Hardest part of writing?

[Brian G Turner]

Well, my own key weakness at the moment seems to be holding a stable Point of View.

By that I mean that in my current Work in Progress, I really have to concentrate very careful on maintaining a homogenous POV throughout all scenes.

I'm easily knocked off balance - I simply cannot read other novels while I'm in flow with my writing, otherwise I end up accidentally drifting into the POV of the novel I just read.

And remembering the style of POV use anyway can be a headache!

I also have to be careful with internal thinking - its so easy to fall for the info-dump - and melodrama - if not careful. Seems to be a careful line to walk there.

Anyway, what issues do the other writers here find they have the greater problems with?

 

[Foxbat]

Self discipline and perseverence. Sometimes, I find it difficult to come in from work and then start writing when all I really want to do is chill out. Also, if a piece is not working, I think it's important to finish it anyway. I find it surprising how a piece can evolve and, even if it doesn't and there's a germ of an idea there, encasing it within the context of a story (I find) makes it easier to pluck out and start again with.

Dialogue: Sometimes it's difficult to get a good, natural dialogue flowing between the characters. For that reason, I usually spend some time reading aloud the conversations which helps to give an indication of where it's flowing and where it's falling.

Continuity: It's so annoying to think you've finished, look back and find major holes that just never seemed to be there before. Thank God for the PC. I remember using a typewriter and Tippex (then photocopying the page which camouflaged the use of said liquid paper).

 

[littlemissattitude]

There are a couple of things I find difficult in writing fiction. One, as foxbat mentioned, is writing dialogue. I often find myself writing orations rather than realistic dialogue. While I realize that in most fiction writing, dialogue is not completely naturalistic, I also know that letting my characters declaim all the time instead of just talking to one another is a big mistake.

My other problem, and it is a huge one, is finding a balance where detail is concerned. I tend much too often to hit one of two extremes: either I put in too much detail or else I don't put in enough, to the point where my manuscripts look more like a screenplay or script for a stage play than a novel or short story. In fact, sometimes I think I should stick to writing screenplays (I wrote one for a class one time, so I have worked in that medium). The reason I haven't done so is that I find them too limiting in a number of ways.

 

[Twelve]

I think the hardest part of writing for me is FINALLY being able to overcome the monster that I've been dealing with recently.

It's what happens when you don't write for two months, and then try to get back into it.

I was on vacation this summer, and I didn't write a thing. It's taken me about 3 weeks to finally come back to my writing flow...TODAY was the day that I've finally gotten it back.

For the past 3 weeks, it felt like I was writing with stone on stone. My head hurt after a paragraph.

But today...this morning, I flowed like before. Phew! Praise God! I'm back!

That is, for me, the hardest and scariest part or writing.

12

 

[Brian G Turner]

I know exactly what you mean! Glad to see it finally started to flow properly again for you - it's always great when that happens.

 

[Michael]

All of it. But I think character development and POV are the hardest for me. I'm getting better at character development. Still need a lot more work on POV (which anyone who reads my 1st book in the future will discover).

 

[bregorzloth]

POV can be a problem. I tend to headhop and stray into omniscient more often than I'd like--and this gets annoying, especially in all those 'briefing' scenes which I cut from the second draft. I try to stay in tight third whenever possible.

Rewriting is the hardest part of writing for me, though. To go back to work you thought was brilliant only a few short months ago, only to find glaring plot holes and inconsistent characterisation ... it's a nightmare. But it has to be done.

Infodumping was never a real problem with me (not in recent years, anyway). I seem to have a knack for integrating the info in with dialogue and action. Melodrama, though ... that's a big problem. One of my last proofreaders threatened to bin the manuscript and never read it again. I'm trying to keep it under control.

 

[sea_plunder]

being honest the thing i find hardest about writing is keeping at it, because sometimes i can't complete something. If you can keep at it all the other things can be sorted out when you edit your writing.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I know exactly what you mean, sea_plunder - it's been around 6 months since I did any real writing. That's bad.

Oh - and welcome to the chronicles-network.

 

[SDNess]

For me it's creating real, authentic characters. Mine are all so superficial.

 

[Myla Starchild]

For me, the hardest part is kind of weird - putting my characters insad situations is hard, because all the characters I create are an extension of my soul, and I've developed real emotional attatchment to them...however freaky that sounds.

I wrote a scene from my story out of sequence the other day, and describing the hearts and hopes of my two main characters slowly breaking was a very emotionally draining experience for me

 

[aftermath]

I can't force myself to sit down and write. And coming up with new ideas

 

[Kryshon]

My biggest problem is starting the story. I have a big issue with starting the story by placing the actual problem that the characters are going to face within the first three or four pages.

Once I get to page 10, around, then I basically cruiser through it - though I have also shown difficulty getting past page 40 - even if I have extensive ideas developped to get me all the way to page 120 if I wanted. Always page 40, never 39 or 41.

 

[tonic]

My hardest part of writing is completing a story. I have no problem starting them, but I don't plan ahead enough, maybe that's my problem. When I get to a part where I have no idea what will happen, I get very annoyed. Sometimes I just drop the story all together. It's very rare where I will complete a story and I'll know the ending, or even the direction the endling will go in. in most of mine the main character dies, or someone around them does.

POV is not that hard for me because I usually stick to first person. I find that it makes for the most realistic character. I've done Omniscient though and I'm pretty good at that too, not for extended periods of time though.

 

[cleasterwood]

The hardest part for me seems to be creating a really strong visual of place descriptions and setting aside the time to write everyday. I can write character emotions like they're nothing, keep my POV's straight, and plot like there's no tomorrow but for the life of me I can't seem to make the places in my story come alive. If I could just apply my emotional descriptions toward visualizing the place where the story happens I think I'd have a better time of it. I have found lately though that I've been doing a lot of writing in the middle of the night while I'm working the graveyard shift at the store.

 

[fungi from Yuggoth]

I find the hardest part of writing is finishing a story. I have an annoying little habbit of starting several stories at once and always seem to leave the endings unfinished in favor of writing a new story. I'm always extremely enthusiastic at the start and can keep up a high level of concentration throughout the middle, but lose all interest towards the end. It's really a great effort to force myself to tie up a story.

I also have a habit of overwriting things - a direct result of reading too much Lovecraft, lol - and find I repeat myself too often in a need to get my point across to the reader. I too often find myself wandering from the point I was trying to make and branching into philosophical musings, in an effort to be more intellectual. A simple description of a castle will turn into an essay on the nature of siege warfare and its impacts on society. No kidding!

 

[evanescentdream]

The hardest part? There is one major problem for me.

WRITER'S BLOCK

Usually it happens to me as soon as I start. I can't write unless I'm bored, or else my mind clamps shut like a bear trap. But when I'm bored my thoughts flow like a raging river through my body, out my pen, and onto the paper.

Another minor problem is my use of descriptions. I'm never quite sure what is too little and what is too much, so I just let loose and trust my instincts. I never let others read my material until it's finished (one of my worse pet peeves) so I am my only judge. Which is good, really: I write for myself and no one else. Of course, I hope and pray that the public will enjoy my work. But that's where my fulfillment occurs. I am content when I can read my own work and enjoy it as immensely as I enjoy the works of great authors such as Tolkien or Hickman and Weiss. There is a never a stopping point; you're writing can always improve.


"Writing is not a hobby; it is a way of life."

 

[Tsujigiri]

I'm completely the opposite, when I sit down to write my family oftan have to feed me or I'd starve.
I wrote my first book of 70000 words in under 2 weeks, didn't sleep much, drank loads of coffee and ate what I was brought.

I've learned to curb that intense focus a little, but friends and family still tell me it's frightening
It's useful for martial arts as well btw

 

[Estelthea]

Not being consistant with writing, one day I can sit down and just write all day (or more often all night) but the next I just can't get started or someting else makes me leave my computer for a while and I just can't get back to my 'zone' ;-) That and the only two stories that I have, so far, compleated and edited and been happy with are less than 2,000 words long and I wrote them five years ago or so. And all of a sudden, after several years of not getting new story ideas, I suddenly have several plans for new plots and characters to use which are just starting their ten year 'knocking about in my head' process before they get written down. Really, I've just gone back to a project I began when I was fourteen!

My inner torchered artist is just waiting for the right moment to come out and throw the computer out of the window!

 

[Tsujigiri]

My inner torchered artist is just waiting for the right moment to come out and throw the computer out of the window!

I have actually done this, out a window and bounced off the bonnet of the CEO's car.

Immensely satisfying