What's the most challenging aspect of your writing?

[Mohini9000]

The most challenging aspect of writing my comic is trying to come up with original storylines that are better than my previous storylines. I like to challenge myself on improving myself, but sometimes, I'll be so in a bad mood that I'll end up making a terrible episode and that just puts a stain on my comic.

[EncryptedWriting]

The most challenging aspect for me, personally, is actually writing. Once I start writing, I can get a groove. But actually writing? Oh buddy.

[vfaqvrf]

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[heyroxi]

Researching and remembering who is who and what is going on.

It's definitely a challenge when the characters are strong and well-educated. I feel like I’m investigating everything—plotting, character growth, and making connections—and sometimes my brain can't keep up. I've only managed to create 18 chapters so far. I’m not sure if I’m making the right decisions, but I’m having so much fun

[Tubacabra]

For me, the hardest part is keeping my plot devoid of holes. Yesterday, one of my friends pointed out a huge issue with Chapter 18 - Tutorials in Magic. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but I had my main character teleport when his mana was supposed to be locked. The worst part is that I was already planning on having him teleport a significantly greater distance, and for some reason, this didn't even seem like an issue to me even though there was absolutely zero justification in the story. Dodged a bullet there!

[vfaqvrf]

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[Lensing]

Maybe there is a way to turn your struggle into an advantage.
Not every artist works on one big thing. There are a lot of artists
who jump from one creative idea to the next

[itski]

I actually have the opposite problem. I struggle with internal thoughts and dialogue scenes!

[itski]

I do this a lot too. I try to keep all my notes in a separate reference document so I don't have to re-read a whole chapter to find the bit I need to remember!

[itski]

Practice makes perfect, I am sure you would eventually get the hang of it!

I think sometimes we believe are characters are shallow at first, until someone asks a question and you immediately know the answer. Eg. "Does x like fried egg." and you immediately know if they do or don't without thinking about it. It's hard to reflect these things unprompted in writing, though, which is often where the development happens via plot.

[itski]

You won't know what works until you know what fails! Don't beat yourself up over the ones you are less proud of, learn from them instead and see if you can apply your thoughts to new comics quicker when you know what to avoid.

[itski]

It's great that you're having fun. That is definitely the key to success! Good work on the planning stuff, it's more than I have done!

[itski]

Ooof! That sounds like a close call! Lucky someone pointed it out!

[NickRowler]

I have been trying to get more into creative writing.

I guess a challenge is trying to find a balance between being descriptive while not just going on a long tangent about it. In a comic, I can simply draw it but a novel doesn’t really have that unless you want to illustrate every scene.

[mikesakatamaki]

My essay manga is structured in an omnibus format.
Each episode can stand on its own, but I always struggle with deciding the order in which to arrange them.

I run a painting class with both adult and children’s sessions, and interesting things happen in each class that I can use in my manga.

When arranging these episodes, I worry that an order of 3 episodes from the children’s class, 1 from the adult class, and then 2 more from the children’s class might confuse the readers.

[Leyelle]

Oh really? Maybe we could give each other some tips then lol

[itski]

Sure!
I think my biggest tip is keep action short. Descriptions slow everything down.
When the character is on the move - describe only the action like: speed, agility, effort, direction, etc.
Leave the environmental descriptions for when the character stops. Think of it like: don't stop to smell the roses when the lion is right behind you?

From what I have read of your work, I don't think there are any specific points I need to make. It might feel rough, but I think you might have a better grip on it than you think. Or at least you do when editing, maybe.

[itski]

If you are seeing the children and the adults in the class, I think readers can work out the difference. Otherwise you could have just one age group, which may make it more fun. Eg. The children are saying some outlandishly smart things for their age.

[skidiggy]

This is an excellent question. For me, the most challenging aspect of writing is realizing when the story is not going in the direction I want/need it to, and making choices on how to proceed. It often results in a choice between doubling-down on a "meh" idea to get chapters out on time, or rethinking the narrative, getting feedback, and making necessary adjustments to fix whatever is broken. Having a third party or beta reader to bounce ideas off helps tremendously for that.

[Leyelle]

Thanks for the advice, those are good tips. My main tip for writing internal monologue is kind of the opposite. Rather than focusing on the literal, focus on the way things make the characters feel even if (especially if) they are perceiving their situation and surroundings wrong. You can do this during dialog scenes too. Oftentimes you want to avoid the literal. Rather than writing what the character should say, wrote what they would be willing to say. This can be varying levels of honest and transparent depending on the characters. Also it can be cool to draw from metaphors and non literal descriptions when a character is narrating about their surroundings in their head. It makes the world feel more vibrant and less expository.