I've struggled with this myself.
As a writer, I daydream more than I actually write. When there's a character or a concept that excites me, it'll frequently appear in my thoughts. An image as I drive to work. An idea while I'm picking up groceries. A lot of the fun of fiction, for me, is dwelling in the realm of possibilities.
But sometimes, a big idea about one of my characters simply ceases to excite me. Fun and dramatic is now silly and lackluster, maudlin and burdensome. Sometimes a piece of lore I hadn't known tears the whole thing apart. When I've mentally invested days or even weeks into an idea, letting go of it can leave an uncomfortable vacuum.
RP adds another level of complexity to this. Sometimes I've started something big with someone and they ended up losing interest. Sometimes it's the other way around. Sometimes there's a change in someone's personal life that impacts the amount of time that they can devote to RP. A lot of potential lays dormant and many possibilities are left unexplored. It can feel especially frustrating if you're very active on your character and there's an important part of their story that you're having to write around. At one point, I'd been tempted to scrap I'rila over this very thing.
One thing I've learned, honestly, is to try not to stress about it and let go of expectations.
Which sounds like the most contrived piece of advice ever, but hear me out.
RPing is not a chore. Your character isn't an ongoing school assignment you have to write a weekly submission for. Neither is anyone else's. There is no real commitment, and if you don't feel like doing it, you really don't have to do it. Your character will still be there in a week. A month. A year. Any time you find yourself thinking about them again and getting excited over more ideas, they'll be there waiting for you to step into their shoes again. You don't owe anyone RP, and similarly, no one owes you, because doing something that's supposed to be for fun out of social obligation is silly.
Would it be considerate to OOCly tell people what your character's doing when you take an RP break? Sure. But people are generally flexible from my experience, so if you disappear for awhile and then reappear, they'll probably be happy to work things out logistically - so long as you keep your expectations at a minimum and remember that they're not obligated to you any more than you are to them.
So just sit back and let the inspiration happen on its own. Hell, let something other than FFXIV hold your interest for awhile. Who knows? It might give you an idea for your character you might not have had otherwise.
As a writer, I daydream more than I actually write. When there's a character or a concept that excites me, it'll frequently appear in my thoughts. An image as I drive to work. An idea while I'm picking up groceries. A lot of the fun of fiction, for me, is dwelling in the realm of possibilities.
But sometimes, a big idea about one of my characters simply ceases to excite me. Fun and dramatic is now silly and lackluster, maudlin and burdensome. Sometimes a piece of lore I hadn't known tears the whole thing apart. When I've mentally invested days or even weeks into an idea, letting go of it can leave an uncomfortable vacuum.
RP adds another level of complexity to this. Sometimes I've started something big with someone and they ended up losing interest. Sometimes it's the other way around. Sometimes there's a change in someone's personal life that impacts the amount of time that they can devote to RP. A lot of potential lays dormant and many possibilities are left unexplored. It can feel especially frustrating if you're very active on your character and there's an important part of their story that you're having to write around. At one point, I'd been tempted to scrap I'rila over this very thing.
One thing I've learned, honestly, is to try not to stress about it and let go of expectations.
Which sounds like the most contrived piece of advice ever, but hear me out.
RPing is not a chore. Your character isn't an ongoing school assignment you have to write a weekly submission for. Neither is anyone else's. There is no real commitment, and if you don't feel like doing it, you really don't have to do it. Your character will still be there in a week. A month. A year. Any time you find yourself thinking about them again and getting excited over more ideas, they'll be there waiting for you to step into their shoes again. You don't owe anyone RP, and similarly, no one owes you, because doing something that's supposed to be for fun out of social obligation is silly.
Would it be considerate to OOCly tell people what your character's doing when you take an RP break? Sure. But people are generally flexible from my experience, so if you disappear for awhile and then reappear, they'll probably be happy to work things out logistically - so long as you keep your expectations at a minimum and remember that they're not obligated to you any more than you are to them.
So just sit back and let the inspiration happen on its own. Hell, let something other than FFXIV hold your interest for awhile. Who knows? It might give you an idea for your character you might not have had otherwise.