Desperation and devastation. that's the hardest emotions I have come up against, trying to make the reader understand and feel them in a character.
Jouska and chrysalism, mostly since they are big parts of Tein psychology. Though it is a state of mind, explaining and showing occhiolism, is chiefly the problem I have when dealing with the divine characters in the setting. Several other non-human emotions exist, but thankfully I can explain them better then those which people have not yet experienced.
I find "Meh" the hardest. Or really any lack of emotion-type emotion. Or Passive emotions. It can be really easy for "no reaction" to look like something a writer forgot to insert, when in fact the idea is that they didn't react in a big way. Or basically big emotions are well big, so hittting them, (poorly or perfectly) is fairly easy. Yet small emotions are so tiny, it can be easy to miss the mark completely.
I actually find that easy. I have one whole character who is so detached that emotions are something that only manifest in bodily reactions. And my Beta certainly gets the point
A sense of wonder can be pretty tough. My character can stare in amazement at some impressive towering city. Getting a reader to feel that amazement (and not just boredom at a bunch of scenery description) is not easy.
I find love the hardest to write as it is such a complex emotion that it is difficult to avoid either going over the top or under doing it.
I agree with Wolfmaster1234, that love is the hardest to write. On the flip side it is the easiest to screw up. Oddly enough writing a devastating situation is pretty easy, the characters practically write it themselves. But then again, I am not too good at writing in general.
Emotions are pretty easy. Reactions against the norm are harder. And I don't mean vast shifts like oddballs who laugh at funerals it's more subtle than that. Readers like doers - they also like big responses. If a girl gets dumped they want to see her explode with anger or cry her eyes out or line up all his belongings in the street and run them over. Something. But if she had a more subtle response - that's what I find the hardest. The quieter more subtle reactions that leave a reader doubtful as to what exactly the mc is feeling and must read on to find out.
Emptiness - That feeling when a really REALLY awesome character dies unexpectedly and you're just sat there like "woah."
I've actually never even thought about this before up until this point, an interesting question... Thanks for asking one that actually made me think... Hmmm... I'm gunna have to say jealousy. Because I've never really felt that much jealousy in my life as my brain just isn't wired to be that envious of others. I'm a pretty happy camper, so it's very hard for me to relate to someone being jealous in any sort of manner.
I'm sure this question has been posted before, but I couldn't find it so I'm asking it again. I'm in a pickle. Two years ago, I started working on a story. (It doesn't have a title yet so we'll call it Golems.) I planned the characters, the setting, and even made an outline for it. I wrote the first chapter, posted it on here, got good feedback, but then I got stuck. My brain eventually started moving towards another story I was working on, Desolate, and I never went back. I planned Desolate completely, outlined it, wrote it, read it, made notes in what needed to be changed, and am now working on the second draft outline. However, my brain is now moving back towards Golems. I always wanted it to be the first story I published and wrote entirely. I don't really know why. Maybe because it's a simple but engaging story. Maybe because Desolate comes in three parts, and I know I'll want to write them all in succession. But now I don't know what to do! Should I stick with Desolate, in turn writing books 1, 2, & 3? Or should I follow my brain and my inspiration and write Golems? My husband thinks if I start on Golems again, I'll never finish Desolate. But I'm worried that if I work on Desolate when I really want to work on Golems, I'll end up half-assing the work because my heart just isn't in it. Don't get me wrong -- I still love Desolate. I'm just not feeling it right now. Is it bad to skip around on stories or work on multiple stories at a time? Or should I focus on one from beginning to publishing end? Opinions?
I don't think it's bad to skip around if you know you'll eventually go back to your "main" project. Maybe try this - you could work on Desolate for most of the day, then as a "reward" to yourself, work on Golems at the end of the day. Or hell, work on Desolate one week, then Golems the next week. Switch back and forth (as long as you can keep everything straight!). That way you don't get burnt out on either, while working on both as well!
If you are okay with having multiple unfinished projects, if the creative aspect is worth more than the end result, by all means, skip around. If at any point you wish you had something finished, able to publish, then the inspiration might need to take a back seat. Though that could easily mean leaving Desolate to finish Golems, with the understanding the desire to go back to Desolate might need to be ignored.
I've never understood this "inspiration" bit. For my primary job I'm under a grant to write about linkages between sensory response data and consumer willingness to pay. In my second job, my editor needs the final mock up on the story about this years fire season by the 5th. But I really don't feel "inspired" to write either of those, should I just work on my novel instead? Seriously? It's publish or perish. Put your butt in the chair and write. I'm so glad I cut my teeth in academic writing where inspiration was not required. I work on every project every day; that's how shit gets done.
Appreciate the input, but that doesn't answer my question. It's not "to write or not to write." I'm going to write either way. Just trying to figure out which story to write. I may just try working on both until I find what works for me. Either both for a couple hours a day or alternating every other week. Eventually I'll figure out a system, I suppose. Thanks everybody.
I'm not going to try to explain this myself, because Philip Overby already did it so much better. -- -- -- -- You’re working on your current project when a beautiful faerie lands on your laptop and says, “Hey! Why are you writing this boring story? Look over here!” Wow, a story about elven wyvern hunters in 18th Century Central America is much more interesting than my current Work in Progress (WIP) about mutant horse-thieves in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by centaurs. The faerie grabs your hand, hovers it over a new Word document, and jumps up and down on your finger until you left-click it. Ah. Like sinking into a warm bath. The feeling of cleansing away your dirty, stinky WIP and starting a pristine, new document, that little blinking cursor sending shivers up your spine. You’re about one hundred pages into your elven wyvern hunter story when, wham, you hit that wall. The faerie returns. “How about a story that follows dwarven sewer pirates through their war with alligator people–” Yeah! That’s much– Wait. You suddenly look at your desktop. It’s a veritable graveyard of discarded manuscripts. Once promising and awesome, they’re now crowding up your workspace, their voices calling from the Beyond. Your WILs (Works in Limbo). “Write me! Write me!” You must stop it. You must stop the Creative ADD faerie before it claims another victim. -- -- -- -- The rest of his essay is about avoiding the problem, but for now, it's enough to establish it.
I have like ... eight current projects right now because I mostly follow inspiration, if you want to look at it that way. They're all in various states of construction - one's a nearly-finished novel, one's in the finished outline stage, one is a roughly halfway-plotted series, one isn't much more than than a couple characters and a concept. It works for me because I'm terrible at focusing on one thing at a time and hate to force myself to work on one thing when I'm really not into it, so this way I have options. But I mean, I do still still buckle down and put in serious work in one or another when I decide I need to, and I do prioritize them - the series is 'on the backburner' right now, last october I spent a lot of time getting that finished outline to the point it's at now and once I'm done working on some short stories this month I have plans to add in some final wrinkles and get started on the novel proper. Will I still be thinking about the other projects and making notes about them? Totally. Why waste cool ideas when I have them and let them slip away? But the novel will be the main focus. I've seen a lot of pretty disparaging comments about 'following inspiration' but eh, it's just a matter of what works best for your individual brain/style. The last two new story ideas I had evoked groans because seriously, I already had enough on my plate ... but am I just going pass up orphaned scientist space pirates and a ramshackle gang of freedom fighting cyborgs, robots, and programmers? God no I'm gonna write that down before I forget about it
Hi, Actually for some of us it isn't a choice. I'm pure pantster, and as I found out recently to my cost, it's not a choice. I can write an absolutely perfect plot, detailed, logical and perfect in every way. But I can't damn well write to my plot! Because the instant I start writing I lose myself in my work and by the time I'm back the story has taken five left turns, crossed a field and jumped several ditches. It's pointless trying to become a plotter for me. That's just not who I am. And yes, it does mean I have around a hundred and fifty unfinished novels in various stages sitting on my computer. But, for those who decry us pantsters - not looking at any Khalie in particular - I also have twenty four published works out there. The reason is simple. When that damned muse takes me I write. I write fast and passionately and without a break. I have completed entire first drafts in a month. My advice is be who you are. You may like me, have no choice in how you write. Cheers, Greg.
It's going to depend where you're at in your writing journey. Maybe you need to get some more distance from your first draft before working in your second draft. So maybe working on your Golems project will give you the space to objectively decide what's good from your first draft and decide if you've got a good second draft plan. Maybe you've got enough to learn from first drafting, that you might as well work on what's fun for now, and worry about turning something into a publishable product later Or maybe you're procrastinating because you've got a fear of second drafting. It's not something you've ever done before, so you're not sure you'll get it right. At which point you might need to just go for it. You'll not learn how to do it until you start trying though. Common writer advice gives writers the confidence to not be paralysed by fear of making mistakes on draft one, but sometimes that defers the fear to draft two. But you're allowed to get things wrong on draft 2 too. You should have saved copies of everything so you can experiment with alternative scenes in draft 2, and if doesn't seem to be working out you've got something to fall back upon. I don't know if any of the above applies to you, and there are also deciding factors which I've not thought of. You'll know where you're at better than we do.
Finish the first one (making sure it can stand by itself). Polish it, send it out. Then worry about what to write next.
I'm with @plothog - there's no one answer to this, it depends on you, your goals, your timelines, etc. If you're writing mostly for fun, then make sure writing is fun. If you're writing mostly for publication, then be aware that this could be your last change to be really self-indulgent about your work, and to experiment with different writing schedules. Once you get books published, you've got a damn career to worry about - even if you don't have timelines from editors, you'll have to think about your readers, keeping your name in front of them, always having something new on the horizon, etc. etc. This may be your last chance to really explore different ways of getting your writing done, so... you may want to take that opportunity! (And, along with @psychotick's point - I'm another one with lots of books published and I don't follow @KhalieLa's philosophy. Writing fiction isn't like writing an academic paper or a report, at least for me. I write 365K new words a year, but I don't write them at 1K per day every day. Some days I'm inspired and I do 10K; other days I'm not inspired and I go for a hike instead. Especially if writing is your second or third job - be kind to yourself!
Thank you. I eventually want writing to be my career, but as of right now, I'm just trying to enjoy the process. But I think I'm also trying to figure it out. It is new to me (Desolate is the first draft I've ever written) so I'm learning as I go. So at this point, I'm not trying to put too much pressure on myself to stick to a certain timeline. I'm just going with the flow. I'm still just really torn. Part of me thinks I'll do better work if I follow my inspiration. It's how I got so far with Desolate. I wanted it written so badly, I was doing 4K words a day. But without the inspiration? About a thousand. And I can tell when I read through my draft when I was having an off day based on my writing quality. So I worry that pushing through will just result in bad work. But at the same time, I'm worried that moving to a different story will be essentially killing Desolate. What if I forget stuff? I keep detailed notes, of course, but when I finally go back to it, I'll have to read through them and refamiliarize myself with the story. What if I don't like it anymore? What if I never go back to it? I'm not so much afraid of writing the second draft. I'm more afraid that if I don't do it while everything is still fresh in my mind, I'll never finish it. Predicaments.
