How to Utilize Slumps When Creating Stories

I'm in a slump. Naturally.

I remember struggling through the fourth month of creation. It remains vividly recorded in my creative notes.

The outline of the story was coming together, things I wanted to write were popping up everywhere, and I felt like I lacked not only the knowledge but also the brain capacity to hold it all. The word "slump" started creeping into the corner of my mind. I would like to show you my notes from that time, where I dutifully labeled the state I was in with the subheading 【A Bit of a Slump】 as a way to describe what it was like.

• Ideas aren't coming together well.

• The information, knowledge, and ideas entering my head aren't intertwining.

• I'm becoming preoccupied with other excellent stories.

• As I gain more knowledge and experience, I've come to understand the depth of other stories, making my own work feel insignificant.

• I end up reading too much Quora.

• I find myself expecting answers where there are none.

• My own thoughts and ideas feel shallow, ignorant, amateurish, and naive.

• I want to know. I want to know until I feel secure, but I panic, wondering what will happen if I reach a point of no return.

Looking back at this now with a cool head, I want to praise myself, thinking, “It’s rare to find someone who can struggle so explicitly.” Usually, people don't want to acknowledge the miserable version of themselves plagued by worries. Instead of seeking distractions or lashing out at those around me, I just let it simmer within myself. I'm amazing.

Types of Slumps

I sometimes see the word "slump" on note as well. From observing that, I think there are several types of slumps.

1. Words won't come to mind

2. I have too much I want to write and can't organize it

3. I don't know how to write it

4. I don't actually want to write

I think these are the four main categories. (I mentioned three in the first draft on note, but I added a fourth because it's also quite important.)

The words won't come to me

Perhaps it is a state where someone who was able to write thousands of characters every day can only write about a hundred. Or perhaps it reaches a point where it becomes zero... It could also simply be a state where motivation is not rising.

The reason I am being vague with phrases like "perhaps" or "it could be" is that, while creating this story, I never reached a point where I couldn't write at all. When I decided to rest, I put down my pen.
I was able to drive myself that far because, having had several periods until I was nearly forty where I thought I would write something, only to have my heart drift away without even being conscious of a slump, I had experienced that slackness. The scary thought that "if I stop writing, the next time I'll want to write will be 10 years from now" was looming over me with a certain reality.Rather than carrying it over for 10 years, it is better to finish writing it now, even if it is poor, and with that thought, I kept writing.

Therefore, I would like to look back in detail at 2, 3, and 4.

I have too much I want to write and cannot organize it

This overlaps with the state that Shizuku from the anime film "Whisper of the Heart" fell into.

As you write a story, the worldview becomes complex, props increase, each major character grows, there are interactions with enemies, and the initial state changes.
The person writing can no longer keep up with the rapid current. Interrupting the work means the death of the story, so I just keep my hands moving. I used my specialty, sticky note work, to organize the properties given to props and the roles of the characters.

▼ Organizing Props: As you write a story, it becomes filled with meanings and origins given to props and keywords. Since you are the one writing the story, even if you understand it best, you cannot hold it all.

If you list out for each item, "What have I been thinking about so far?" (one item per sticky note), you can discover contradictions in what you have written so far, remember things you had set up but hadn't incorporated, or be given new hints for the development of the story.

▼ Organizing Character Roles: After the story moves significantly, the state of the characters and the information they possess change.

In my case, I drew lines in a notebook and used sticky notes to organize the situation.

• WANTS...Things they want to do heading toward the next phase

• Known...Things they already know at this point

• Unknown...Things they do not yet know

• Things to keep secret...Literally, things they do not want opposing forces or people around them to know

This work was useful in terms of organizing information, but another important thing was that it became a trigger to objectively see that what I want to write is becoming too complex.

If what you are thinking is complex, it is better to simplify the elements and write it rather than writing it as it is and having it fall apart; it will be easier to finish and should be conveyed to the reader as well.

Perhaps readers will read while relying on one or two keywords at a time, so I narrow down the important items or events in each scene or sequence, and make it so that the story progresses if they follow those.

I either completely cut out unimportant elements, moved them to the background, or used them as material to create a hook for the story by temporarily making "important things" unclear.

Try creating a keyword cloud

I wrote down the words I had been conscious of while creating stories so far in a notebook. Rather than expanding on this work, it is simply a task of writing down what is in my head. By doing this, I can find out what I have as keywords but don't really understand, or what I haven't been able to incorporate into the story I looked up things I didn't understand well by reading books or searching online.

I don't know how to write it

Regarding this, there are two effective methods.

1. Try sketching it, then write it down as you drew it

2. Look up visual information on YouTube, etc., and write it as you saw it

Regarding 1, for example, if you want to write about a certain monster, but it doesn't have attributes that make its appearance stand out with a single word like "zombie," and it doesn't have horns or a distinctive color, try drawing the appearance you are imagining, even if it's clumsy. If it has long arms or smooth parts, write it exactly like that.

Regarding 2, for example, if you want to write about a certain village but it ends up with a flat impression, look for tourist videos on YouTube and write about the alleys or scenery that left an impression on you as if you were sketching them. At this time, what is important is not to write like a detailed description, but to properly take notes on what the village was that you used as a model, such as the place name or the YouTube title.

I don't actually want to write it

If you try to force yourself to write something you don't really want to write, your motivation won't increase, and your writing will gradually slow down. I would like to discuss this in detail in the next planned article, "The Relationship Between Fantasy and Battle Scenes," so I will just mention it as a topic this time.

Think about "what is most important at this moment"

To repeat, the primary goal of the first draft is to "finish writing," so I cast aside any worries or conflicts other than achieving that and took every measure to keep writing.

Also, through the slump, I was able to deepen my understanding of "what is important for my story."

For my story,

• the goal is not to show off the created settings and props to the reader to the fullest extent while using the protagonist and other characters.

• I want to write about how the protagonists live within the created world, settings, and props.

In my case, it took courage to jump over the large gaps between the beginning and end of the story, and between the connections of scenes, one by one. If I failed the jump, I might fall into a valley or wander forever into a dark, misguided place with nothing in it. Given my knowledge and skills, I didn't think I could write it. Even so, I kept praying, "I will definitely write it, please let me write it."

What is a slump?

What exactly is a slump, that thing which troubles so many people? The following is a note I took from a post I found on Quora. While the slump mentioned here seems to lean more toward the context of athletes, reading this helps one realize that a slump is not a temptation toward nothingness that toys with those aiming for something, but rather a part of the journey itself.

By the way, for this story, I was challenging myself with the "fantasy" genre.Fantasy and combat, fantasy and militaryseem like inseparable elements, and I would like to write about how I approached this in the next installment.

Thank you for reading.

I have compiled all the efforts I made as an ordinary woman in her late thirties to complete a 350,000-character story into a magazine. If you found it even slightly interesting, I would be happy if you could give it a like and follow me.