Challenges of Writing

I was wondering, for those of you who are writing or have written a book before, what is the hardest part? Starting, finishing, the middle, keeping characters/places/monsters consistent?

Being objective about editing. We all tend to become very attached to what we’ve written and it’s hard sometimes to look at something you’ve put time and love into creating and saying this page or pages have to be cut or don’t work and have to be rewritten.

My biggest problem is consistency in my character backgrounds. About 20,000 to 30,000 words into my story I go back and read everything while building a text file of names and what important information goes with the names. Without this file eye colors change, parents live and die, and number of siblings change.

Well, I have submitted to a small publishing company in an attempt to take another step up the ladder of success. I submitted my story, "Lessons Never Taught" to Swimming Kangaroo Books. They are a small publisher in Texas that had nothing bad that I could find said about them. Their list of books is rather ecletic, and I felt that my mentality could work with them.

I am thus now in pins-and-needles mode as I wait for word from the company. A student that had proofed the manuscript came up to me yesterday and saw that I was reading the manuscript, so asked me if I had gotten word. I told him that they said 6-8 weeks, and I knew better than to hope for a fast return. If it is a fast return, it is a rejection (out right, you did not make it past any quidelines). He then intelligently replied that he hopes for it to take all of 8 weeks. I admitted that for me the time would pass slowly, so I was checking and re-checking my manuscript for any goofs that might have come. He wished me well before rushing to class.

I really cannot find any goofs. That said, there are still many reasons that the manuscript may get rejected. All I can do is wait.

I believe that Trish and Hydra really put out very solid points on this.

If someone asked me what was the hardest part of writing, I would say 'Steam'.

But that is me.

I've never had trouble character building or tracking, my main problem is editing after everything is written. I despise editing because as the writer I don't want to cut out something that might be important to the story or overly edit so much so that the story seems boring and lacking.

But since your question was about the writing process in particular I would say getting started. I have so many ideas with no idea or too many ideas about how to get them started.

Kellycakes wrote:

I've never had trouble character building or tracking, my main problem is editing after everything is written. I despise editing because as the writer I don't want to cut out something that might be important to the story or overly edit so much so that the story seems boring and lacking.

But since your question was about the writing process in particular I would say getting started. I have so many ideas with no idea or too many ideas about how to get them started.

You are not editing properly if such is your fear. This is not term paper editing where you are only presenting facts in a clear outline, but playground editing where you do whatever is necessary to assure reactions from others. Once finished with a story I know what happens, how it happens, and what the characters actually experience. I thus go into editing assuring that certain events are forecast properly, that certain emotional experiences pack their punch, and that general information is consistent.

You do not cut things whether important to the story or not. I generally add things that SHOULD HAVE BEEN put into the tale because they are important. The very thing that I gripe to others about, DESCRIPTION, generally gets added in the editing process. I tend to be more interested in characters and events when writing, so I come back to include those things that help make the scenes visually appealing. If a scene is considered not necessary, it might be moved to a better location, altered to make it have some character significance if not actual story significance, but never cut - of course, such is one benefit of writing novels, as short stories might need to be trimmed down to assure a sale.

As for making a story boring and lacking, I don't know why that would happen. You should edit to prevent it from becoming boring and lacking. Spice up that fight with a special move, probably a foretaste of what the character will need to do in the final battle. Break that conversation up with visual details and add some character phrases. Add little details that you know will become big details - oh, and add tantalizing little extras that will go nowhere but could interest readers to question the plot and read with wonder.

You should end an editing session with the phrase, "Next time that I write, I am going to do these things in the first draft, because my story lacked without them." I find that image of a writer typing in the last lines of a manuscript and sending it off to be foolish. Not only do I know well the GREAT amount of errors in that manuscript, but I cannot believe anyone that writes something will not want to to read it. When I finish a story, I want to read it (and if it is bad, I gripe to the author to fix it).

Oh, as for starting a story, yes, it can be tough. It can also be very easy. If your muse has burnt a scene into your brain that you have to get out of your head, writing can be a wonderful release that occurs rather quickly. If the story is something you have worked out, getting the setting and characters to fall into place can however become a trying effort. Both however can produce very satisfactory results.

Yes writing is a wonderful release, thanks Terish. I have many scenes in my head but when I start writing I want them to be perfect. I guess I'm just impatient in a way. Instead of the letting the plot move I want to move it. As far as editing, you're absolutely right but somehow these fears still creep into my mind. Oh and I would never send anything without editing. I've seen too many mistakes that I've made to be that presumptuous.

Snacker wrote:

I was wondering, for those of you who are writing or have written a book before, what is the hardest part? Starting, finishing, the middle, keeping characters/places/monsters consistent?

and then the goblin turned up from the afternoon bistro, empty handed, save for a little roll of transparent scotch type, saying "...honestly I hate these things, one can never quite find the start point on these rolls can one, not that my nails are what they were either...", the goblin now held the roll in one hand, and with the other gently touched over its surface, "...oh, and how many times is it..., ..." the frustration began to swell up in him as he kept turning it over, feeling over and over again, that smooth surface for that tell tale bump, continuing "...that I have had to slowly turn this silly thing over feeling for that little bump again, you know, the one that tells you where to scratch its surface enough to let your fingers somehow pull the tape away from the roll, not that that always works either, only that one has to keep up this "feel, scratch and pull" method here...", after which, the goblin would just cut and stick it somewhere, admittedly though that never seemed nearly as difficult as this first bit then, since the tape was in full view now, "...that's odd, you know I could have sworn that I had pulled this tape out this for a reason then, can't remember what that was now though..." mentioned the goblin in need of his coffee as placed the tape back in the drawer with the others