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[Alpha_Serpentwitch]

How to Stop Writer's Block Cold!
by Caterina Christakos

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Some writers say they want to, " Just write and let it flow."

This does happen sometimes and it is a high greater than you can imagine.

What happens when it stops flowing though? You will get to a point, in most stories, where the story line will flow and the characters take on a life of their own. Sometimes, though, they can be stubborn or your brain just says, " Hey I need a break!" For those moments you need a plan.

Here are some suggestions:

Take a half hour break and immerse yourself in something completely different. Forget about your story completely. It may be that both you and your characters need a break. Go soak in a tub, have a cup of tea, or take a nap.

It may be all that you need to get going again. You may even find that your greatest inspirations occur, while you rest. Your unconscious can handle any problem if given a chance. If you have developed your characters enough, you may even hear them urging you to get back to work and telling you what happens next.

For those more severe occasions, it is good to come up with an outline. From ok what have I written so far, to where do I want this story to go you can sometimes pick up your train of thought again. Or you can try picturing your ending first and work backwards. This may sound strange but it works.

Nationally re-knowned hypnotist and NLP specialist, Daniel Olson, taught me that technique. He said, "Picture the ending then look back at your present self and tell me all the things that you needed to do to get there. What steps will your story need to take to get from where you are now to where you want it to be? "

Start from the last chapter, then the one before it, and the one before that one, until you get to the beginning. Fill in as many details as possible until you begin to see the whole picture step by step. Before you know it, your story will be done.

Remember everyone has suffered from writers block at one point or another. Now you have a way to blast through that block and get back to the business of writing.

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Hey, ternyata teknik nulis terbalik gw diakui disini huahuahua !! Kalau gt gw mau lanjut nulis terbalik lg deh, chapter kedua sebelum terakhir xixixi...

Wah, felgirth ditinggalkan, sekarang sang dukun ular malah membuka ladang baru, menyediakan kolam nasehat2 kebajikan bagi para penulis fantasi.

Haha cerita Felgirth masi jalan kok Fred, tp threadnya emang dah mokad sih hihi. Abis gw banyak ngerombak ceritanya, males posting ulang lagi. Tunggu udah final deh br dipost.

[rd_Villam]

teknik nulis terbalik katanya emang bagus sih...
tapi belon pernah gue coba. hehe...
entar coba deh...

[clickdian]

teknik nulis terbalik katanya emang bagus sih...
tapi belon pernah gue coba. hehe...
entar coba deh...

hm? nulis sambil jungkir, gitu maksudnya? 

*ditimpuk sama villam *

[mocca_chi]

sebenrnya masih tertarik am fantasy, cuman baca artikel in yang inggris semua. palaku jadi puyeng..

duhh.... kangen juga nulis fantasy 

[Alpha_Serpentwitch]

haha sori, yg rame ngebahas tentang cara menulis, apalagi kaitannya dengan fiksi fantasy kebanyakan cm orang barat sih, jdny bhs Inggris semua de. Ntar gw coba cari yg bahasa Indonesia deh 

[BloodSin]

Serpentwitch sialann! Bikin malu gw aja dengan ngebeberin kuis beginian

Ternyata memang Lemures gw sarat banged akan keklisean


1. Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages?
- No, alot of things happened

2. Is your main character a young farmhand with mysterious parentage?
- Yes (merefer ke bokapnya )

3. Is your main character the heir to the throne but doesn't know it?
- No

4. Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy?
- No
 
5. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world?
- Very-very yes

6. How about one that will destroy it?
- No

7. Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about "The One" who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good?
- No

8. Does your novel contain a character whose sole purpose is to show up at random plot points and dispense information?
- No

9. Does your novel contain a character that is really a god in disguise?
- No

10.Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character?
- No, tapi dua tahun lalu, sempet rencana bikin plotting kayak begini

11.Is the king of your world a kindly king duped by an evil magician?
- No Magician in my novel.

12.Does "a forgetful wizard" describe any of the characters in your novel?
- No Wizard in my novel

13.How about "a powerful but slow and kind-hearted warrior"?
- Yes , ada dua orang malah, tapi untuk mengantisipasi keklisean di atas, gw ngebikin yang satu mata keranjang, yang satu lagi sedikit menderita oedipus complex, heuheuheu..

14.How about "a wise, mystical sage who refuses to give away plot details for his own personal, mysterious reasons"?
- Yes

15.Do the female characters in your novel spend a lot of time worrying about how they look, especially when the male main character is around?
- Naksir sih iya, tapi gak sampe repot dandan kalo mau ketemuan ama si doi tuh

16.Do any of your female characters exist solely to be captured and rescued?
- Iyak bangeddd

17.Do any of your female characters exist solely to embody feminist ideals?
- Wah, kriteria wanita ideal itu relatip banged bagi tiap orang.

18.Would "a clumsy cooking wench more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword" aptly describe any of your female characters?
- Gak gitu ngarti pertanyaannya, tapi kayaknya kagak

19.Would "a fearless warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan" aptly describe any of your female characters?
- Gak gitu ngarti pertanyaannya, tapi kayaknya iyak

20.Is any character in your novel best described as "a dour dwarf"?
- No dwarves

23.How about "a half-elf torn between his human and elven heritage"?
- No Elves

24.Did you make the elves and the dwarves great friends, just to be different?
- Kondisi ini gak mungkin terjadi dengan dua jawaban gw sebelumnya

25.Does everybody under four feet tall exist solely for comic relief?
- No hobbits , tapi memang ada satu karakter 'sependek' itu sih.. cewek pula.

26.Do you think that the only two uses for ships are fishing and piracy?
- No

27.Do you not know when the hay baler was invented?
- Yes

28.Did you draw a map for your novel which includes places named things like "The Blasted Lands" or "The Forest of Fear" or "The Desert of Desolation" or absolutely anything "of Doom"?
- Yes, 'Forrest of Fear' ==> 'Sangkar Hantu' bangedd

29.Does your novel contain a prologue that is impossible to understand until you've read the entire book, if even then?
- Kayaknya iya

30.Is this the first book in a planned trilogy?
- Yep, dan kalo laku & jadi bestseller, tentu aja bisa membengkak jadi pentalogi atau dekalogi heuheuhe

31.How about a quintet or a decalogue?
- Nah itu kalo laku
   
32.Is your novel thicker than a New York City phone book?
- No

33.Did absolutely nothing happen in the previous book you wrote, yet you figure you're still many sequels away from finishing your "story"?
- No

34.Are you writing prequels to your as-yet-unfinished series of books?
- No

35.Is your name Robert Jordan and you lied like a dog to get this far?
- No

36.Is your novel based on the adventures of your role-playing group?
- Yes

37.Does your novel contain characters transported from the real world to a fantasy realm?
- Hell No

38.Do any of your main characters have apostrophes or dashes in their names?
- No

39.Do any of your main characters have names longer than three syllables?
- No

40.Do you see nothing wrong with having two characters from the same small isolated village being named "Tim Umber" and "Belthusalanthalus al'Grinsok"?
- No

41.Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings?
- No

42.How about "orken" or "dwerrows"?
- Sekali lagi, no.

43.Do you have a race prefixed by "half-"?
- No

44.At any point in your novel, do the main characters take a shortcut through ancient dwarven mines?
- Ada sih yg mirip-mirip ini, tapi bukan tambang kurcaci, lagipula mereka masuk kesitu bukan untuk nyari jalan pintas. (baru nyadar kalo adegan ini teh LOTR buanged )

45.Do you write your battle scenes by playing them out in your favorite RPG?
- No

46.Have you done up game statistics for all of your main characters in your favorite RPG?
- No

47.Are you writing a work-for-hire for Wizards of the Coast?
- No

48.Do inns in your book exist solely so your main characters can have brawls?
- Gak ngarti pertanyaannya (brawl = percekcokan, keributan), kenapa pula kalo mau bikin keributan kudu ke penginapan dulu?

49.Do you think you know how feudalism worked but really don't?
- Nah ini kayaknya iya deh, novel gw ngambil sedikit tema politik, padahal gw buta sama sekali ama politik

50.Do your characters spend an inordinate amount of time journeying from place to place?
- Yes

51.Could one of your main characters tell the other characters something that would really help them in their quest but refuses to do so just so it won't break the plot?
- No, tapi memang ada bbrp karakter sentral yg merahasiakan plot-plot tertentu terhadap rombongannya, bahkan juga kepada pembaca

52.Do any of the magic users in your novel cast spells easily identifiable as "fireball" or "lightning bolt"?
- Hmm, ada 2 nama jurus yg keluar dalam novel gw: 'Formasi Empat Pisau Penjuru' & 'Formasi Belati Petir'. Ini gak kedenger terlalu RPG kan?

53.Do you ever use the term "mana" in your novel?
- Pernah, tapi itu waktu sebelum direvisi.. Tauk aja ih

54.Do you ever use the term "plate mail" in your novel?
- No, tapi kalo 'zirah logam', gw ada pake

55.Heaven help you, do you ever use the term "hit points" in your novel?
- No, anjrit paraaaah banged kalo ada novel fantasi yg pake beginian -_-"

56.Do you not realize how much gold actually weighs?
- Yes Lagian gw bukan tukang emas.

57.Do you think horses can gallop all day long without rest?
- Yes

58.Does anybody in your novel fight for two hours straight in full plate armor, then ride a horse for four hours, then delicately make love to a willing barmaid all in the same day?
- No

59.Does your main character have a magic axe, hammer, spear, or other weapon that returns to him when he throws it?
- No

60.Does anybody in your novel ever stab anybody with a scimitar?
- No, gak ada manusia yang membunuh manusia di novel gw

61.Does anybody in your novel stab anybody straight through plate armor?
- No

62.Do you think swords weigh ten pounds or more? [info]
- No

63.Does your hero fall in love with an unattainable woman, whom he later attains?
- Yes

64.Does a large portion of the humor in your novel consist of puns?
- Sebagian kecil aja, untungnya.

65.Is your hero able to withstand multiple blows from the fantasy equivalent of a ten pound sledge but is still threatened by a small woman with a dagger?
- No, tapi emang ada 'small woman with a dagger' di novel gw sih -_x"

66.Do you really think it frequently takes more than one arrow in the chest to kill a man?
- Yes?

67.Do you not realize it takes hours to make a good stew, making it a poor choice for an "on the road" meal?
- Stew apaan sih?

68.Do you have nomadic barbarians living on the tundra and consuming barrels and barrels of mead?
- Noo

69.Do you think that "mead" is just a fancy name for "beer"?
- Noo

70.Does your story involve a number of different races, each of which has exactly one country, one ruler, and one religion?
- Yes, dan kayaknya gak ada masalah dengan ini?

71.Is the best organized and most numerous group of people in your world the thieves' guild?
- No

72.Does your main villain punish insignificant mistakes with death?
- No

73.Is your story about a crack team of warriors that take along a bard who is useless in a fight, though he plays a mean lute?
- Yes, emang ada sih, dan sialnya jadi tokoh utama pulak

74.Is "common" the official language of your world?
- Yep

75.Is the countryside in your novel littered with tombs and gravesites filled with ancient magical loot that nobody thought to steal centuries before?
- Yes

76.Is your book basically a rip-off of The Lord of the Rings?
- Hampir iya, but i tried my best to serve something new to the readers

[Alpha_Serpentwitch]

Serpentwitch sialann! Bikin malu gw aja dengan ngebeberin kuis beginian

Ternyata memang Lemures gw sarat banged akan keklisean

Wah, ternyata ada yg hasil examnya lebih parah dr gw  huakakaakaa 

hue2 mknya kan bagus gw sadarkan elu sejak dini supaya bs merombak jd lebih bagus xixixixi 

[BloodSin]

Nah, sekarang saatnya ngerusuh

@pengarang Felgirth

52.Do any of the magic users in your novel cast spells easily identifiable as "fireball" or "lightning bolt"?
    (never. Hate that a lot)

Maksud terselubung dari pertanyaan ini adalah, betapa banyak pengarang fantasi yg kepengaruh berat dari RPG buat sistem battle & aroma naming jurus-jurusnya. Termasuk 'Will of Speed', & 'Void Elemental' elu, lha..

Semoga saja sudah direvisi


@pengarang Zauri,

Sebagian statement yg udah diquote & diprotes ama si om pur, ane overall sepakat ama beliau , cuma mau nambahin dikid aja.

64.Does a large portion of the humor in your novel consist of puns? kyknya nggak.

Mayoritas 'humor' yg ada di Zauri itu bernada sarkasme, sis ('pun' = sindiran), terutama gaya humor buat trio Mayorka-Kid-Bruno

Humor kayak begini (komedi bergaya 4 mata-nya tukul) sebetulnya gak salah, tapi biasanya gak workable buat tipe pembaca tertentu.

36.Is your novel based on the adventures of your role-playing group? no.

Term 'Adventure' memang pada umumnya merujuk ke makna 'petualangan dari titik A ke titik Z', tapi sebetulnya bisa juga berarti 'petualangan dari titik A, ke titik B, balik lagi ke titik A, terus ke titik C, terus ke D, dst..' Nah IMO, adventure Zauri (dengan role playing group-nya) fit ke dalem tipe adventure yg ini.

oh iya, btw waktu ngomongin 'supreme badguy' di zauri, itu merujuk ke Mario atau Erica?


@pengarang TFH,

4. Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy?
'great power'? kayaknya bukan...

Masuk ke 'yes', ah

13.How about "a powerful but slow and kind-hearted warrior"?
kayaknya enggak

Err, Fabian? Serge? Helmut?

15.Do the female characters in your novel spend a lot of time worrying about how they look, especially when the male main character is around?
huh? apaan nih?

Magra? Amelia? Winni? Grete? Bukannya mereka pada salting & malu-malu waktu berhadapan dengan Fabian?
Inilah resikonya kalo bikin karakter utama bermuka ganteng


@para pengarang yg udah kerajinan ngejawab tes beginian (panjang banged, bok! )

Kalo menurut gw, penilaian reflektif dari serangkaian tes keklisean di atas itu gak mutlak harus sama persis kondisinya dengan yg disebutkan, dan gak harus selalu dipahami setepat dan seeksplisit seperti yg ditanyakan.

Kayak ini:

7. Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about "The One" who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good?

Kalo udah kasusnya 'The One' model begini, memang cuma ada dua kemungkinan: apakah si The One itu ada di pihak baik, atau pihak jahat. Memang kebanyakan pengarang akan memposisikan 'The One'-nya untuk berada di pihak baik, namun yang memposisikannya sebagai pihak jahat, juga gak sedikit. Terserah posisinya mau ada di pihak mana, tapi kalo novel kita udah fokus ngomongin tentang si 'The One' ini di sepanjang novel, udah bakal terhitung masuk stereotip, IMO sih.


COntohnya yg lain, 2 pertanyan ini:

41.Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings?

42.How about "orken" or "dwerrows"?

Tentu aja maksud dari 2 pertanyaan tes ini adalah, apakah kita masih meminjam gambaran umum karya fantasi kebanyakan (novel, film, anime, game) buat sistem konfigurasi rasial (minjem istilah om pur) dalam novel kita? Goblin, Penyihir, Paladin, Assassin, Thief, 'Bounty Hunter', walau gak turut disebutkan dalam pertanyaan no. 41, tetep keitung stereotip di mata gw, karena emang udah banyak banged fantasi lokal yg pake sistem rasial/kasta kayak begitu (thanks untuk sederet judul game online )

Dan tentu aja dengan adanya pertanyaan no. 42 itu, teknik pemlesetan nama ras (yg stereotip) namun pendeskripsiannya masih stereotip gak akan workable, percuma aja. Jadi kalo ada ras dalam novel kita yg minjem pendeskripsian orc, namun nama rasnya diplesetin jadi 'orken' biar berkesan orisinil & kreatif, teuteup bakal terhitung stereotip. Pertanyaan itu menantang kita, para penulis fantasi, buat kreatif menciptakan konfigurasi rasial yang betul-betul inovatif, dan gak minjem deskripsi fisik & karakteristik dari mana-mana..


Jujur aja sih, gw paling ngerasa 'kena' telak di pertanyaan ini:

5. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world?

Kalo gw mau ngeles, atau pura-pura telmi, bisa aja gw jawab: No, karena novel gw sama sekali gak pake elemen magis di dalam settingnya, semuanya beraroma realistik dan ilmiah, jadi gak bakal pernah ada yg namanya 'Artefak Magis' yang bisa nyihir orang jadi kodok, atau pedang keramat yang bisa ngomong sendiri dalam novel gw.

Jawaban kayak begitu sah-sah aja, dan gak bisa dibilang salah secara konteks sekalipun, tapi coba apa kata orang-orang yg udah ngebaca Lemures gw, betapa ngeles dan gak nyambungnya jawaban itu

[Alpha_Serpentwitch]

Nyahaha  Udah gatel ya seminggu di kantor ga bs posting apa2?

Maksud terselubung dari pertanyaan ini adalah, betapa banyak pengarang fantasi yg kepengaruh berat dari RPG buat sistem battle & aroma naming jurus-jurusnya. Termasuk 'Will of Speed', & 'Void Elemental' elu, lha..

Semoga saja sudah direvisi

Soal jurus, makin lama emang makin pengen gue buang sih. Sementara ini jurus itu masih ada, cuman di jadiin versi constructed language, jd ga terlalu kentel aroma RPG english nya. Tp kl menurut gw, yg penting jangan make jurus tanpa penjelasan sih. Jangan mantek jurus 'fireball' semata2 krn karakternya penyihir dan begitu lahir lgsg bisa nembak. Kalau kita ceritain bagaimana cara kerja magicnya, atau betapa sulit dan lamanya proses untuk bisa belajar sebuah mantra fireball, alhasil jurus sepele itu pun bisa terasa 'lebih'.

Quote
42.How about "orken" or "dwerrows"?

Tentu aja maksud dari 2 pertanyaan tes ini adalah, apakah kita masih meminjam gambaran umum karya fantasi kebanyakan (novel, film, anime, game) buat sistem konfigurasi rasial (minjem istilah om pur) dalam novel kita? Goblin, Penyihir, Paladin, Assassin, Thief, 'Bounty Hunter', walau gak turut disebutkan dalam pertanyaan no. 41, tetep keitung stereotip di mata gw, karena emang udah banyak banged fantasi lokal yg pake sistem rasial/kasta kayak begitu (thanks untuk sederet judul game online )

Dan tentu aja dengan adanya pertanyaan no. 42 itu, teknik pemlesetan nama ras (yg stereotip) namun pendeskripsiannya masih stereotip gak akan workable, percuma aja. Jadi kalo ada ras dalam novel kita yg minjem pendeskripsian orc, namun nama rasnya diplesetin jadi 'orken' biar berkesan orisinil & kreatif, teuteup bakal terhitung stereotip. Pertanyaan itu menantang kita, para penulis fantasi, buat kreatif menciptakan konfigurasi rasial yang betul-betul inovatif, dan gak minjem deskripsi fisik & karakteristik dari mana-mana..

Hmm  Warghul gw sepertinya memang hanya Orc jadi2an. Asik soalnya bikin ras brutal ga berotak gitu huehue. Satu trik yang gw temukan bisa membuat ras kita lebih orisinil adalah 'relasi' dgn makhluk lainnya. Ciptakan hubungan simbiosis mutualisme/parasitisme yg terjadi pada hewan ke ras yang di cerita kita. Hal2 seperti itu menambah unsur biological science fantasy dan unsur believable nya. Tentu saja jika digarap dengan hati2 dan penuh riset. Sering2 nonton discovery channel aja, gw banyak dapet ide dr sana. 

[fr3d]

Serpentwitch sialann! Bikin malu gw aja dengan ngebeberin kuis beginian

Ternyata memang Lemures gw sarat banged akan keklisean

Wah, ternyata ada yg hasil examnya lebih parah dr gw  huakakaakaa 

hue2 mknya kan bagus gw sadarkan elu sejak dini supaya bs merombak jd lebih bagus xixixixi 

Gw gak mau ikutan jawab ah...
Sampe sekarang, novel gw kan yang masih tergolong "misterius" di forum ini...
(*sok2 misterius, padahal tangan udah gatel...*)