What's the most challenging aspect of your writing?

[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.

[itski]

Oooooh. The 'meh' idea sounds like a rough ride. Beta readers are your best friend, for sure!

[vfaqvrf]

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[itski]

That's fantastic advice. I never considered that before! I will for sure start trying to do this for my next chapter! Thank you!

[itski]

This post alone was a wild ride!

[skidiggy]

I feel that.

We have a game between my sounding board and myself called "Once More, With Feeling!" The rules are one of us reads the chapter aloud, then the other listens until the story either stops making sense or doesn't feel right. It's the listener's job to say "CUT!" and the reader has to stop where they are. We workshop the bit(s) that don't work, and read it aloud again, "Once More, With Feeling!" You'd be shocked how often that works.

[JoshRaed]

Writing. Getting to that point where i’m doing that.

[itski]

I am in that mode myself! Some days are so much harder than others!

[Liv45]

For me the biggest challenge is to get in the right mood (sad, happy, funny) and if I get in (mostly with the help of music) it`s hard to get out of it again. I just wrote a really sad chapter and after that I needed some time to come back to reality and not feel the sadness so much. Do you have that too sometimes?

[itski]

Not often, but for sure it happens more frequently with sad topics. I don't across it often because I don't write a lot of sad storylines.

[heyroxi]

I'm a UX so organizing is my thing and I can't think at all if I am not looking at my ideation

[heyroxi]

Thank you! Just a tip from my experience—it definitely helps to list out the plot before creating the chapter itself. Of course, everyone has their own preferences. This novel will be like a memento for me, (weird) and I plan to read it once it's finished, since I don't read my chapters after posting them.

[vfaqvrf]

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[vfaqvrf]

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[itski]

That does make sense, I just haven't had time. I joined the AF Tourney a month behind. The next novel I write I do plan to have nutted out in every aspect beforehand. I do read my own work because I always miss something the first thousand times I read it.

[skidiggy]

Hahaha. I feel that.

[Cass]

Trying to make the slow burn not so slow. I don't want to rush it but I don't want them to just be stuck in pining forever.

[itski]

Maybe you need more action happening, so they don't have time to get lost in each-other's eyes as frequently. or an event that keeps them separated for a while, but still thinking of each other.

[Lorian]

My one and only fight scene. I can write emotional struggle but physical one is incredibly hard for me. My novel requires very little of battle scenes, but I dread them like worst nightmare