etc. Analysis of this kind is only cold and incompatible with the warmth of imagination if conducted with academic rigidity (in fact even then, I might disagree ... haven't fully settled my thoughts on that).
Feb 10, 2025
Related Recs
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at least for me, writer's block occurs when i feel like i've exhausted thoughts, ideas, motifs, etc. that used to fuel creative output previously β but changing your perspective (either by changing your influences, or your environment, etc.) will put more gas in your tank to write new, exciting things, and to experiment with how you write about those things
in the artist's way, julia cameron mentions how a core tenant of the program is "artist dates" where you go out on a solo excursion to give yourself more creative "input" like novel life experiences, new perspectives on familiar experiences, etc. that can then funnel into creative output
i think a similar effort is just reading more; for example, i like sci-fi as a consumer, but when i was reading parable of the sower by octavia butler for a book club, i was so inspired by it that previous projects in that genre i had parked because they felt uninspired became exciting to work on again. new sci-fi projects came to me and gave me some runway to outline / draft them. same for fantasy, non-fiction, etc
the more you're inspired (either by your experiences or your influences) the easier it will be to write more, because exploration will often take less effort than refinement. both are essential parts of the process, but if you're exclusively refining based on a body of work limited in scope, it's going to take more time / be more agonizing / feel less worth it; if you can expand that scope, there'll always be something to say on the page
Feb 10, 2025
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I'm not sure what your essays or other assignments are about (and maybe they're just highkey boring idk). But for me (I also have severe executive dysfunction) I have to EXTREMELY care about whatever I'm writing/creating to even find an inkling of motivation. So I seek out cool shit to read, watch, listen to, or look at to motivate me to tell a story/make art/yada yada. (this is different from doomscrolling I swear). Seeing other people make cool stuff makes me want to make cool stuff!! Maybe this is where parallel play can be helpful too.
OR I get pissed off about something I care about. It's honestly about generating energy. I watched Drew Gooden's video about AI art and it got me so pissed off I finished a project I was procrastinating.
or also also. do some other activity/chore u on your to do list to get u into the ~grindset~
im sorry if this wasn't very helpful lol
Mar 23, 2025
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is there such a thing as a rec being too niche? recently i decided to try my hand at writing a full-fledged novel, and the process has been illuminating in so many ways. itβs given me way more appreciation for the rigorous conditions under which stories are written, whether it be in visual media or literature (especially the ones that end up being good).
so far, whatβs proven most gratifying to me as an aspiring storyteller is ordering the events non-chronologically. though itβs a bit unkind to my freewheeling compulsions, itβs challenging me to conceptualize events with more foresight, as the chosen disruption of continuity requires me to be more intentional with the details of particular conversations and pivotal events. even if it never sees the light of day, iβm grateful to be indulging my creative mind again :)
Jan 10, 2025
Top Recs from @sleazeborg
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Albums
Chelsea Wolfe - Unknown Rooms (Flatlands, Virginia Woolf Underwater)
Chelsea Wolfe - Pain is Beauty
PJ Harvey - Rid of Me (legit got jump scares when I first listened...)
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - Saved!
Julee Cruise - Floating Into the Night (maybe not typically seen as creepy or gothic, but I think there's a bit of those...might be conflating "strong atmosphere" with "strong atmosphere which is specifically <gothic>", idk)
Nicole Dollanganger - Natural Born Losers (Poacher's Pride, White Trashing, In the Land, You're so Cool)
Elysian Blaze - Levitating the Carnal; Beneath Silent Faces (think I should make a separate post for this ... not spoken about enough imo)
Songs
Poppy Jean Crawford - Glamorous
Kate Bush - Waking the Witch; Hounds of Love; Under Ice (as above ... atmospheric ... Is it dark and gothic? To me, sort of)
Marissa Nadler - Janie in Love; Divers of the Dust
Emily Jane White - Behind the Glass
Bat for Lashes - What's a Girl to Do?
Saram12saram - Fish Wish Kiss; Cripple
Holly Henry - Crawl; Roswell
Mercy Necromancy - Cruel; Bunny
Poppy - Holy Mountain
Jan 17, 2025
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My efforts now reduced to basically nothing but numbers on a transcript (I did not retain the knowledge in my head oops)
Jan 18, 2025
Test / pilot post.
Emo, screamo.
Only 1,336 plays on last.fm and I'm a big chunk of that... surely deserves more.
Jan 17, 2025