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If you're suffering from Writers' Block today (like I am)...

Discussion in 'Copywriting' started by baselinej70, Jul 18, 2017.

  1. #1
    [​IMG]

    1. Start with a headline (try something like LinkbaitGenerator.com)
    2. Start with a punch line (like someone else's slogan that can be repurposed with your content - like "Beauty outside, beast inside", "Between love and madness lies obsession", "Be stupid" etc)
    3. Start with an image (like the one above that I found today on free.stockphoto.com)
    I try and trick myself into doing little chunks or work (and keeping them in a Work-in-progress folder). Every so often I'll get inspired and grab the building blocks and stitch them together before a final spit and polish.

    Hope it helps.

    Jon Yau
    Founder
    Stockphoto.com
     
    baselinej70, Jul 18, 2017 IP
  2. baselinej70

    baselinej70 Active Member

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    #2
    I love this photo - something else that might help banish writers' block for today. Cheers, Jon.

    [​IMG]
     
    baselinej70, Jul 20, 2017 IP
  3. JoeSpirit

    JoeSpirit Well-Known Member

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    #3
    When I'm not sure what I'll write but have a topic in mind I simply start free writing. I think about the topic and let words flow from my brain to my fingers.

    Normally the thoughts will come together with usable information. I write that and throw away all the wandering words from the beginning paragraphs.
     
    JoeSpirit, Jul 21, 2017 IP
  4. vsjess

    vsjess Peon

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    #4
    Good advice. When I'm feeling particularly unmotivated, but have a pending deadline, I like to just open up a fresh document. On that page I put every thought I currently have regarding the topic. I ignore typos, poor grammar, any and all nonsense. Once I run out of ideas, I walk away from it. When I return, I edit that document into a coherent piece of work. Like you suggested, its always better to at least start.
     
    vsjess, Jul 21, 2017 IP
  5. Patricia Ann Lee

    Patricia Ann Lee Active Member

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    #5
    Wow! I think that's where you apply the very famous "3 simple steps" hihi
    I find it very helpful. I am always struggling on where to start.
     
    Patricia Ann Lee, Jul 21, 2017 IP
  6. JoeSpirit

    JoeSpirit Well-Known Member

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    #6
    I've used that "walking away" technique also. It works very well when you toss some ideas into your head and let your subconscious mind dwell on them for a while. You can come up with some content full of wisdom when you do that.
     
    JoeSpirit, Jul 22, 2017 IP
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  7. qwikad.com

    qwikad.com Illustrious Member Affiliate Manager

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    #7
    It's similar to writing a song. When you have one catchy line, I can almost guarantee the rest will come. It's the idea / theme that matters, everything else will eventually fall into place.


     
    qwikad.com, Jul 22, 2017 IP
  8. baselinej70

    baselinej70 Active Member

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    #8
    I love reading about how different people approach the creative process. Obviously there is no right way, of course. Perhaps I'm showing my age but I love this story of Benny and Bjorn from ABBA:
    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/apr/10/abba-interview-bjorn-ulvaeus-frida-lyngstad

    Most remarkable about the song's magic – the piano trills (famously ripped off by Elvis Costello for Oliver's Army), the spiralling strings, the way it encapsulates a sense of uplifting joy – is that it sounds utterly effortless. So effortless, that critics at the time complained that the band were nothing more than a cold, clinical hit factory writing songs to order, with no heart. It's a criticism that Björn says used to make him mad, and possibly still does. "Waterloo, Mamma Mia, Fernando, Dancing Queen,The Winner Takes It All… are they made to a formula?" he asks. "What is that formula?! It's totallythe opposite. We never repeated ourselves. We worked so hard to find different styles every time."

    Indeed, a tireless work ethic seems to be one of the secrets to Abba's success. Björn and Benny would take holidays just to write songs, and refused to leave a track unfinished: they would work and work on it until it was good enough, before turning their attention to the next one. They took inspiration from the Beatles by writing every song as a potential hit single – only when they had enough for an LP did that become the album. So intense were their studio sessions that engineer – and Abba's "fifth member" – Michael Tretow told Mojo in 1999 that he was often kept so busy he felt close to starving: "When there were red skies passing before my eyes and I'd be almost fainting they'd finally say, OK, let's break for something to eat!"

    Abba's early lyrics might not have been much much to write home about, asBang-A-Boomerangcan attest ("Like a bang, a boom-a-boomerang/Dum-de-dum-dum be-dum-be-dum-dum/Oh bang, a boom-a-boomerang/Love is a tune you hum-de-hum-hum"). But as Björn toured and broadened his reading in English he began to expand his lyrical palette, dealing with bolder and more personal subjects. The band became known for their ability to counterpoint joyous melodies with melancholic, even depressing, lyrics. If It Wasn't for the Nights summed up Björn's bleak state of mind during his divorce, a disco song with a lyric of utter despair in which the protagonist dreads the end of the working day, when they will be left alone to deal with their own thoughts: "There were times that last autumn I was with Agnetha that I had those nights myself," he admits. "My lyrics were often based around fiction, but that must have been where that one came from."
    [​IMG]
     
    baselinej70, Jul 23, 2017 IP
  9. baselinej70

    baselinej70 Active Member

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    #9
    Here are a few images to kick start your day's creative process.

    All photos here are licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or website.

    I've sourced them personally and are safe to use. Enjoy!

    [​IMG]
    Full size = https://stockphoto.com/free/index.php?q=white+seagul+

    ________



    [​IMG]
    Full size = https://stockphoto.com/free/index.php?q=yellow+round+fruit+on+white+background+

    ________


    [​IMG]
    Full size = https://stockphoto.com/free/index.php?q=wood+clothes+background+beige+
     
    baselinej70, Jul 25, 2017 IP
  10. baselinej70

    baselinej70 Active Member

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    #10
    Oops - one more link for the day:

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2011/jul/14/how-to-write-a-hit-song

    How do you write a hit?
     
    baselinej70, Jul 25, 2017 IP
  11. wilhem

    wilhem Peon

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    #11
    I normaly go with creating an outline first, followed by research on the topic and content dumping into my draft, before cleaning it up and picking out the essentials to focus on, and starting from there by writing each individual section separately before combining everything. Helps with any writer's block I normally get.
     
    wilhem, Feb 25, 2018 IP
  12. JoeSpirit

    JoeSpirit Well-Known Member

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    #12
    Right now I'm reading John Fogerty's book, Fortunate Son. He talks about how, when an intriguing word or sentence pops into his mind, he writes it down in a notebook that he keeps with him all the time. He calls it his songbook.

    When he's fiddling around with the guitar and comes up with a riff that feels like it needs to be in a song he goes to his songbook and thumbs through the pages in search of some words to fit the riff.

    He's come up with some really great songs - and what he says are really bad songs - that way.
     
    JoeSpirit, Feb 25, 2018 IP
  13. Hostfinch

    Hostfinch Greenhorn

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    #13

    OMG these pics are amazing. I don't know about writer's block motivation but they cheered my mood right now.
     
    Hostfinch, Jul 13, 2018 IP