forestofglory

Flow state writing is SO GREAT, and I too struggle with recreating that feeling when it just won't come. Often it's easy for me to get into a flow state in the first blush of an idea, but if the story takes more than a few days to write, I slip into it less and less easily. I try to add a few sentences to something 4-5 days a week to stay in the habit, but I don't try to force anything more. I've discovered that leads to misery and burnout.

I love writing character interactions, especially playful banter and/or characters eating a meal together. I often neglect my descriptions (two heads talking in empty spaaaace!), but I enjoy the ones that come to me vividly, especially if they involve water imagery or describing food. I also like outlining, because I can tell myself the story in as much shorthand and capslock as I feel like. For me, self-indulgence while writing is getting to write something in the outline I've been really looking forward to, like a couple's first kiss, or a family dinner, or a character getting to do something cool and heroic.

(Also, I so feel you on reading excellent character meta and immediately questioning whether every story you've ever written is OOC.)