Hardest thing about writing a story?

[LostBabygirl3489]

So I've been writing for ten years and for me, the hardest things about writing are finding a good title and naming my characters. I'm not sure why, but these two things often get me. What about you guys? I know for other people it's starting the story off, keeping the story going, etc. I'd love to chat with other writers.

Also I apologize if this has been brought up before.

 

[Nathan_Brazil]

Avoing tropes.

I'm trying to produce new 'takes' on old ideas.

The last thing I want to publish is a story that produces a comment like, "hey... I loved it, it was just like...twilight...or 50 shades...or..."

 

[Handley_Page]

Hardest ?
Plotting a satisfactory end

 

[NotWise]

I also have trouble with the title. It is sometimes the last thing that comes to me.

In the past I've also had trouble with ending things. Now I make sure that I have an ending before I start.

I'm struggling with my current story. I'm pretty sure the story is okay, but it has been very hard to write and I don't really understand why.

 

[sr71plt]

For many, it's stop avoiding sitting down at the computer and applying fingers to keyboard.

 

[jehoram]

What's hard for me is trying to figure out if what's hot for me is also hot for the reader.

Next up is stories that seem to have all the elements, but just don't work somehow. These I usually set aside for a few months, and revisit. I can often spot the problem then.

 

[Gorza]

I've found character names and titles quite easy. I have a gut feeling that a certain name or title is right. The short description is harder to write. It's too short to write anything substantial.

I have a habit of giving all my stories a one-word working title (Bus, Mouse, Château, Slick), and then, once the story's written, I give it the final title. You only know how a story's going to turn out once it's written, and so it makes sense to wait until then to name it. While being written they just have this temporary title.

For character names, I work on building up a character profile, and a name just happens to fit. My main female characters (Aoife, Mouse and Gabrielle) all have their names for good reasons. I think we can go for more unusual names in fiction, and play around with phonemes, meanings and connotations until we find something that fits. Too many fictional characters seem to have names for which the writer has settled: 2D characters with common suburban names, instantly forgettable.

 

[Boxerwing]

For me, working titles are often the characters' names: Wiley and Rendry, Mike and Casey, Morgan and Langston, and so on. The title usually comes at the end of writing or editing, and it has reference to one of the underlying themes.

As for character names, they usually tell me. I may do a bit of name research online, and that usually twigs something.

The thing that ends up halting my progress is that I pysch myself out. I get so invested in the story that I don't want to "screw it up" by forcing it in the wrong direction. I get more and more hesitant, and end up leaving the story for a long time. Yeah, I know this makes no sense: you can't edit what you don't write, the story is only pixels on a screen and have no inherent value, etc. This is also something I know I need to work on and just force through the hesitation. I have too many unfinished stories that need to get out in the world already, dammit.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

Hardest for me is getting the muse's (voice in my head) words onto the screen. My attention span sucks anymore. Naming characters is easy enough, just make one up and remember it. Title...I usually start with one, but by time I submit it, the title's changed several times. I think I have only had one story start and end with the same working title.

 

[Carnal_Flower]

The only time it gets hard are when character motivation--or plot--is murky and not clearly understood. Then I have immense trouble. I need to know exactly what is going on. If the writing gets stuck, its because the ideas are not clear.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

try picking a film and using the crew and [obscure] actors' names for characters.

 

[TxRad]

Getting all those words to line up right.

Not as silly as it sounds.

Being a three finger typist helps a lot. The brain has to slow down so the fingers can keep up. Makes things a lot more coherent.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Getting all those words to line up right.

Not as silly as it sounds.

Being a three finger typist helps a lot. The brain has to slow down so the fingers can keep up. Makes things a lot more coherent.

three fingers? you show-off!

i'm a seek-and-destroy typist.

 

[removed9556]

 

[stickygirl]

Masturbation

 

[asianToy]

Hardest ?
Plotting a satisfactory end

Yep, endings that satisfy.

 

[TxRad]

Getting the collective voice of the GB to agree on what I am going to write. Jeez. It's like herding quarks.

There are only five real people in the GB with about twenty alts each. You do the math. The trick is to find the real and discount the alts.

Rots of Ruck.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Getting the collective voice of the GB to agree on what I am going to write. Jeez. It's like herding quarks.

all those alts!

 

[Gorza]

I can't believe that the men writers have yet to make a cock joke!

When I'm writing erotic fiction, the hardest thing is my...

Excuse me. Normal service will resume shortly.

 

[TxRad]

I can't believe that the men writers have yet to make a cock joke!

When I'm writing erotic fiction, the hardest thing is my...

Excuse me. Normal service will resume shortly.

Cock in one hand and coffee in the other. Well shit.... Now how do I type?

Will that do?

 

[Hypoxia]

Devising a good subtitle.
Letting the story tell itself.
Figuring out what happens next.

Sometimes I know the ending; the hard part is getting there.
Sometimes I start with a bunny; I just let it play itself out.
Sometimes the bunny just lies there, not hopping anywhere.

Knowing when to stop.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Finding the perfect or best word is my struggle.

Almost all of us are good to go with a 100 word vocabulary (its true), what matters is knowing enough of the perfect words that do the job yet don't make readers think WTF! The perfect word oughta be like a girl sitting with her knees apart just enough to make who's looking interested.

The very best writers have the words they need, nothing more. Three syllable words are like the guys you see in bars wearing hard hats; no real construction worker wears a hard hat anywhere off the job site. Three syllable words are like guys covered in leather walking along the street (sidewalk commandos).

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Finding the perfect or best word is my struggle.

Almost all of us are good to go with a 100 word vocabulary (its true), what matters is knowing enough of the perfect words that do the job yet don't make readers think WTF! The perfect word oughta be like a girl sitting with her knees apart just enough to make who's looking interested.

The very best writers have the words they need, nothing more. Three syllable words are like the guys you see in bars wearing hard hats; no real construction worker wears a hard hat anywhere off the job site. Three syllable words are like guys covered in leather walking along the street (sidewalk commandos).

i dunno, dishabille cuts right to it regardless of syllables.

 

[SusanJillParker]

So I've been writing for ten years and for me, the hardest things about writing are finding a good title and naming my characters. I'm not sure why, but these two things often get me. What about you guys? I know for other people it's starting the story off, keeping the story going, etc. I'd love to chat with other writers.

Also I apologize if this has been brought up before.

As the most prolific and modest author on the site, allow me to answer your question.

The most difficult thing about writing a story is writing it. Just do it.

Yet, with writing a lifelong apprenticeship, writing a story takes discipline.

The hardest part of writing a story is writing it while in the eye of a hurricane. With life whizzing all around you, somehow you not only have to find your inspiration, your must, but also to maintain it. That's not an easy thing to do.

It took me years before I stopped staring at a blank page. Now, I can open my window of inspiration at will and leave it open for hours.

The way to do that is discipline and to write at the same time every time. Make time to write and stick to it. Whether it's an hour or several hours, that's your writing time.

Good luck.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

Getting all those words to line up right.

Not as silly as it sounds.

Being a three finger typist helps a lot. The brain has to slow down so the fingers can keep up. Makes things a lot more coherent.

three fingers? you show-off!

i'm a seek-and-destroy typist.

Sometimes I look like Schroeder one fingering my keyboard.