When writing, what is your most difficult challenge?

Developing character relationships, specifically changing character relationships, without making it too heavyhanded. Having a group of characters go from being uncomfortable to really close. Yeah, it's the hardest part for me.

That and political intrigue. I can't write political intrigue to save my life. *headdesk*

Finishing, and tense. Both are the suck.

Ending without sucking.

The Plot. I'm two chapters into the story and then, "Wait a second... I have a better idea!" I can't even start Chapter 1 without another pop up.

Seconding on plot being hard. I seem incapable of writing anything longer than three thousand words without getting discouraged or losing interest mid-way through.
Endings too. Agonizing over the last sentence of a story gets tiring.
Also, my hate for dialogue is unending. I just can't make it sound natural, no matter how much I try. I've been working on it, but my abilities in that field are still dismal.

Finishing it. Ug, once I start a story, I rarley finish it. Also, trying to get myself to present it to others. Yeah, I'm shy like that.

Same as Hydey, I'm having SUCH a hard time finishing my novel which is really sad because 1) I love it and I want to see it finished, 2) I know what I have to do to complete it but for some reason I'm finding it really difficult to project what I have in my head, onto the computer screen

I've always found this difficult, but I think in the course of writing my novel I've realised how big of a problem it really is. My advice to anyone wanting some; don't start a novel if you're a new writer! Short stories are the best way to find your voice and develop your writing. Gah, if only someone would've told me that before

For me, the problem has always been having the sin of ADD. I can come up with a universe of ideas and expound on them and complete and entire novel in my head; the trouble is actually getting it down on paper and writing it.

I only write short stories, but that's because I can't write a decent plot-driven piece to save my life at the moment and I'm so guilty of purple prose sometimes. I've got better at avoiding the latter, I think, over the years, but now I just stick to short, descriptive stories. I haven't written anything over 1500 words in a few years.

Properly refining the ideas. Without ruining the poem.

Everything except those few hours every few days when I just write and write without stopping.

TIME! Being in college has done a real number on my writing. In high school I could write for hours, but now I hardly have an hour to do my homework! I have to wait for gaps between when I'm working on shows or projects to really write, and it's depressing.

1. male characters...I have a hard time on how to make them realistic. Even if i make one, i always have the sense that they act feminine or not too masculine. I can make excellent female characters but not males.

2. the first drafts are killers... especially if the context fade out as time passes.

I would have said first drafts a long time ago, but something occurred between point A and point B that has long removed the difficulty there. What happens now is that each story presents itself and has its own unique problems. Once I figured out what my "voice" was, it's conquering the theme in both plot and writing that became the challenge; now it just comes naturally. If the story is decent enough and I handle the mental half of writing first, it more or less writes itself in a skeletal version. Now the most difficult part is making sure the presented draft to whoever reads it is reflective of my abilities, quite nerve wracking as I'm sure everyone knows. An additional pair of eyes and an unbiased mind is the source of the greatest advice a writer will ever receive, IMO.