The scenes you dread writing the most

Pretty much, yeah. But I'm not struggling with my own emotions. I want to speak out against human trafficking. My problem is getting the emotional impact right.

 

Action scenes. They come across as shallow and dull.

 

Writing scenes where characters express their love for one another: I can see how it is meant to be, but I have a tricky time writing it in a way that is not cliché or tacky, or too sloppy/ rom-com (which my writing most certainly is not- the romance element is a small part, but it does happen occasionally. It never takes over from the main plot.). Especially because I start to loathe characters who become all mooshy and sooky once they fall in love- I sort of start screaming 'get on with it, I don't care about another description of your lover's eyes or how much you miss them! You have a much bigger problem on your hands!'

 

Description scenes. I can't seem to find a fair balance between describing in detail and leaving it up to the reader's imagination.

 

I struggled through my first graphic sex scene. I mean, it took me days to finish it. I thought it would be so much fun to write, and wound up hating the time I spent doing it. However, I'm basically pleased with how it turned out, and have plowed through two more since then. Each one gets a little easier (and are also better written).

What I dread: scenes about subjects I don't know much about. I studied up on archery, firearms, etc to write lead-ups to a forthcoming action scene but worry that my beginner's research may reveal that I don't know as much about the subject as I'd like to. Am I using the proper terminology? Is my character using the weapons correctly? Will the damages inflicted by realistic? This last one is my latest challenge: I need to kill two bad guys and wound one good guy, but in decidedly specialized ways. Can't shoot a guy with an arrow in a place where he won't die, or dies too quickly. It's times like these I wish I could just blow them up with dynamite, but that's not in the 'script'.

I actually don't mind writing romantic scenes, and probably love dialogue a little too much. At least one of my characters is always a smart-ass (because I am), and banter is my favorite thing to write.

 

Politics - I hate politics, but for my stories, it's a dreaded necessity. I find it much easier to write a scene where there is a battle, personal or military, lots of death, dismemberment, etc. But to write a detail about the politics behind the actions - for my current stories I have realized they are needed, but oh my goodness it's a pain to try and write them in such a way as to make sense.

Let me craft a sex scene between a lesbian feline and a heterosexual ape any day over a scene where the finance ministers of a group of nations are discussing how to pay for an ongoing war. Politics blows, but it has it's place.

 

Definitely any intimate scene! It just never comes easy for me. It takes me forever to get fight scenes exactly how I want them too. I put a lot of thought into them and it's hard getting it all perfect.

 

Kat and I plan a lot, sometimes too much, but I think writing is at its most enjoyable when you have only a vague idea of where you're going with a scene and just let it play out, in a way allowing the characters to lead you instead of the other way around. I love that feeling of spontaneous creation.

Ditto. It's especially frustrating when you're trying to meet a deadline or you just need to finish the scene quickly for whatever reason and don't have enough time to think through all the possible ramifications of the uncertain scene.

That might sound contradictory to the first part of this post, but it isn't: by "uncertain scenes" I mean ones that can affect the big picture or at least cause big ripples throughout the rest of the story, so if you have inconsistencies, plot holes, or things that turn out not to make sense later on, it's just so fucking annoying to have to go back, rewrite the whole part, and then go and fix everything else it has affected, trying to eradicate its butterfly effect.

That's especially infuriating if the ripples have yielded a fantastic scene later in the story that can't happen after you've fixed the problematic part.

 

It's not idiotic at all!! I actually think it's brilliant! Instead of writing with the end result in your head, you go through the journey yourself. I think it makes for wonderful writing because it's more genuine and "in real time" than if you have everything in your head already and are just writing scenes to get there.

I think it's interesting that most writers dread painful and hurtful scenes. I actually enjoy writing these the most. I find that they have the biggest impact and are heavier, in terms of written value, than other lighter, non traumatic scenes. I find that pain and trauma is absolutely fundamental to the change and weight of a story. If everything is peachy then it's not a good story in my opinion. Pain and suffering adds value I think.

It's like comparing a book about drug addiction (with graphic scenes about rape, using needles etc) with a book about a happy puppy who never has any problems. I personally think the former would be far more interesting and far more valuable as a story.

 

Any scene where the character is talking that is what I dread the most. Might sound stupid however I really find them boring and not at all interesting.

 

I agree about value. Keep in mind that just because we dread the emotional torment of a scene doesn't keep us from writing them. If their inclusion is necessary for the progression and impact desired, we do it. Senseless torture (physical or otherwise) just for shock value is not something I personally use. It has to have a specific purpose. I don't get off on violence of any kind so their has to be a goal achieved to get me through the discomfort of creating that kind of drama.

 

It's different scenes at different times. But the worst scenes to write are those I'm not 'feeling', those I haven't figured out the 'punchline' for. I need to have a zest, certain level of flavour and surprise, something that makes it definitely relevant as well as interesting. Often, transitions between meaningful scenes are difficult. Someone somewhere talked about the scene intensity/tension between 0 and 10, where 10 scenes happen maybe three or four times in the novel (climax, turning points), then 6-8 level scenes provide a skeleton, anchor points, meaningful events and experiences that aren't so intense as to become emotionally draining, then 4-6 are emotional, socialising, character building scenes and 2-4 are in-between events, descriptions, stuff like that. Obviously 0-1 nothing happens, and these are as rare as level 10. I usually get stuck on the 2-4 ones, I find it's important to remain honest and relevant, adding interest and making these scenes stand up to the rest can be tricky.

 

Right now... Describing a flying city is even harder than I thought it would be.

Ditto. And sometimes I don't know if I go into details too much.

 

Any scenes that require more explanation than I had planned (quite a few). My biggest problem--and this is a story killer--is keeping the plot and character actions consistent. Keepin' it real, so to speak.

For example, one scene involves my protag seeing his cat go outside through a window in his kitchen that wasn't supposed to be open. His cat was almost killed last time it got out, so he's worried. Originally, he ran out of his kitchen, through a hall, and to his door just to get outside. He sees that his cat has just made it around front too, and he chases after it.

But I never mentioned the size of the window! Avoiding details like that kills immersion fast: But why didn't he just go through the window and get his cat back?

I mopped up the mess by having him instinctively flinch towards the window, then notice it was just too small for him. I always feel cheap when I patch things up like that, but I guess that's why we have first drafts...

 

I don't find that I "dread" any kind of scene. Nor do "emotional" scenes bother me. Good things and bad things happen all the time. To fixate on the terribleness of one thing of area of experience is pointless. I simply accept them as being part of life.

 

I hate writing, but the scenes need to be put on paper.

 

I'll add another: any scene that I can't get on paper like I'd wanted. I play them out in my mind for long periods of time, and they're more movies than books at that point. Movie adaptions of books appear all the time, but there's a good reason for movies not becoming books...

 

Huge climaxes, the peaks and pinnacles of my and @T.Trian's stories. They have to be really, really good, adrenaline-packed, and in the end, satisfying, so knowing how well that has to be done fills me with a due sense of dread (and excitement).

 

Mmmm, I'm not sure... Probably the scenes where it's perfect in my head but just doesn't translate right onto paper. I can't say there's always a particular type of scene though.

 

Strangely enough I most dread writing the scenes I really want to write. The ones that have been kicking around in my head for years as I tweak every tiny detail into perfection are a nightmare to write because I know how I want the scene to sound and know every little detail but words just fail me and they never come out perfect first go. I dread writing them because I want them perfect but it comes out mediocre and I have to spend even more time editing the scene before it comes off the way I want it.

I also dread writing a lot of the darker scenes in my current WIP because my head needs to be in a very specific place to accurately describe all the dark stuff that's happening but still be able to get into my protagonist's terrified/disgusted head.

 

If by 'dread' you mean 'prolonging and postponing out of fear of not being able to bring to an adequatr conclusion"... I started to fear those scenes where my first person narrators need to show themselves as fundamentaly different than me! It's easy to put them in stressful situations, tweak and mess around with their emotional responses, morality, knowledge, etc. But when they need to do something really different, be it animal abuse, manipulation of minors, racist or militarist attitudes, whatever - I kinda fear that moments in character building. Especially in first person.

The best way to resolve it, I think, is to paraphrase the Bana Gesserit: "Fear is the mind-killer. ... I will face my fear. ..." etc

 

I dread to write morally unethical scenes like Rape, Extra marital affair - mainly because of the fear of being judged. Currently I am writing a novella in Mystery-Horror genre, in which Extra marital affair is the core turn of event; after finishing 2 chapters I am now doubting whether should I continue or shut down, mainly because I have to describe the sex scenes; I have thought of conversations, emotions etc, so don't dread writing it, but what I dread is being judged by the readers.

 

If you intend to write and publish, you are definitely going to be judged, perhaps quite harshly at times. It comes with the territory and it does not matter what you write or how well you write it. You can be certain that someone, somewhere, is going to hate it. A thick skin is part of an author's basic equipment.