hugs! writer's block is the worst, especially when you genuinely want to write and you just...can't. LMAO. I stand in solidarity with you anon, it's been a rough year for me in that regard. 😭
some comedy options:
1. cry
2. go stand in your kitchen, forget why you're there, go back to your computer. Rinse repeat.
3. scroll through writing subreddits for tips/commiseration, get sucked into discourse threads instead. Look up at the clock to find 4 hours have passed.

All jokes aside, though! Sometimes you're just gonna be blocked and the only way out is through, but here are my personal go-tos:
1. Figure out a song/playlist for the exact vibe you're wanting. Put that on repeat. this is my most important one tbh, it's like a pavlovian response to certain songs at this point
2. identify the source of the block. idea needs more development? not sure on the exact vibes/dynamic? Have the entire fic in your head in movie form but can't string together a sentence? different sources will require different methods: more outlining if that's a thing you like to do, more daydreaming while you're supposed to be working, bullet-pointing out what happens and then unfolding it into something 'prettier' etc.
3. plunder your wip folder! reread all those old snippets that are gathering dust. sometimes they spark associations you wouldn't expect, you never know when that one line of dialogue will come to you that makes all the pieces fall into place.
4. something i've been trying to do lately is write a little bit every day instead of white-knuckle my way through in one go (don't get me wrong I actually do like pounding it out all at once but haven't been able to do that the last couple months). So I just give myself an arbitrary goal (a sentence, 500 words, whatever you feel is low-pressure for you, the idea is to just build the habit and not rely purely on inspiration's whims lmao) and most of the time once that condition is met it's easy to just keep going. and if not then that's ok, tomorrow's another day 😭
5. sprints! (personally i have to be in the right headspace for these, but when they're great they're great)

okay WHEW sorry for the wall of text, i have a lot to say on this topic and honestly could keep going but it's long enough as it is. you are not alone though! we can cry over our incomplete wips together 😭
I hope that perhaps even one of my coping strategies helps in some way though, it really can be frustrating when we have a story to tell and our brains are just like 'nah' 😪💓

ooo! fave hc's...i like to think that scara trusts lumine more than anyone even though he refuses to say it. he shows it, though- he'll only let himself fully relax around her, lets her brush his hair in the morning even though he huffs a bit. he's an amazing cook but she still lumps on the praise at everything he makes, telling him it's delicious as he scoffs and looks away.
this is just me probably and full of plot holes but i hc they meet in the teapot every night to tell each other about their day - hers about the goings on in fontaine, his about studies in sumeru. lumine tells him how much she likes his akademiya outfit before she strips it off (haha). they don't want to let each other go in the morning, but they know they'll see each other that night.
nsfw hc's, they like to get away with what they can in public...alleyways, dark corners of the bar while everyone else is distracted. the back shelves of the house of daena 🥴 he can fly so sometimes he'll move them to spots people wouldn't be looking, either. the roofs of buildings, behind chimneys. they're menaces istg

anon? ANON? i never knew i needed this but omg yes...scrlm/bldstelle swingers au would be so good, like first of all i've always wanted stelle and lumine to meet (and perhaps more hahahAH) but also i think the dynamic btwn scara and blade would be interesting? they've both really been through it in their own ways and though they're their own individual personalities who have dealt with things differently i feel they might find some common threads. (this is all just my opinion ofc!)

ok but i digress uhhhhh. honestly i could see blade just being completely wowed by lumine (cause who wouldn't) ...i hc she has battle scars, and i think he'd be impressed and wildly turned on by this absolutely gorgeous otherworldly being who wears the proof of being a complete badass. a godslayer. also the size difference goes so hard here istg raaaaaaaa.
scara and stelle, i think he'd be intrigued by her...she's kinda brand new and old all at the same time, i feel like she'd be so curious about the smallest things that he just takes as a given. like she wouldn't even care if they made it to the bed, he'd probably be thrown off by some of the outta pocket things she says...I can see her breaking a kiss just to point out that his hat looks like the floating thing on the Luofu (forget the name atm).
so that was a lot of words to say this is a hot idea hahaha...chewing on my arm fr over this, thank you...gonna be thinking about this one for a good long while 😳

ooh, i like this! so first of all, this is just my hc ofc. but, i think it's complicated? yes, and no.
I think he's primed to be afraid/apprehensive of losing people because of Niwa and the boy, we know that he sees losing the people he loves (even if he won't admit he loves them in his way) as a betrayal.
still, Scara is a reasonable individual (for the most part lmao), he knows that Niwa and the child were both more physically fragile than Nahida, her being an archon.
again, this is just my stream of consciousness/thoughts, and honestly I hadn't thought much about this before this question so thank you anon 😊 so i think yes, in a way he is- i don't think he's completely healed from losing people in the past. i hope he'll get there one day! but there's still that fear, I think. Even if it's irrational, or even if it's to something like her opinion of him changing rather than sickness or dying in battle. And I do think she's very important to him, she showed him kindness and understanding when no one else really did. saw him as a person when everyone else he knew treated him like a thing to be used.
now i'm thinking about their comparative lifespans...hmm...(sorry it's v early and im running on 3h of sleep here)
let me know your thoughts too though im curious!!! 💕

ooo this is such a good question anon i have so many...first of all i love au's, give me all the au's especially modern au's! (i know this is a divisive opinion but,,,i just love seeing characters i love in new environments and how they might act/interact with their surroundings - it's a feeling like when you get to go to the market with your crush from work/school or smth. totally mundane but it's elevated somehow by the people inhabiting the space. hope that makes sense lmao)
i tend to write a lot of the tropes i enjoy so coworkers is a big one, uneven power dynamics, misuse of power dynamics. it's so interesting to me how behaviour changes when characters have/think they have the upper hand, and conversely when they lose it. voyeurism tropes is a big one too, being observed knowingly or unknowingly, the observer effect. Characters' behaviour changing by virtue of who might be watching. Especially tasty if who's watching isn't who they think is watching :)
enemies/rivals to lovers is fantastic too! especially if the pair in question is taken out of their normal environment/dynamic by external causes and forced to interact and work together, and in that process learn new things about each other. I'm a sucker for any psychological/thriller/horror/crime elements too...give me all of those. there's probably (definitely) more but this is already a novel haha