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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48152
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48152
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

"Waiting for the mood to strike you" is bad practice. Your writing muscle, like any other, needs to be exercised every day, if you can, or at least as often as you have time. (Some of us have jobs and whatnot, writing every day might not be possible.)

If you have the time to write, there are several tricks that can help you find the right mood.

First, sometimes the troubles of the day can be weighing on you. You need to clear your mind, find that space for creativity. @Lauraducky suggests music and meditation. I have found both useful. Keep it brief. Find what helps you focus, and do that. With time, focusing will become easier. It's a form of mental exercise - everything that isn't your writing - you're not thinking of it right now.

Then, read the last few paragraphs you've written. There's a flow to a story. Reading the last passage should help you get back into the flow.

If there's a particular mood you're trying to evoke, a chord you can't quite seem to strike, it can be very helpful to find a piece of literature, film, or music that evokes that emotion. Read/watch/listen to it once or twice to immerse yourself in what you're looking for. Don't let yourself read/watch on to other bits, get carried away - that's procrastinating. Keep the break brief.

Finally, if nothing works, write anyway. Write something, even if it isn't coming out the way you'd like it to. When you come back to editing it, it will be easier to change things, draw the text closer to what you want it to be. It's easier to find what needs to be improved, and how to improve it, then working from a blank page.

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