Young Writers Society

For me it is the beginning of the book. Developing the story, introducing the characters, and evolving the plot, while keeping the reader interested without jumping in to the climax of the book too soon! Or, when I re-read over what I have written so far, everything reads amazing to me, then when I have it reviewed, I realise all the mistakes I made! Talk about feeling like an idiot!
Also, describing things without sounding like a fool or a really annoying lecturer.

What is your most difficult challenge, and how are you changing it?

Stopping the procrastination long enough to write.

Finishing the book, i just get bored and forget about it.

Beginning and ending.

The most difficult challenge for me is working on my style of writing and developing the characters and the plot the way I want for them to appear to my audience. For example, if I have an urge to start a short story sometime around midnight (that only happens if my muse didn't call it a day), I know that the next morning I'll have trouble finishing my story with the same voice that I have used the night before. Then I have to provide the same inspiration so I can try, at least, to write more or less successfully. It's also a matter of habit for me to write something in two or three days, be proud of it, and then despise that piece of writing I have just created for all the eternity. I enjoy the writing process and the writer's blocks that I overcome, but once I'm done with the story, I just want to throw it somewhere deep and bury it so nobody would ever discover what I wrote. Does anybody else feel like that?

I like this topic.

Like LittlePetRock and Sarah Pass, I've had a lot of difficulty with openings. My instinct is to write fast-paced, in medias res opening scenes where the inciting incident happens almost immediately - which requires adding just the right amount of setup to make the plot make sense. I must have rewritten the opening to my urban fantasy fifteen or twenty times. More setup. Less setup. Slower. Faster. And on and on. But I feel like I'm finally learning to write good openings.

Revision is the bane of my life. I do very drastic revisions - I've ripped out the setting, plot and antagonist all in one go before, and had to rewrite the story basically from scratch. It's like pulling teeth.

For me it is the beginning of the book. Developing the story, introducing the characters, and evolving the plot, while keeping the reader interested without jumping in to the climax of the book too soon.

I don't find the problem with this.

Finishing the book, i just get bored and forget about it

Yes,I get bored halfway and sometimes while writing I change the climax. Bu tha's all part of the job,right? I hate describing.

It's really hard for me to write something I feel is post-worthy. So whenever I do post, it's usually because people talk me into it. And I never feel like it's ready. I seriously write, read over, edit, read over, edit...scratch the WHOLE thing, re-write...over and over. The hardest thing for me is being satisfied with my writing.

How do I change it? I just keep trying.

You said it Snoink.

I also hate starting from scratch. If I've already got an idea for a plot or a character in my head it's fine. If I have neither, I find it impossible to start. What should the plot be? Well that depends on the character. Who should the character be? Well how do I know, I need to know what plot I'm putting them through to make that decision. Grrr. Fortunately ideas for plots or characters spring up out of the blue frequently enough that I haven't had to write a novel with a blank slate, but it does keep me away from the short stories more than I'd like - but not today. *does Napoleon Dynamite style Yesss!*

I just suck all together, i never finish things, i swap tense, and yeah... xD

Two main things for me:

- Being subtle with emotions and character relationships. I'm so tempted to shove it all in the reader's face as soon as it happens. Much better to let them figure it out on their own.

- Not infodumping! Grah. It's a tie-in to the one above, but this point covers infodumps on plot, setting, situation, description as well as characters. If you've read the first posted part of Cat Steps, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Beginnings are really, really hard for me. And finding things to write about is hard too. I think my muse went on a permanent vacation

I'd have to say the middle is the hard part for me. I always know how I'm going to begin and end. It's filling in the middle that is hard for me.

PhoenixBishop wrote:I'd have to say the middle is the hard part for me. I always know how I'm going to begin and end. It's filling in the middle that is hard for me.

Have you tried planning a major dramatic event in the middle of the novel? I find it helpful to always be building up to a game-changing event. That way I stay focused on the rising tension and don't get bogged down in the middle.

Probably the climax. Ever since I was really little I've had trouble bringing the action scene to a really super high point, somehow believing that there had to be this moment, the infinesmal tip of that action graph. But I think I'm slowly figuring it out... it tends to be a scene more than a single instant.