What's the Most Difficult Part of Writing?

[EmilyMiller]

I can get stuck on the dumbest details.

I’ve got a fantasy story in the works that’s fairly well plotted out: major beats, smaller beats, key dialogue, all of it.

Then I hit this: a character arrives in town, walks around, finds a shop, and goes inside. Is it sunny or rainy?

Because that single choice affects what they’re wearing, the mood, the dialogue and a dozen tiny beats downstream.

A normal person would park that question and keep writing.

I am not that person. I need an answer before I can move on. Until then, the entire story is on hold.

OMG - sisters! I spend ages on such choices and then trying to make sure it’s all consistent.

 

[BeechLeaf]

Then I hit this: a character arrives in town, walks around, finds a shop, and goes inside. Is it sunny or rainy?

Because that single choice affects what they’re wearing, the mood, the dialogue and a dozen tiny beats downstream.

A normal person would park that question and keep writing.

I am not that person. I need an answer before I can move on. Until then, the entire story is on hold.

Rain is not under people's control. Get a coin: heads it's raining. (I use the Python 'choice' command, so I don't even have to move from the computer, and often it's for the sex of a minor character.) If you didn't previously feel a strong enough reason that it was one or the other, just pick one without having to 'decide'. I know what you mean: you can't just carry on with it unanswered. So let someone/something else decide. It falls into your lap, then you can carry on with new knowledge.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Rain is not under people's control.

It’s totally under the author’s control and weather can be a great adjunct to the plot and characterization. It can mirror a protagonist’s mood, or stand as a critique of it. It can reflect or presage events. It can provide a reason for characters to act a different way to normal.

 

[Statius]

Mood, tone, interpretation by the reader as well

 

[BlueZen]

So, what's your biggest writing hurdle or hurdles?

What *part* gives me trouble?

The all-of-it part. I started writing stories during lulls in work about 2 years ago. I have no writing background before this. I’m feeling around in the dark, trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. And I don’t know what I don’t know. I learned just last week that you’re not supposed to use multiple voices in a single scene. -And I posted several stories before I even learned what a voice was. So yeah, a lot of it gives me trouble. But I like difficult things, so I’m going to keep on amusing myself.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

It just came to me, capital letters in cursive.

[rim shot]

 

[anthrodisiac]

What *part* gives me trouble?

The all-of-it part. I started writing stories during lulls in work about 2 years ago. I have no writing background before this. I’m feeling around in the dark, trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. And I don’t know what I don’t know. I learned just last week that you’re not supposed to use multiple voices in a single scene. -And I posted several stories before I even learned what a voice was. So yeah, a lot of it gives me trouble. But I like difficult things, so I’m going to keep on amusing myself.

I started in playwriting and screenwriting before I realized I hated the format of both after about a year, and would write short stories while I stared at all the unholy formatting nonsense I was expected to do for my screenplay. I never took any classes around writing prose, I went into science.

I've learned from a lot of really smart writers (and readers) and acquired skills via osmosis and experience. It was about ten years before I was any good. Keep experimenting, see what works for you, what you're more naturally inclined toward, and, most importantly, what you enjoy writing. That's really the most important thing unless you're a pretentious snob who thinks they'll write the next great American novel and will mentally flog themselves because art is torture or some bullshit like that in order to achieve their martyrdom.