What is your toughest challlenge as an author?

[Cagivagurl]

As a writer, each of us hits a stumbling block sooner or later. Are you great at writing the beginning of a story, and struggle with it after that? Or the opposite: great at writing an ending, now how do you get it set up for that?

My greatest challenge is keeping the story moving. I tend to get way in to excruciatingly minute detail. Like I don't even understand the concept of brevity. I've got a quote on my desk by Mark Twain: "A story is typically best told in as few words as possible."

I've had to cut bits that I really liked how I wrote them, but they had to go because they were stalling the story. I fight this battle constantly in my writing.

My only solution has been my own ruthless editing. If it isn't serving the story, out it goes. I save those passages, because they might be useful for something else.

Anybody else? Character names, describing outdoor settings (or indoor settings)?

Ah, the road to literary greatness is littered with roadblocks.
Sometimes my biggest impediment is time. Not to write, but the gaps between when I do... Maintaining the consistency of character... On occasion, it could be weeks between getting back to a story. Keeping the characters voice strong and in character can be difficult...
There's also another problem for me.
The passionate fervour of the opening... The words flowing easily and smoothly. Then as the story sinks into the more mundane, that desire to press the keys subsides, and it becomes a little tedious... More work than love...
It is still a joy though, untangling the words, and sentences, trying to tell the story in your head. Translating thought to story...
I'm slower these days, because I am aware of the craft, searching to get better, improve, grow and actually convey the story.

Cagivagurl

 

[Gamblnluck]

As a writer, each of us hits a stumbling block sooner or later. Are you great at writing the beginning of a story, and struggle with it after that? Or the opposite: great at writing an ending, now how do you get it set up for that?

My greatest challenge is keeping the story moving. I tend to get way in to excruciatingly minute detail. Like I don't even understand the concept of brevity. I've got a quote on my desk by Mark Twain: "A story is typically best told in as few words as possible."

I've had to cut bits that I really liked how I wrote them, but they had to go because they were stalling the story. I fight this battle constantly in my writing.

My only solution has been my own ruthless editing. If it isn't serving the story, out it goes. I save those passages, because they might be useful for something else.

Anybody else? Character names, describing outdoor settings (or indoor settings)?

I don't worry about brevity. I tell the story. I might skip or not go hard into descriptions. That is not a sticking point with me. In fact, when I read an overly descriptive passage, I tend to skim past it. I want a well developed plot. I want bases covered, holes filled. I want a logical progression of the story. Yeah there is often the 'who the hell is gonna sit and do the Columbo explanation? The bad guy giving the monologue before he shoots his victim, only to have the bad guy turn the tables." I hate it if it goes too far.
But making a story brief? Nope. Tell the story in its entirety.

 

[Gamblnluck]

It took me a while, but I finally taught myself to never edit while writing. Especially if it's one of those times the ideas and words are just flying through your mind! You never stop and edit when the inspiration is hitting you. You can always fix it later, but you may never have that idea, or inspiration, again.

While I am in the groove and writing, I just go. Later when I come back for another session, I go back over what I wrote. I'll often change a few things, add some. Then I am back in the mindset of my story and able to continue. I look at my notes and ideas.
Many times, I start at the beginning of the story, reading and changing a word or passage here or there and it changes the story direction. Those other things I wrote might get scrapped or it adds another scene, another chapter to the story. It is one reason many of my stories are multi-chaptered.
My briefest stories are those in LW. They tend to be simpler and have better direction.

 

[OralAllOver]

Kiting

Eventually the bank always discovers that my careful writing on the signature line of the check is not great art but fraud

 

[FrancesScott]

I think the same as others have said, time.

Time to read and absorb interesting techniques. Time to experiment - and maybe fail - trying different things (pretty much what I am trying to do here). Time to let my stories breathe and acquire the depth they are begging for. Time to more carefully reassess my work after a first draft and more critically edit. Time to get even a quarter of the ideas I have into some sort of actual outline.

Just time.

 

[SimonDoom]

Getting stories across the finish line.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Self doubt is the demon I can't slay.

I've got mental hacks for most other challenges. Writer's block? Spend some time world building. Not motivated? Give myself permission to stop after writing one sentence. Draft is wandering? Challenge myself to get to the next interesting beat in as few words as possible. Bored with my story? Add the most ridiculous, but vivid, side character I can and see what happens. I trust myself to clean it all up during the first few rewrites.

But self doubt? That feeling that I'm not good enough to write something beautiful and meaningful, my voice will never be heard, that I'll never be included ... that's been my only constant companion since I wrote my first story as a little girl.

What makes this so insidious is that it's not directed at the writing, it's directed at me. I love, especially during drafting, when people come in and chop my work to pieces. None of that feels personal, and my brain understands that it's useful information. It's the off-hand comment someone makes about me in a conversation or a forum post that sends my brain into a multi week downward spiral and paralyzes my writing (actually, it's not the comment itself, it's my tendency to overthink that kind of thing).

Like self-sabotage, self-doubt is a symptom of limiting beliefs acting up. I've learned that more recently, and it is a long-term battle that can be started with journaling.

What I've done to help myself overcoming that is not silencing the doubts or beliefs, but to put them on the paper, and have a bunch of pages filled with them. Usually that does the trick temporarily, but that's just the first part of the battle. The next part is facing them and starting to invert those. The real commitment is to put the flipped belief and say "because," and at the end of the day compile the evidence that proves it.

As you're experiencing it, this... this hurts more than just your writing. It can affect your whole life if it goes unchecked.

 

[JenniferSmithJones]

Like self-sabotage, self-doubt is a symptom of limiting beliefs acting up. I've learned that more recently, and it is a long-term battle that can be started with journaling.

What I've done to help myself overcoming that is not silencing the doubts or beliefs, but to put them on the paper, and have a bunch of pages filled with them. Usually that does the trick temporarily, but that's just the first part of the battle. The next part is facing them and starting to invert those. The real commitment is to put the flipped belief and say "because," and at the end of the day compile the evidence that proves it.

As you're experiencing it, this... this hurts more than just your writing. It can affect your whole life if it goes unchecked.

What she said. Multiplied by 1,000! Self doubt, no matter how you arrived at it, is a projection on you from outside yourself. And since it usually comes from a trusted source, typically parents and family (often with the best motives for you!), we internalize it and accept it with no internal debate or self-questioning. It is all false, all imposed on you from the judgement of others. Maybe they don't want you to make the same mistakes they did, and at worst: they don't want you to do any better/be any happier in life, than they are. That is the seductive nature of self-doubt. "If I wasn't actually stupid, Mom and Dad would never have have made me think I was. So I must be stupid."

There's an easy test to see if you are stupid: write two sentences. If you can do that, congratulations, you aren't stupid. You have only been told that you are, by those serving an agenda of their own, which often is no more than: "I don't want you to be better than I was."

Rising above it sounds easy. Just shake off the prejudices and false premises you were loaded up with. But in reality, it is tough. Some folks never get past it. I hate this aspect of the human psyche, but there's fuck-all we can do to change it except put in the work, our own selves.

What KittyOf Steele said about journaling: Once we write down our unquestioned assumptions, in black and white, on a sheet of paper, we can usually see how absurd all of it was. In my case, I started writing, and 275,00 words later, I was like, "What the everlasting fuck of being chained in the Hell of upside down people??? HOW did I EVER let anyone make me think all this shit was on me?"

Put the work in before you're 40, and you'll be a lot happier with your life. Trust me on that.

 

[DeeDeeX2]

What she said. Multiplied by 1,000! Self doubt, no matter how you arrived at it, is a projection on you from outside yourself. And since it usually comes from a trusted source, typically parents and family (often with the best motives for you!), we internalize it and accept it with no internal debate or self-questioning. It is all false, all imposed on you from the judgement of others. Maybe they don't want you to make the same mistakes they did, and at worst: they don't want you to do any better/be any happier in life, than they are. That is the seductive nature of self-doubt. "If I wasn't actually stupid, Mom and Dad would never have have made me think I was. So I must be stupid."

There's an easy test to see if you are stupid: write two sentences. If you can do that, congratulations, you aren't stupid. You have only been told that you are, by those serving an agenda of their own, which often is no more than: "I don't want you to be better than I was."

Rising above it sounds easy. Just shake off the prejudices and false premises you were loaded up with. But in reality, it is tough. Some folks never get past it. I hate this aspect of the human psyche, but there's fuck-all we can do to change it except put in the work, our own selves.

What KittyOf Steele said about journaling: Once we write down our unquestioned assumptions, in black and white, on a sheet of paper, we can usually see how absurd all of it was. In my case, I started writing, and 275,00 words later, I was like, "What the everlasting fuck of being chained in the Hell of upside down people??? HOW did I EVER let anyone make me think all this shit was on me?"

Put the work in before you're 40, and you'll be a lot happier with your life. Trust me on that.

Brava! Well said.

 

[designatedvictim]

Loquacity.

Hey!! I resemble that remark!

 

[Writer61]

Where is Loqua City? Is it close to the cycle paradise Velo City?

 

[AlinaX]

Samantha is the one I keep wanting to use. Two of my most read stories feature that name

Ooh, yes, but as Sam.

 

[TheLobster]

Where is Loqua City? Is it close to the cycle paradise Velo City?

Hopefully it is far away from both the blaring techno noise of Electree City and the noxious fumes of Toxy City.

 

[Dearelliot]

As others, Time.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

My biggest challenge is that sometimes I finish prematurely. Well, what I mean is that I'll push a story out too quickly without taking enough time to go over it and polish it up. If I like what I've written, I want to share it right now! But that makes it more likely I overlook mistakes or that I think of cool things to add later once it's already published. Then I'm frenetically trying to edit it after the fact.

The smart thing to do is to stick the story away for a while and not touch it, then come back to it later. But that's just not fun.

I did put out a story fairly quickly once (Sphinx and Mouse Ch. 02, a sequel) and am pretty happy with how it turned out. Think it took under a week? But honestly that's rare. Usually I regret when I rush something.

One other one I will throw in here is that I have a tendency to write really long sentences that could be broken up. I might write something like, "As he stepped out of the room, the figure stood in the hallway, the gaze from its large eyes boring into him and its tail flicking back and forth while it stood there, hissing quietly." Then I look at this and think this is really long-winded and should be separated out.

 

[JenniferSmithJones]

My biggest challenge is that sometimes I finish prematurely. Well, what I mean is that I'll push a story out too quickly without taking enough time to go over it and polish it up. If I like what I've written, I want to share it right now! But that makes it more likely I overlook mistakes or that I think of cool things to add later once it's already published. Then I'm frenetically trying to edit it after the fact.

The smart thing to do is to stick the story away for a while and not touch it, then come back to it later. But that's just not fun.

I did put out a story fairly quickly once (Sphinx and Mouse Ch. 02, a sequel) and am pretty happy with how it turned out. Think it took under a week? But honestly that's rare. Usually I regret when I rush something.

One other one I will throw in here is that I have a tendency to write really long sentences that could be broken up. I might write something like, "As he stepped out of the room, the figure stood in the hallway, the gaze from its large eyes boring into him and its tail flicking back and forth while it stood there, hissing quietly." Then I look at this and think this is really long-winded and should be separated out.

Run-on sentences are a tough one for me, too. As well as making paragraphs too long.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

Run-on sentences are a tough one for me, too. As well as making paragraphs too long.

I have some too-long ones in some earlier stories too. Been thinking about putting an edit in and cleaning them up.

Part of the challenge with this is that if I am writing in an editor with a large window, it's hard to notice when my paragraphs are too big. I sometimes find myself resizing the window to see how they would look on a smaller screen.

 

[Blind_Justice]

I dunno... actually finishing anything? Finding motivation to sit down and write? Avoid second-guessing everything I put onto the page? You tell me.

On the other hand, I've managed to wrap a third album full of weird, anachronistic synthesizer music with my lady love. Seems to required different regions of my brain, music making.

 

[filthytrancendence]

Self doubt is the demon I can't slay.

I've got mental hacks for most other challenges. Writer's block? Spend some time world building. Not motivated? Give myself permission to stop after writing one sentence. Draft is wandering? Challenge myself to get to the next interesting beat in as few words as possible. Bored with my story? Add the most ridiculous, but vivid, side character I can and see what happens. I trust myself to clean it all up during the first few rewrites.

But self doubt? That feeling that I'm not good enough to write something beautiful and meaningful, my voice will never be heard, that I'll never be included ... that's been my only constant companion since I wrote my first story as a little girl.

What makes this so insidious is that it's not directed at the writing, it's directed at me. I love, especially during drafting, when people come in and chop my work to pieces. None of that feels personal, and my brain understands that it's useful information. It's the off-hand comment someone makes about me in a conversation or a forum post that sends my brain into a multi week downward spiral and paralyzes my writing (actually, it's not the comment itself, it's my tendency to overthink that kind of thing).

I was reminded of the story of JRR Tolkien's publications recently. It brought me to tears a couple of times because of how incredibly relatable such a titanic figure in writing is. Basically the opposite of the example set by people like Stephen King.

Anyway, he had the broad strokes of what would become Middle Earth in his head when he discharged from the army in 1920. He tells stories of coming up with some of it collaboratively in the trenches in France to keep themselves sane, even as he watched many of his friends and comrades die before him. One of them basically charged him with putting those stories on paper as a dying wish. Imagine having that on your conscience at 28.

The Hobbit was published in 1936. Up till then his fiction was basically just a hobby he never expected anybody but his kids to care about. But obviously that was a pretty huge success, and the publisher wanted a sequel, or at least something else Middle Earth-related.

LOTR wasn't published until 1954. Twenty-two years. And part of that was because what he really, really wanted published was what eventually became The Silmarillian. The publisher didn't want it because it was scattered and unfinished and arcane, so he tried to use their desire for a Hobbit follow-up as leverage, and gave them an ultimatum--publish both LOTR and commit to publishing The Silmarillian, or they don't get either. They chose the latter.

Tolkien's inarguable masterpiece that basically spawned an entire family of modern genres was just the thing he tried to use as leverage to get the thing he cared about published. And it took ~34 years from idea to publication to even get it out the door. He shares stories of having short periods of extremely productive output, and then entire years of his life where he simply could not put a word on a page that was worth a good god damn. Anyway he eventually apologized for his ultimatum, made amends with the publisher, and they published LOTR in '54.

He never even lived to see The Silmarillian published. The thing he spent his whole life fighting for, being told it wasn't worth publishing, that it was too confusing and muddled and unfinished. He wrote and re-wrote it numerous times, and died in 1971 with it still unfinished, entrusting his son to put the final work together. Christopher was finally able to get it published in 1977.

LOTR took so long to take off he barely even lived long enough to even begin to see its' cultural impact. Can you imagine the self-doubt he took even to his grave, unable to finish the one thing he'd been trying to get published for 40+ years?

Some people can pump out 4 novels a year and hundreds in their lifetime. Some people put out 2 and die before accomplishing their ultimate goal, or even seeing the true impact of their work.

Not everybody is Stephen King or Terry Pratchett. JRR Tolkien agonized in disappointment and self-doubt for nearly his entire adult life, and the most important thing he ever did was have the audacity to write down some fairy stories he'd been telling his children as they grew up.

(PS, to head any pedants off at the pass, obviously I know he published more than 2 books. I'm flattening him to an extent to tell the story of his agonized creation of Middle Earth, which is obviously the bulk of his legacy, and the thing he fought hardest and longest to get published)

 

[OddLove]

Not starting everyone sentence with Then, When, Since, While, and As.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Not starting everyone sentence with Then, When, Since, While, and As.

I'd have to add in Before and Until.

 

[iwatchus]

Not starting everyone sentence with Then, When, Since, While, and As.

"And" for me.

And James went to the store. And Sally sucked his dick. And Sue watched while she masturbated. And they all had fun.

 

[NuclearFairy]

"And" for me.

And James went to the store. And Sally sucked his dick. And Sue watched while she masturbated. And they all had fun.

Well, at least they're all having fun.

 

[iwatchus]

Well, at least they're all having fun.

All my stories have happy endings. Whether they involve massages or not.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Time. That's it. No other issues.
I want to write, I need to write. Creativity has always been as necessary as food for me, food for the soul perhaps, and I don't have half the time I want, to put into it. The 9-5, the farm, the wife, the kid and my grandaughter now living with us. I don't resent that that they occupy my time, just lament that it takes so long to finish things when I can only write a few hundred words at a time.