When I think about it, that's actually a pretty big problem for me too. I often skip the transition. If they are going from one place to another, I just stop the scene and start at the new place. Don't know if that's actually a good thing. I mean, if you got nothing to say about what happens on the way, why even bother having it in the story.
Oh please! I have only written one or two or three... fanfics about him Cas is usually his co-star. Yes, I'm one of THOSE people.
It has to be action scenes for me. I think I can set the scene well, but it causes lots of problems for me with show vs tell. I feel like showing everything slows the pace too much, whereas telling makes it read very poorly. I have trouble getting the flow correct in action/battle scenes. I also have a poor time opening stories properly and setting the scene; at least for the very first chapter of a new story. I can start chapters, sequels, prequels etc no problem. But for some reason introducing a brand new story I find difficult; I often write the second chapter first and move on from there.
Childhood scenes are hard for me. It's easy to write in retrospect because I have all the knowledge of an adult looking back at the younger years, but writing full scenes in which I have write the way a child talks and thinks are gruesome. I struggled with a bully scene involving four kids ages 7 - 8 for weeks recently. It was difficult finding a way to carry the scene out so that it didn't appear as the typical cliche.
Writing can be emotionally draining for me, I once killed off a character and couldn't write for a good week afterward. I felt so bad, like I had gotten too far into her destroyers head enough taht it sickened me.
Its a bit hard to write scenes in depressing places. These include apocalyptic ruins, slums, areas with dead bodies pilled up etc. The images then pile up in my head, and then they can be a bit jarring.
yes, there is the mentally challenging aspect of it too, and not just the technical one. some parts are definitely draining to write because they make you feel bad, but then If you do hopefully it means you have been quite successful in picturing it for the reader.
I have trouble fighting action scenes. Either way it sounds weird. Because I think its harder to convey that kind of movement in writing than let's say a movie. A book cannot convey that kind of fast paced, fighting. Some can. Not all of them. But for me they are always kind of awkward.
The only part I have problems with is between... "Once upon a time ..." and "THE END". Okay. Not really. There doesn't seem to be any single type of scene that causes problems for me. In this book it may be a fight scene, in that one it could be an interrogation, in the other one it might well be a death scene. It differs from book to book, mood to mood (both within the story and within myself). Since every book is different, the challenges each presents is, necessarily, different as well. Then your writing must be absolutely super ... naturally! Haaaahahahaha
The hardest part? Beginnings and endings. Sometimes it's hard to find a good starting point, then once I do everything flows just fine. When it comes time to wrap it up, I almost don't want to end it. I've spent all that time in the world I made and fell in love with my characters and I want to spend more time there. So, I generally put the story away until the feelings fade and write the ending.
I feel the same way about ending my story. I'm so in love with these people and the whole story that I don't want to leave it to go on living its own life, if that makes sense I'm going to miss my characters sooo much now... maybe because I created them (there are three of them) something like 20 years ago and have been writing about them for years in the first version. This is a somewhat different story although the basics are the same, and I'm not sure about if it will ever get publishable because mostly based on a lifetimes worth of daydreams, lol, but I have given my best to create a story that makes sense to a reader. hopefully someone else will like it too. The future stories will have less a personal attachment I guess, because I wont have been living with the characters in my mind for years and years like this.
Whether your work be a novel, a short story or anything else. I've recently finished my novella, and I just can't find anything good in it. I felt reasonably good about it during editing, but now I can barely stand the sight of it. Everything in it seems wrong. Not just some chapters or paragraphs, but really everything. It feels like it's something else than it's supposed to be. Too much this, too little that. Now I know these are at least partially justifiable feelings. I know there's need for improvement. The thing is, I don't know how to improve it. I can't find anything to cut and throw away, while at the same time I feel I should delete it all. Making corrections in selected places won't change the fact that the very essence of it is something else than I wanted. It's not about how others feel about it. Even if i could get this thing published I wouldn't be satisfied with it. I guess that in all creative work one has to be able to please oneself. Some who have read my story say that it's good, like "I can't keep my hands off it" good, but it doesn't make me feel any better. I know the plot, and it can't keep me in suspense any longer. I just look for the beauty in it and find none. I wanted to like my work, and now I can't. Ever had that feeling? I bet some of you have. Let's share the pain.
I totally understand! I literally hate everything about my work the moment that I've finished writing it... I can't even bear editing. That's the thing that I've grown to love about this forum though... the people here give very particular critique, which varies greatly from my sweeping "I hate everything about this" opinion. Even though I'm new here, I feel like this forum gives me control over my writing. It helps to end that despairing feeling of having something with no redeeming quality. I immensely appreciate the ability to be able to IMPROVE my writing by changing specific things throughout the piece. It has spilled over into all of my writing, and made me a more willing writer who is more tolerant of their work. So yea, personally, coming from a place where before this no other living soul had read my fiction, it's really changed how I view my work... although I'm certain that I'll never have full confidence in my writing or adore anything that I've written. XD
I've always been a bit of a paradox of egotism and self-consciousness. It's possible for me to think my work is just the way I want it and couldn't be better, while at the same time not good enough for others to read. lol
I'm pretty optimistic about writing, so I've never felt that I hate my work overall. But I'm in the revision process on my book right now, so I can definitely identity with the feeling of thinking "aw crap, did I seriously write this?" about a given part of it that I realized I did a poor job on. When a scene just needs some minor tweaking to be written in a better tone or style, it's not so bad, but it can be infuriating realizing that you have to remove, add or change an entire subplot, character, etc.
That's what all published authors say. After they submit it, they refuse to read their own book - they read it and wish they could go back and re-word a sentence. Then an entire paragraph, then an entire chapter, and then the entire book. Sooner or later you have to let go of it.
That's why you get other people to edit your work for you. Just have all the fun of creating your piece. And then pay your editor to do what he does best! I sympathize with you all. I feel like redoing whole chapters, and wonder why some parts of my writing don't feel right. But like Quesacotl says: "Sooner or later you have to let go of it."
My advice is to pinpoint down that sweeping "everything" into a few points. For example, when I was editing one of my stories, I got this list. Strengths: Good description Flowing words Characters I can relate with Weaknesses: Choppy dialogue Overabundance of thoughts Overuse of flashbacks Overuse of backstory Then I improve on my weaknesses and strengthen my strengths.
I don't have anything I've written -- not anything I've stuck with, anyway -- that I can say I truly hate. If I start writing a story and I decide I dislike it then it will be tossed aside within the first 5k. If it makes it past 5k then it means it's enjoyable and therefore no matter how terrible the outcome is I'm still going to like something about it. So, rather than hating my work I'd say I love it: I adore my characters, enjoy the plotlines and I have fun rereading my stories every few months/years. If someone else thinks the story is boring or hates my characters then I don't give a damn because I do not write to please them; I'm a selfish writer who writes only to please herself and it's just a pro that I've found people who enjoy my work, too. As long as I continue to write in this way then I enjoy every second I spend working on a story even if it turns out to be terrible - I still have fun doing it.
Print your novella out and put it in a desk drawer. Keep it there for a few weeks, don't look at it (on paper or on the computer), and focus on some other thing - maybe writing something completely different - until you have forgotten exactly what you wrote, or your feeling of "saturation" or "dissatisfaction" with your own work has dissipated and been replaced with a more optimistic frame of mind. Then take out the printout and give it a fresh read, editing pen or pencil in hand. Remember to read it afresh, like someone who doesn't know the story and characters and plot points/tricks at all. If it still strikes you as "dissattisfying", edit it with vigour until you feel it is "solid" or "good", perhaps adding additional material that makes the work stronger. Just replacing some of the adjectives and wording in the novella with better terms can lift your work up, and your frame of mind with it. If that doesn't do it, maybe a partial or complete rewrite may do the trick. Good luck, D.
If you hate everything about your work, then I'm tempted to say that you probably kept writing a skooch too long. Start over, or publish something else.
In my view, anyone who either hates writing or hates the product of their writing should look for something else to do. Life is too short for that kind of self-inflicted misery.
I completely understand what it feels like because I've been there myself, several times too. and then i do exactly what dryriver just "ordered": Really, this is the best thing to do. Don't throw anything away. because the feeling often change when you've let it rest for a while and look at it again. Even if you still dislike it you will probably at least know why and what to do about it. Good luck from me too.
When work is slow and the personal life allows, I love having the time to dedicate to writing. It is a joy to bring characters to life and set them in motion down an unknown road, whether it be flash fiction or novel length manuscript. However, when time does not allow, I hate writing, abhor it, disdain the act of sitting at the altar of Qwerty. The frustration of not being able to dedicate the time to those ideas we bring life to is worse than navigating Houston rush hour in a motor home with no rearview mirrors. Writing is truly a full time job (part time at least). If you don't have the time for it, it seems to be a waste of time. Hopefully, the balance will return, or Dr Life will excise this tumor of the craft.
