It happens to all of us at some point. Our motivation seems to flicker, maybe we lose it entirely. For some it may stem from writer’s block (frustration), maybe burnout (exhaustion), or for some just a sense of apathy (lack of interest/enjoyment). It’s a scary thing to experience. After all: if we can’t even love our own story, how can we expect readers to love it?

Thankfully, unless the idea is truly a dud (a rarity), there may be a way to regain your excitement. To do so, you’ll first need to ask yourself some serious questions to discover why you may have lost interest.

If you feel that . . .

• you’re writing yourself in circles, it could be that you need to do more planning. Your idea may simply be too big and need to be broken down into workable pieces, or you may need to do additional research to help you around or through a block;
• you’re bored or tired of writing this story, then maybe you’ve burned yourself out and need a break. Or maybe, when you spend some time away from it, you’ll realize that it’s not worth pursuing (it happens);
• your characters are flat or boring, it could be that you have too many or that you need to get to know them better;
• something about the story is triggering negative emotions for you, it may be that something in the telling or in your characters is poking at some of your own raw emotions or that it’s running up against a past experience that you haven’t processed;
• your idea has already been done, you need to consider what unique perspective you can bring to it (and remind yourself just how many Greek myth retellings are on shelves).

There are a lot of reasons that we can lose interest in our own stories. Once you know what your reason is, then you can decide how to move forward.

Here are a few things I suggest trying:

Take a walk and daydream—no phone or headphones.

I mean it. Sometimes we are so focused on trying to think our way through things that we let that get in the way of our creativity. Or sometimes we’re so distracted (hello, social media) that we don’t give our minds time to focus on creating. Let your mind and imagination wander where they want to wander for a bit, whether that’s on your current story or not.

Try to get excited about the story again.

Some folks love mood boards or old-school collages. Some love to draw the maps of their world (whether you’re good at drawing or not!) or take a stab at sketching their characters. Heck, if like me you don’t feel you’re good enough to illustrate, then build your cast of characters and their homes in The Sims and spend some time just having fun with them off the page. The idea is to find other creative ways to still engage with your story and its world without the weight of actually having to write it.

Journal or talk it out with someone.

This is particularly productive if there are high emotions linked to your story. It’s natural when something gives us discomfort to want to avoid or stop doing that thing—it’s preservation. (Once I lost my mum, for example, there were certain things I couldn’t do or topics I couldn’t breach without having a breakdown. I began to avoid those things, including my own writing.) If you want to pursue the story anyway, you’ll need to find a way to process whatever that is that you’re finding yourself up against.

Get another perspective.

Depending on how much you’ve written, it may be too early to call in an editor or even a beta reader, but a critique partner or writing group may be able to help you get out of your stall by brainstorming fresh ideas to get you excited about the story again. If you have a completed manuscript and you find yourself just revising bits here and there with no motivation, then a beta or developmental editor could help get you back on track.

Ask your characters some questions.

I don’t mean with questionnaires full of questions about their heights and favorite ice cream—those are fun, but what do they really tell you? I mean ask deeper questions that will help you better understand their desires and motivations, emotional traumas, etc. What keeps them up at night? What is their worst memory from childhood? Their best? Are they afraid to grow old? If you need help, use things like the TableTopics conversation cards to help get you started. Imagine an interview or write their journal answer to the questions, etc.

Power through—but from another angle.

There are writers who swear by powering through no matter what. (I don’t love it for fiction, but then again we all function differently.) If you don’t want to power through, try another angle. Try writing from the end backward. Find a writing exercise that will allow you to use your current characters to write something fun that’s outside manuscript but within your world. Imagine you chose a different genre and rewrite one of your scenes.

Take a break from the story.

It could be that you’re burning yourself out—even things we enjoy can become exhausting if we hit a snag. Or it could be that you just need to shift your mindset. Try a different creative pursuit (I took drawing and cake decorating classes when I hit a block with my writing a few years ago) or if you still want to keep yourself in writer-mode, start a short story in a very different genre (something to give you a hard pivot away from what’s been wearing you out).

Be willing to let it go.

When all else fails, it may be time to ask if you’re ready to let the story go—maybe you’ll come back to it later, maybe you won’t. But there’s no doubt that you’ll only make things worse by forcing yourself to stick with something if it’s truly not what you wish to be working on.

Wrapping Up

Our creativity, motivations, and even our lack of motivations are deeply personal. Where your lack of interest originates from and what it will take to overcome is up to you. It’s important, no matter what, not to let one negative experience ruin writing for you in general. Remember to give yourself grace and kindness as you navigate the situation and decide what to do next.