Almost all of it. I can think of great ideas and all, but they usually come in little snippets, like the kind of horribly stunted synopses on the back of a Netflix envelop. "A young man must protect the woman he loves from being eaten by a giant space flea from nowhere" Maybe a really cool scene or two, the climax... But stringing all that crap together is proving to be rather difficult. It's like looking at a puzzle with most of the border done but not much else. Also dialogue. And the beginning.
im probably the worst at that, ive got at least 15 of those 10 pagers in my room i am embarassed:redface:
The toughest part for me is just having the energy to start writing. Ever have one of those days when you think up all these great ideas that are sure to be crowd pleasers? You're all pysched up to get them on paper and when you finally get to your computer, you decide "aw screw it." And you end up going on Youtube or listening to your I pod or something. It happens to me a lot. It's hard to have the will power to write. Especially when something much easier to do/use is near by (example: my xbox 360, I Pod, TV).
That happens to me too. I force myself to sit and work. It helps that I can watch Law and Order though and type during the commercials .
Actually, along that line, I have Crazy Ivan to blame for my latest giant distraction from reading and writing. Ironically TV Tropes has also given me great ideas, but still, I've been on an Archive Binge for the last three months. Writing is hard when you spend the whole day doing interbutt reading.
Writer's Block. Sometimes I'll be on a role, and I'll write several pages, then I have no idea what to write next, even when I know how the story is supposed to go and how it's going to end. Blahck.
I find the most difficult process for me with both fiction and poetry is finding the perfect way to craft the desired image so that it is understandable and reads smoothly. I often write a piece and the wording is too difficult for most to be able to understand and then I have to go back over it and re-write it trying to say the same thing, just in simpler terms, or I write it in too simpler of terms and have to then try to find words to say the say thing but in a more complex way.
Somehow I'm an impulsive writer, where I just write for thousands of words on end, and then go back and then find discrepancies etc. in the plot or characters or anything of the sort. Maybe this is both a good and a bad think, because in my opinion, writing isn't supposed to be scientific at all, more passion and creativity, obviously tempered by details. So, its mainly the technical stuff that bugs me, but also keeps my stories in order.
The hardest part of writing... Writing an ending suitable the the actual plot of the project. Also, staying committed to a project. You would laugh if you saw how many pieces I have saved on Microsoft Word right now. o.o
Piecing together the plot into something that makes sense. Also, deciding when it is necessary to kill off a character.
The hard part - edit, edit, and edit For me the writing is the thrill. It's the constant revision, reediting, and proof reading. I'm not kidding when I say that I reviewed/re edited my first novel (TAINTED HERO) 25 to 30 times. Each time made it better, but it really got to be a drudge.
Getting past the first or second chapter. I can't do it. I love naming things, and inventing new places and maps and stuff. I just can't get past the first few chapters. Somehow I get unfocused. I want to write the later parts of the story when everything.. more interesting is happening.
For me the most difficult part is....writing! It's easy for me to come up with plot lines, stories and stuff but writing it down and trying to have it be good is hard. Some parts, yes, I love to write but most parts it's difficult. I'm a storyteller, not a writer.
Michael Davis - seconded. The editing is hell. Also, getting to, like, the middle of the novel (or other long piece of work, especially one that you've been working on for a long time) and then making yourself continue is hard. Oh did I mention the research? Yeah, no fun. No fun at all. Oh, and Shreyass - love your avatar
Sticking to a novel and not losing the initial 'magic' you feel with a new, exciting idea. I normally get 50 pages into a novel, get bored, say "I'll come back in a few days with fresh inspiration", and after the few days, it doesn't seem that brilliant anymore. I just get bored easily.
When writing, do you find it harder to think of a plot and link it all together, or do you struggle more with putting it into words? No reason I was asking, just curious For me I find it much harder to put my ideas into words.
I would say neither, or both. Because I write spontaneously, I'm doing both at the same time, so they're either both hard, or they're both easy, as they're connected for me.
It's the same with me, Jade. I have no shortage of ideas, so usually by the time I sit down to actually write out my novel the entire story has been played through a dozen times in my head. My trouble is that what ends up on the page never captures exactly what I had in mind. It turns out to be a fine story, but it never does justice to my original idea.
I have trouble putting it in words, most of the time. Sometimes I have trouble with ideas not the main plot though rather the connecting parts of the story (e.g. leading from one event to another). I simply give up writing until the block cracks up and gives me a clue. I have trouble with words though, I believe, because of my small vocabulary and somehow perfectionist personality - I can't take the idea of 'work on it later' kinda thing.
I'm with Amarantha. I get plenty of ideas for plots and characters. My problem is getting them on a page in a way that makes me happy. But I'm working on that and I've gotten better at it. You have to learn that what you write may not be exactly what you wanted it to come out as and either work on changing it to fit what you wanted it to be or accept what it did come out as another way that it could be that is just as good if you give it a chance. Different from what you initially set out to write isn't necessarily bad. Also, I forget many of the ideas I think are good because I fail to write them down for use later.
I have trouble putting my ideas into words...or words that I think sound good together and make a reader excited about reading them.
