writer's block...

so i'm trying to write a story but i have one big problem:writer's block. basically, the story is set in the near future and 80% of the human race is no longer alive, nature has reclaimed many former cities but a few places remain unchanged. what my problem is is that i don't know why much of the human race is no more. what should i make as the reason for this giant change?

Why is it that every amateur writer always goes right for the near-future-decimated-earth scenario?  Well, in this case, theres plenty of cliches for you to use (meteors, disease, aliens, nukes...) but just try to think of something original, yet fairly believable.  If you dick around on 4chan long enough, you're bound to find some inspiration for mass destuction.

Near-future is easier than far-future. People like things they can relate to as well.

Rule #1:  "Writer's block" is bullshit.  Real writers write every day.  No excuses.

Rule #2:  If you find yourself unsure about a certain justification or direction, and being well aware that you have to write today anyway (see rule #1), then just write on a topic in that story's universe as it pleases you.  How do people farm?  Write about that.  How do they trade?  Write about that.  How does nature creep back into a large city, bit by bit?  Write about that.

If you follow these rules, eventually you come upon a theme for your story.  Literally, you'll be hammering away at some sort of encyclopedic entry about how the tsunami from the Canary Islands happened in the year 2237, obliterating the Eastern Seaboard of the USA ... and suddenly it'll strike you that Humankkind could have faced a tectonic extinction event.  The Sumatra supervolcano could have let loose.  The air became too clouded with thousands of cubic miles of ash.  Photosynthesis nearly failed.  Man lost almost all of his animals and all his crops.  Man fed on man.  Etc.

Good shit.  Those rules are truth.

Indeed that sounds very very much like Aeon Flux, as well as Brave New World.

>>4

Real writers write every day because they have the full book already planned out before they write it.

Oh, and the 2nd rule is decent, but hope to god the person can't come up with anything or we'll have 500 pages of "...and then Bill came out and saw his wife standing in the garden. "Where are you going today?" She asked. "To farm." Bill relied as he walked off toward the farm. "How?" She asked right before he stepped onto the soil. "Well you see, first I'm going to..."

I got bored just writing that, I dunno, some might like that though.


And for OP's question, don't do death by nature, that just sucks. Death by weapons sucks also. As does disease. Now go, go and write.

Well all that leaves is... Galactus.

>>7
You're full of shit. I know for a fact that many writers (Stephen King, Charles Dickens etc.) have specifically started novels without knowing how it would end or where it would go. They didn't plan anything out before hand.

>>9

Nor did they write everyday

>>10
I dunno, King's pretty addicted to writing.

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Not to mention some of the greatest novels ever written were done by people who had never written fiction before, and didn't write every day. They just had an idea in their head, sat down and wrote a great work of literature.

There are no rules for creative processes. Everybody's creativity takes its own form. So people are more prolific, some less. Some plan, some don't. There are an infinite number of ways to do this; find the one that works for you.

Jeebus, all the faggotry on this board!  All I said that is you should get in the habit of writing every day.  It should stand to reason that procrastination isn't going to help you accomplish writing anything.  It should also stand to reason that if you're beset with uncertainty, perhaps writing will help connect mental processes.

I'm fairly sure real writers tend to WRITE.  One author (whose name now escapes me) said that she cannot NOT write.  Writers should feel fairly compelled to write.  Cull something worthwhile from that herd of words.  If it turns out that you're one of those people who don't need to write so often in order to write effectively ... then, well, fucking good for you!  By putting your nose to the grindstone and writing every day, eventually you'll find your own level of effectiveness and drop back down to what works for you.

Jeebus.  You'd think I advised the OP to slice open his own veins or something.

>>14
Actually, we weren't so much in an uproar because you said you have to be in the habit of writing every day - you do, and it's really not that hard to begin with - but that you have to have it all planned out to begin with.

Personally, I find it much more enjoyable to just go where the flow of the story takes me, and then revise to make the beginning look like I knew where the hell it was all going.

Everybody has their own creative process.  Whenever I write, I need to have some form of outline already written so I don't wander off and make some plot holes.  I like to get a lot of the major plot mechanics and ideas down before I start in with actually writing, but the characters, their personalities, all that- usually come out spontaneously and grow.

fgn