Struggling Writers discussion
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Heather Farthing
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The hardest part about writing a story
I'm just tickled pink by my narrator's voice. He's such a nerd, he sounds like first-season Giles. ^___^I wish that CreateSpace's editing services weren't so darn expensive, though.
And I just glanced at an old copy that has an entire subplot I removed for being dumb, and it just hit me how far I have to go. -_-
Heather wrote: "I'm just tickled pink by my narrator's voice. He's such a nerd, he sounds like first-season Giles. ^___^I wish that CreateSpace's editing services weren't so darn expensive, though.
And I just..."
I have a couple of names of Editors who are reasonable if you're interested friend me and send me a message and I will send you their co-ordinates. Lol, glad someone else finds humour in their own work!
I got everything going for free on Amazon for right now, until the 19th for most and 20th for Goldi and Town Mouse.
No idea what happened since I put them up, but I got like three, maybe four new reviews with mostly positive things to say. O.O
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(last edited Dec 10, 2013 10:41AM)
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I'm writing for the first time.For me the middle is the hardest part.I've just got stuck on my novelette but I have the ending in my mind already..if that makes any sense!lol!
Actually writing it. I don't mean to be a smart alek there. Once I have an idea I can visualize the plot like a movie in my head. But that leaves me basically describing what I 'see' when I'm writing and the format and everything all comes out dull and flat.
Well...clearly I didn't finish my project by New Years...so I'm taking a break and working something else.
Adrian wrote: "Actually writing it. I don't mean to be a smart alek there. Once I have an idea I can visualize the plot like a movie in my head. But that leaves me basically describing what I 'see' when I'm writi..."That's close to how I do it. I'm having to train myself out of wanting to write the story consecutively, the way it would be read, just for sake of completing it.
I have six short story/novel ideas in the works, all of which have at least one lousy first draft but that's it. I can't seem to get any further on any of them. I swear my fan fiction's the only thing that keeps churning. Maybe when that's done...? So glad I'm not the only one who's stuck.
The hardest thing for me is making sure everything happens at the right time. You dint want the questions answered to quickly or too slowly. Its hard to keep the story balanced
...When you're done with it and want it to keep going but it's over.
Emma wrote: "...When you're done with it and want it to keep going but it's over."I second that
I would have to say the hardest part is putting all the pieces together, and making the characters decisions and reasoning make sense in a good way for the readers.You can have brilliant ideas for a character that's not the main perspective, but you need to add it and do so creatively
The hardest part for me is thinking of a good ending. All of my story endings seem like random cutoffs, or are too cliche.
Roxanne wrote: "The hardest part for me is thinking of a good ending. All of my story endings seem like random cutoffs, or are too cliche."In Cally's Secret I have 3 endings, one for each of the couples, and with each ending I left the way open for the sequel! It worked pretty well, all the characters began the book secrets and finished the book by revealing their secrets and then I twisted it around to give them a new secret.
Roxanne wrote: "What an awesome idea! :D"I thought so too! I just wish I had a few more reviews!
The hardest part is getting some characters to be patient until I can get back to them and their stories. Noisy lot they are.
The muddle, errr, middle. Have completed the beginning, know the end and it's just the 'stuff' in between needed to connect them that I have difficulty with.
R.F.G. wrote: "The hardest part is getting some characters to be patient until I can get back to them and their stories. Noisy lot they are."Oh god, so true.
Making all the pieces fit so that I can get from point A to point B and so on, and NOT having plot holes to get there.But the worst part? Easily revision
Emma wrote: "...When you're done with it and want it to keep going but it's over."Oh man I wish that was the hardest part for me. I'm so relieved I actually get to the end
Every thing about writing is hard, but most hardest part is keep going on, keep writing.When I am writing one story another one starts to poke around my head, disturbing the one I am writing.
We all know stories in our head looks more promising,so I tend to lose interest in the one I was writing but when it happens I just stop writing for a day or two.
I just re-edited my two Moreau stories on Amazon. I'm so glad I haven't put them in print yet. At least ebooks are easy to fix.
Restarting. I hate it. I work full time so when I get home and sit down in front of my laptop I just think "Now...where was I..." and stare blankly at my screen.However I have vowed to write at least something every day, blog, book, facebook rant, just anything!
I've got several stories I restart every year or so, including one that comes up about every Halloween or thereabouts.All my ebooks are free from the 5-9th.
Leonard wrote: "Restarting. I hate it. I work full time so when I get home and sit down in front of my laptop I just think "Now...where was I..." and stare blankly at my screen.However I have vowed to write at..."
Lol!You're right Leonard.If I stop it's hard to restart but once I do I'm laughing and find it hard to stop.
I did another chapter last night..yay!
I seem to enjoy writing myself into a corner. I'll get to a point where I can see the end, practically taste sales, and finally have something more than ten pages long up on Amazon...and then get bored or frustrated and move on to another project. -_-
Uh..the writing? JK (although sometimes, really), for me it's the "in between". You know, all those scenes that happen between those big scenes you've been plotting in your head for months (am I the only one who does that?) but you can't just jump from one big scene to another. You need some sort-of segway, chronological point of events, all those wonderfully, I hesitate to say tiny...hmm, smaller parts of the story that readers seem to think are necessary so your story has something they call flow.Oh...unless it's a sequel...then it would be the whole darn thing :)
CONFLICT. Holy moly I am terrible at conflict. It's not that I love my characters too much to put them in tough situations - I just don't know how to get them to those tough situations in a realistic way. It frustrates me every moment of my life D:
Stupid writer's block. That's it, I'm starting over again.
I can't get paint.net to do anything actual Microsoft Paint wouldn't do, and apparently Microsoft Paint would actually work. Go figure.
When I decided that I had written the final version of my story, I had to leave out several chapters, which I was proud of, but did not seem essential. I found it hard to drop those chapters, but in the final version of my story, the essence of it remained, which is what is important.
I can come up with some pretty cool concepts...but I have trouble turning them into books. One of my reviews for Shipwrecked suggested it could have been full-length, but I felt it worked as a short story. The one I'm working on, I'm trying to stretch to 50k, but I worry it almost might work better as an episode of The Scary Door."Turns out it's man."
Great thread :)I feel a bit better knowing that other people go through the same things I do, thanks guys. For me, I alsways feel like a better idea is just around the corner but I can never quite grasp the idea, and so, I write so many alternative structures. I end up getting stuck in the structure process for a long time... I wish I could learn to be a faster writer :(
The hardest part for me is not getting distracted once I start a story and continuing to write it. I usually come up with other ideas and stop my current story to start a new one, never going back to finish. It always helps to have friends who always pressure me for the next part of the story
I get bored, and start something new. Or scrap it and start over. Sometimes both.Scrapping this one has done some good, cleared out some bad threads I didn't know how to get rid of otherwise, and have a less clunky ending. It's that "beginning" and "middle" parts posing a problem.
My tip is go from the end and work backwards.It is best to plot it.
My tip is go from the end and work backwards.It is best to plot it.
I do think plotting and planning your novel is incredibly important and so helpful in getting it written, however I am not so sure about working backwards? Half the exciting part of writing a story is that it always surprises you on where it leads, which is usually the most unexpected and interesting direction!
Taking a break from one and working on another.Anyone ever had a character that had no name, no backstory, and yet he's supposed to play a major part in the story?
Heather wrote: "Taking a break from one and working on another.Anyone ever had a character that had no name, no backstory, and yet he's supposed to play a major part in the story?"
Haha, all the time! I think this is a symptom of not being much of a planner...
It keeps changing. Every time I think I'm happy with him, I change my mind.
Well, tell yourself that you are going to write an entire draft with him ONE way and if you don't like him too bad. You are going to get that first draft written and THEN go back and change him.
I haven't decided what that one way is, yet. He hasn't yet appeared in this iteration, so he's in flux.
Eh, just go with it! Well...I take that back sort of, if you have a massive piece that re-writing would take some serious effort then you might want to put some more thought into it.
Struggling Writers
Books mentioned in this topic
Secret Admirer (other topics)Shipwrecked (other topics)
Well, for me, I have made NO progress at all when it comes to writing. Whenever I'm trying to write an outline for a book and try to focus on the subject, I end up scrapping it because something else comes along and screws up my thought process.