Do you suffer from Writerus Blockitis?

[katya]

First, I think if you`re willing to spend that much time re-writing a couple of pages a million times, why not just do it after you`ve got more done? For example, you decide a few pages in you wanna change something major. Just keep writing from where you are as if the change happened and then go back later. The main thing is, you can always go back as much as you want, and you`ll have to re-write less times if you get further along before you do it. It`s better to have a lot done, because it gives you confidence and a clearer view of where the story is gonna end up. You can fix the details whenever you want. I know if I had done re-writes of my story a little bit of a time I never would`ve gotten anywhere. I waited until I was halfway done with the whole thing. It changed a lot. I edited the first draft of that heavily, then in the process of typing it out it gets tweaked a little more. And as far as plot, it varies by person but I think it helps to know what the main conflict of the story is and what`s gonna happen at the climax (even if you`re not decided on the ending yet) so you have something to aim for and keep focused.

As for writer`s block, I get stuck a lot. But at those times, I usually either skip to a section of the story I do know how it`s gonna go down, or just write stuff badly and go back and fix it later as I decide how I want it. It`s easier to fix something that`s there than to just produce something good out of nowhere. And since it can take me months to decide on a name, I usually just think of a temporary one and write it in then go back and change it. If you`re writing it in word you can do it easily by using "replace with". Most of my name changes come in re-writing phase though so it doesn`t matter what was there before.

My current story re-write is 22 pages in word and the rough draft about 70 pages in a notebook (and I write really small). I haven`t written a word since I got to Japan so progress kinda stopped. But I`m gonna try and write today because I am starting to forget what was happening in the story and that scares me.

EDIT: a note on temporary names. If it doesn`t mess you up too much, why not? My story is really serious, and dark and sad, but there`s this one guy in the military in it and I can`t think of a good name for him yet so I`ve just been calling him "General Funnypants".