In a game like MafiaReturns where you could lose your character any moment (even this moment) many people eventually find that pushing themselves to tell stories in the streets is harder and harder with each character death or as time slowly grinds on. 

Whether they have true writer's block or just an apathy (ie: "I've told every story I can tell", "We've seen it all in the streets", or "Why bother because we're all gonna die soon anyway") that doesn't need to be the end of your creativity here on the site. 

Assuming you're still interested in trying to get your writing groove back - here's a few tips to help you shake off fatigue & block to get excited about writing again!

MAFIARETURNS FIGHT WRITE CLUB

Today's Topic:  Ways To Get Your Writer's Groove Back

"Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen
or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?"
― Kurt Vonnegut

1. Go do something far away from MR - see family, friends, play a sport, get away from the computer and the toxic politics which is the life's blood of this thing of ours!  Seriously, go refresh your mind/body/spirit and then when you come back things might look a whole lot different.
    
2. Watch Some TV/Movies - inspiration doesn't have to come from 1930s mafia stories.  Fantasy (The Hobbit is just a heist movie with magic), sci-fi (Star Trek and all it's species constantly butting heads and fighting over space borders is just a mob truf war in space), even soap opera dramas are packed full of stories that are at the heart of what we write here:  The lives of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances (ie: people in the mob) and let's face it, our mob stories have to be a bit more wacked because if we wrote only about cooking books (aka accounting) and the minutia of daily life that most mobsters actually do - it would be pretty boring.  So, don't be afraid to look around for inspiration!
    
3. Imagine the story of your character's death - instead of fretting that you won't get time to tell the story you want to tell; why not think of your time on the site like real life.  In real life you don't get to choose if you die old in your bed or having a semi full of dildos hit you on the way to Costco - and YEA it sucks to be in the middle of something big and cool when you die... but imagine how much more tragic that makes things?  What will your friends, allies, and family who survive do after your death?  Worried they won't do anything ... talk to them about it.  Make plans for what the story COULD look like in the event of your death... or maybe write letters to someone important to your character and save them in your back alley.  Then, when you die, give the person the link and say:  "Your character finds this while cleaning out my shit."  THEN WATCH THE SPARKS FLY!  ***OR*** use your final words to ask your killer to send an anonymous message to someone implicating a member of the Durden gang for your murder so that your death can be 'avenged' in story even if it can be in reality.  Being excited to see how your story will wrap up can help ease your fears of it coming!
    
4. Listen to Music - Some of my favorite stories came after listening to some good jams and doing #5
    
5. Play "What If" Alone or Together with a Friend to Find Your Next Story -  "What If" is a simple game.  You start out by saying "What If..." and you end the sentence with the craziest shit you can think of.  The majority of it will be utter crap - trust that, but sometimes you'll find a real gem. 
   
   Here's some examples - feel free to steal them if you like, just share the link to it when you do cause I want to read it:

• What if you're pulled over and arrested and while in the back of the car handcuffed you discover the cop is on the take for your rival!
   
• What happens when you're visiting a local business and someone suffering from loss of work is desperate enough to pull a gun and try to rob the place, never knowing that a REAL criminal is in the room with them?
   
• What happens if the Durden crew, in a bid to weaken your Don's hold in the city, has the FBN pick you up to deport you back to the old country?
   
• What happens if the hooch you've been hauling has been poisoned by the FBN in an effort to get you to stop skirting prohibition and now people who are your regulars have been hurt or killed?
   
• What happens if you get an invitation to a rival family's wedding?  Do you go?  Is it a trap?  Do you have to fight your way out to survive?
   
• What happens when merchandise you've been having fall off trucks gets dropped at your home address by mistaken and now you're up to your eyeballs in obviously illegal goods!
   
• Mysterious Call.  The phone rings and says there is a car waiting outside and to get in or something bad will happen.  What happens next?
   
• A local politician comes to us asking us to get dirt on their rival for the next election season but the guy is corrupt as hell and his rival would be good for the city and maybe business... but the asshole is willing to pay a LARGE amount and favors later - what do you do?
   
• After a rainstorm you find a body buried in the backyard - THAT YOU DIDN'T PUT THERE - what do you do now?  Who is it?  Was it put there to frame you?  Is it a totally unrelated crime done by the previous owners?  You can't call the cops because they'll think you did it, you're known mafia... maybe your family can help get to the bottom of the mystery and get rid of the corpse?
   
• While on a flight to another city for business - it's hijacked.  What do you do?
   
• In the mail is a newspaper clipping for an auction where shockingly a family heirloom from your family is up for grabs.  Who sent the paper?  why?  what will happen when we go to bid on it?  what happens if you don't?
   
• Someone you have working for you (maid, plumber, electrician, house keeper etc) trips and falls on a metal object/dangerous object and dies - they have a large family who rely upon their income and you actually liked them so you feel bad so they can't just disappear - but calling the cops will create it's own problems due to where you stand with the law.
   

1. Join other people's RP - sometimes the best way to get mixed up in fun is to just ask someone to let you join something they have planned or to hop on an existing thread in the Streets.  I know a post in OoC saying "Looking for RP" should get someone to respond to you! So don't be afraid to admit you're having a bit of trouble in the creativity department... sometimes just having someone to write with can get the creative juices flowing again!

MafiaReturns Fight Write Club
Write Club is really nifty concept that offers role-players the chance to tell stories in the street against each other COMPETITIVELY in prize fight fashion FOR ACTUAL CASH PRIZES.  MR Players are encouraged to place bets on the match ups to win cash prizes as well! 

To that end, and to help us all hone our craft, I/We will be sharing tips and tricks from time to time on how anyone can up their writing a-game.  If you've got more to say about this topic or resources to share - please add them in replies below.  Not only will others appreciate them... I do too!  Writing is a craft and like any craft, it can always be improved.

View the Write Club Announcement / Sign-Up Thread

Very nice! I like the What If idea. I'll be sure to give that a try. And the right music can do wonders for emotional content.

Another tip is to start by creating a character that you actually want to write about. It may be one you've never role-played before or one you've always wanted to but never did. The point being, the character actually interests you to role-play. The thought of how their story may unfold makes you giddy and enthusiastic to put into words. It enlivens you, so the writing then practically does itself.

One more tip is to have a decently fleshed out character. As in a character bio, with backstory, details like personality and hobbies and whatever else you can think of. There are many templates floating around on google, if you need.

This helps in the way it takes a basic 'name' and gives your character life. The more detailed you can be, the more you will have to draw on for ammunition when writing. This I've found to be absolutely key to always having things to write about. You then have a world of information to draw from in collab RPs to give your character more depth, and to use for backstory stories and character development stories.

Annnnd how bout one more :) Dice, dice, baby! I've had the pleasure of dicing RPs with others on here and I can say they have been the most fun I have had in writing on here, that and some NPC Ninja adventures.

Dicing can be as simple or as complex as you wish it to be. We've diced for alternate paths for RPs to take, and I've also done a full diced character creation (where I dice multiple choices for character likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, backstory etc.). It gives spontaneity to things, which can add enjoyment when it seems too predictable and dry and brings lady luck to the table, which is always fun.

Annnnnd fuck it, one more. Focus on enjoying yourself. Whether that means you write wacky goofy stories, or serious dramatic pieces, whatever tickles you personally and has you itching to write for the sheer pleasure is a good place to start. And for the more invested, whatever challenges you to stretch your writing skills can be enjoyable in itself, and very satisfying.

Jules - I love the way your brain works!  Thanks for the GREAT input.  Those are all fantastic ideas!