Which part of the writing process do you struggle with or fear the most?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 45782
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Which part of the writing process do you struggle with or fear the most?

  • Grammar/Writing Structure

    Votes: 15 24.2%
  • Story Plotline Development

    Votes: 19 30.6%
  • Character Development

    Votes: 12 19.4%
  • Beginning to write

    Votes: 14 22.6%
  • Continued writing

    Votes: 29 46.8%
  • Knowing where to end the writing

    Votes: 9 14.5%
  • Getting Writing Ideas

    Votes: 8 12.9%
  • Research for your writing

    Votes: 10 16.1%
  • Writing hot topics or complex issues

    Votes: 12 19.4%
  • How your writing is perceived by others (feedback)

    Votes: 10 16.1%
  • Getting noticed for your writing

    Votes: 9 14.5%
  • Writing Mood/Motivation

    Votes: 21 33.9%
  • Timing to write

    Votes: 13 21.0%
  • I am Distracted

    Votes: 18 29.0%
  • Floating in Outer Space...

    Votes: 11 17.7%
  • Not Info Dumping

    Votes: 11 17.7%

  • Total voters
    62
  • Poll closed .
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Deleted member 45782

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Which part of the writing process do you struggle with, or fear the most?
Yes, this can also include which part you hate about the writing process too.
 
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Deleted member 45782

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The editing. I've developed my systems but I'm pretty dyslexic and it's rough man. My best resource is honestly just other readers who care enough to send me corrections.
Srry to hear that. Been telling myself I'll continue to read through your works but haven't yet. But I think you're a pretty good writer, I liked reading one of your first story chapters. :)
 

EternalSunset0

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Tenses. I just find using the right tenses so hard because I don't know whether something should be past or present oftentimes. English is not my first language, and I come from an ESL teaching and article-writing background, so that could explain it.

That, and the "fluff" in between scenes. I also fall into the thing where you visualize your work as a visual medium like an anime, so I can imagine the action and struggle mightily with thinking of "flourish," as stated in an earlier thread. I can't do without them because I feel that my story would be too "tell-y" if I don't do those, but when I struggle so hard in thinking of those, I just temporary lose motivation to write altogether, causing delays in chapters.

I also feel that I suck at dialogue choices. Word choice is not my forte, and I don't particularly exude any personality when talking irl, besides being very formal, careful, and stiff while being opinionated, so that's often my only real frame of reference unless I have another novel open beside me (either physical or on a tab) and try to heavily base my lines on those characters.
 

LilTV1155

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The whole story + Detail controls + Editing + Timeline Maintenance + Glossary Update + Reader's Logics + Needs for feedbacks

Whenever I get the idea, it must be written down as soon possible before it vanish.
No writing record = Oblivion, Writing record = Torture, In Progress Story Made = Mentality of someone about to get Guillotined

Inspirations can come and go as they please like winds. But when ideas stick, they f* itches like we got poison ivy crazes. Won't even go away until you end up personally stalking your own story's characters like a voyeur ghost. Even if you get the story, it's either barely started or just incomplete.

Details controls is where I start head-desking. Either I get too descriptive which ruins the experiences or too lacking which confounds the reader.

Dangling modifiers and run-on sentences are my major banes + Perfectionist Ego / Grammar Freak inside me give head pains, what a damn shame.

Timeline and Logic, having Rewind + Resurrection + Reincarnation + Deity Aging in one story can screw things up too far. Some logics are too hard to understand, might fall in between fantasy and sci-fi.

Glossary, I kept coming up with new words. Sometimes I can find the right word for abbreviated names. Hard to keep track of characters and vocabularies. Receiving feedbacks from any reader are SO Super Rare, more like A / Epic class when encountered and even if they appear, advises might not flow with the story or they are meant for someone else.

All my troubles yah.
 
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Jemini

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The area I struggle with isn't on the list. I struggle most with how to effectively deliver exposition, and how to avoid front-loading information in order to go with a more timely delivery of the relevant information.
 
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Deleted member 45782

Guest
The area I struggle with isn't on the list. I struggle most with how to effectively deliver exposition, and how to avoid front-loading information in order to go with a more timely delivery of the relevant information.
Idk if it is, but i added info dumping just in case just now. :)
 

morhamza

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Mar 29, 2021
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Plot. The reason is pretty simple, I start writing from basic ideas. Sometimes something as simple as a book title in my head can spur me to start writing. That means I have to wing it as I go. So, I have to be careful to not contradict myself without making it make sense to the reader.

Writing complex issues. I am one of those old ass virgins who haven't experienced life. To put this into perspective, the way of life you've been forced to adopt due to the lockdown is no different from my daily life before COVID.

So, I have very little experience to draw from in writing complex issues. I do read, but if I attempt things like slavery, or even discrimination in general, I feel like a lot of the emotion will go missing. You'll be able to tell I have no strong thoughts on these topics and I'm simply borrowing the opinions of others.

Info dumps. I'm a new writer. I struggle with pace too. Once I have an exciting idea I can hardly wait to put it down on paper. It wasn't until recently I learned I front load my story with too much info and then struggle later on to create any kind of mystery.
 
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Deleted member 45782

Guest
Plot. The reason is pretty simple, I start writing from basic ideas. Sometimes something as simple as a book title in my head can spur me to start writing. That means I have to wing it as I go. So, I have to be careful to not contradict myself without making it make sense to the reader.

Writing complex issues. I am one of those old ass virgins who haven't experienced life. To put this into perspective, the way of life you've been forced to adopt due to the lockdown is no different from my daily life before COVID.

So, I have very little experience to draw from in writing complex issues. I do read, but if I attempt things like slavery, or even discrimination in general, I feel like a lot of the emotion will go missing. You'll be able to tell I have no strong thoughts on these topics and I'm simply borrowing the opinions of others.

Info dumps. I'm a new writer. I struggle with pace too. Once I have an exciting idea I can hardly wait to put it down on paper. It wasn't until recently I learned I front load my story with too much info and then struggle later on to create any kind of mystery.
Haha in some ways wonder if are you me?
 
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Deleted member 52929

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I really struggle with writing the middle portions of stories a lot of the time...that and character voice when it comes to dialogue
 

CookieCrumble

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For me it was characters. I tried to make rich characters with their own backstories and motivation. They'd came to my plot and break it with their own living decision. However, as it often do, it fell flat. Most of them looked trope-ish.

A stupid cutboard of what I envision them to be. Sure two or three of them might be those good cutboard with photorealistic image. But it was a cutboard nonetheless.

Yeah, I got a lot to learn
 

ArcadiaBlade

I'm a Lazy Writer, So What?
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I don't have any problems with the plot, settings and etc. The only problem I have is the details, info dump necessary to the novel and character interactions.

The details is a bit easy but as the novel goes on, more details needed to be added and it almost confuse me which is which. In the end, I completely get stuck in a cycle of not being able to think of ideas and basically get stuck half-way. Basically stopping writing due to it.

The info dump, while a bit necessary, isn't actually forced into my novel. I only added a bit info to some structure on how things work and making things logical in my novel(I don't like to write plotholes so I tend to work a bit longer to make magic simple yet not easily attainable and be overpowered in my novel).

Finally, Character Interactions/Dialogue. This is the hardest of the problems regarding my novel as while I do know how my character would act, I can't make it fluent and be realistic that I tend to stop writing entirely because of it. Basically, I don't know how will my character speak, how its tone would be and the insufficient knowledge of details to add, this this the main reason why I can't continue writing my novel.

I know I kinda BS myself because I'm just too lazy to write but this is mainly the reason why I slowly procrastinate. I actually love writing and not only that, I worked hard developing my novels to be good. However, because I couldn't really write the novel the way I wanted it to go(had to scrapped some ideas to fit and goes well into my novel, making it sadder the more I scrapped more ideas the longer the novel goes on), I kinda hurts me to continue writing.
 

CrusadeAgainstFurries

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To just start writing and not procrastinate...

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skillet

a frying pan
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For me: RETAINING MY ORIGINAL STYLE OF WRITING THAT I USED FOR THE STORY

This is usually a problem anyways because I change writing styles pretty often (D:) but it's particularly worse these days... and I think it's because due to the pandemic, i literally moved countries and speak my other language (bilingual) as my daily language instead of English, and coming back to write in English is just that much harder now, i think.
Also, I took a giant hiatus of seven months (or so), and so I have to keep going back to read what I wrote to know how I used to write haha
But still, I've been getting back into the writing mood, so it's not as bad anymore :D
 

atgongumerki

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Mar 26, 2019
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Pacing
Emotions
Speech
Writing a chapter about an important event, which is highly ritualised, and where nothing really happens (e.g. a funeral)
 

ZeroXSEED

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1. Got cool ideas and progression in mind then froze when I start writing outlines.
2. Grammar is hard and language keep evolving, couldn't catch up.
3. Getting constructive feedback in piecemeal, as opposed to someone dumping a whole heap of critique in a single post or review.
 
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