Forums » RP Discussion » Writer's burnout~

Man. It was been a LOOOOOOOOOONG time since I last Rped. Like... a year or so. xD I miss it horribly, but no matter what trick I try I open a page to start an RP and my mind goes blank. I'm left staring at a white page with absolutely no text. So, how do you all get over burnouts?

Oh, and before my crazy long break I had rped for around... 10 or so years. So yeah, maybe nonstop RPing for years on end, might have a tiny bit to do with my burnout... *whistles innocently*

I was on break for like two years, and was still pretty slow starting back up.

I'm not sure what all you've already tried, but what I've found absolutely easiest to work with is to have a good friend you've RP'd with before, so there's something sort of familiar but still interesting to wade back in with.

I also lucked out by joining a relatively young RP group that was designed to be very flexible, with just some rough setting guidelines rather than wildly deep lore, and that was highly active socially. The OOC social activity was probably the biggest help, since it gave me a chance to get to know folks (and their characters) a bit, which made it much easier to then get some ideas and propose them to those folks. Meanwhile, having it be a small, flexible group with a fairly basic but varied setting gave me a chance to develop a degree of comfort with the setting that also helped me to get ideas and to feel more sure about the things I was writing. (There were definitely some down sides, too, but I'm not thinking of anything offhand that's universal among groups.)

I tend to be about character-driven plot, so one of the things that tends to help bring on ideas is to read through character profiles and see if anything makes me think something something interesting might happen if that character were to meet any of my characters. Sometimes I'll discuss all sorts of details to aim for with that player, then, and sometimes it'll lean a lot more into "here's why they'll meet, then we'll just see what happens."

On occasion, I've also found it helpful to use an anonymous character to explore something new without necessarily embarrassing myself too bad or to reduce preconceptions of how I might play.

I have definitely been burnt out when it comes to role-playing before, and writing to a further extent. Not through the fault of anyone in terms of role-playing partners, concepts, themes etc. Goodness no. My burn out was due to going through an extensive period of heavy copywriting and ghostwiting jobs that absolutely burnt out any creative writing 'mojo'.

I gradually eased back into role-playing by way of lessening the number of ghostwriting jobs and writing the starts of stories, to then revisit. By that route, I gradually got back into role-playing as is done via this site and other routes.

I get it. Yes, it happens. I myself was deep into Rp through high school, then when college came, I had to sacrifice RP as one of the things I didn't have time for. Eight years on and I found myself flailing in a stressful life situation and to was suggested my psychologist that I maybe try this hobby again to relieve the tensions of me day-to-day situations. So I got back into it in 2021, and I found this wonderful site! My months here had its ups and downs, but it was mostly ups, and as much as I liked my old RP life from years ago, I have to say I'm liking this new era of roleplay.

Burnout is a thing. The change of genres or styles can help, but you have to be into it to be creative. if it becomes a burden, then it's time to step back. Do I still have 'white page syndrome?' yes, I sometimes look at a reply and wonder what I will do with it. The next day I may see something I can work with and reply. It is easy to overthink things when it comes to these stories we make. A big part of the struggle is to overcome this one thing in my case.

I think that friendship and writing go hand in hand. I have some partners I write with that are story only and do not open up too much, that is fine. I have others that are vocal about what they like, and what they do not like in stories. That can help to reduce burnout by being able to navigate better through what partners do and do not like in stories. Communication is key, when you like the story, when you don't...and when you are just too tired to write. There are those days where you get home from work, look at your keyboard and then curl up in bed and go to sleep. Writing is not life, it should enhance it. Also don't forget to go out and occasionally experience the world to draw in details for your writing. Appreciation is important. Giving someone a kudos when they write with you, or giving them a summer flower to let them know how special they are means a lot. So does a simple thank you. It can be the gesture that reignites that fire inside. I am very fortunate to have a great server staff of admins that protect our site, and incredible group moderators like Dawnia that help keep the community fresh and groups from hitting burn out!