My struggle is making a story work throughout the novel. I feel I can begin the story very well, and I can write individual scenes with character and tension. But I find in aggregate my stories are all over the place, and don’t seem to have focus or just peter out at the end.
ADHD, and I'm feeling like the whole 'write what you want to read and you will find an audience' is a lie, considering how my last several works have gone over.
If you could put it into words, what would you say the issue was between what you were writing and the lack of connection it was making to your readers? I’ve always really connected to that statement, I think because my interests are so niche and I’m desperate to read the kinds of stories few seem to be telling, so I’m curious about what your experiences have been.
Burnouts and finding a proper pattern for breaks away from the keyboard. Sometimes I can spend hours behind the computer desk without achieving much really. I think my productivity deteriorates when I write for long hours without breaks.
It can take years of experimenting to figure out what works for you. Try a fifteen minute break every hour to take a walk or do dishes or prep a big salad for lunch. Try two hours in the morning and two in the evening (or one and one, whatever you have time for.) Good luck!
If you only have one book, it's probably not going to sell. You need three in a series or three in a pen name in the same genre/niche. Great covers, a great blurb. If after a year and three books, you still can't see sales moving, I'd switch genres, pen names, and try again. I started a new pen name this year that is doing well without ads, so I know it can still happen.
Marketing. Unless you’re at the top, it’s extremely difficult to get a decent number of people to read your work. You can be doing everything “right” and still not succeed due to a stroke of bad luck.
My greatest struggles with writing, and really anything, have always been with perfectionism and fear of criticism (assume a background of psychological abuse).
Writing an entire plot driven narrative that lasts more than 2700 words maximum. I have yet to crack it, but short stories are acceptable enough I suppose. Oh and detail, I am AWFUL at detail, never have been good at it and never will be.
I struggle with this too. I feel I’m decent at adding detail and I think my prose is okay too. My brain just only comes up with stories that can be wrapped up in 4K words or less. At the moment I am content with that though because I have no desire to write an entire novel any time soon.
There's a good amount of authors who excel at short stories and their collected works are fantastic. But it is always good to have many tricks up your sleeves.
My greatest challenge at the moment is in overcoming technical issues in trying to format an epub so it will display my work as expected on any standard epub reader. I have a lot of web experience and can do that with creating websites that will display properly in all browsers and devices, but trying to achieve the same with an epub file has proven more difficult than it should be. Every time I dive into that mess it makes me want to stop writing and take a vacation from it for a few months.
My greatest challenge is time. Unfortunately I have many responsibilities so I'm often in a bad mood in order to write. On the other hand I don't expect from me to write constantly. I'm not a robot. Some say that you must write constantly nonstop but, it different when you have the spark. You put more passion. Your writing becomes easier and meaningful~
Production was once an issue. Then I started setting daily quotas, and then I discovered writing in sprints, the final key for that lock, and I wrote faster and surprisingly better. Writing quickly and getting through a novel draft quickly means, for me at least, that the whole thing hangs together in tone and structure. It's more like I'm immersed and living the story when I write fast.
My biggest problem is writing third person. I am very good at first person. I can put people inside the character’s head and make them feel like they’re there. (I know I know a tragedy but hear me out) I also write multiple POV stories. Running from only one perspective for an entire novel length thing doesn’t work for me. I want to give the reader more information than the (in the current project two) main characters have so that tension can build and things can be foreshadowed. Writing in third person for secondary characters is the norm for this (at least as far as ive seen and been advised) but I am horrible with third person. It feels wrong. Impersonal and dry. Idk if it’s just me unable to wrap my head around not being completely inside the character’s head or what but that’s my biggest struggle
I have specifics scenes mapped out but it’s hard to plan something that leads up to that moment, and finishes off the story. Filler chapters bore me but sometimes their necessary to include, but they’re hard for me to come up with
I start writing and I hate what I write so I redo redo redo and don’t even get a first chapter I’m happy with so I try writing something else and repeat said process 😅
Have time to write. I get up at 6am, and back from work at 5-6pm, then a bit of time with my two small kids and everything else, and then back in bed at 9pm.
small kids make it hard, and that's a brutal schedule. Hang in, and one day your kids won't need as much attention and you can carve out 90 minutes every evening to write, I hope!
Knowing if my prose is any good. I’m currently trying to get short/flash fiction published as that’s a good way to rep out a lot of work pretty fast and hopefully get better quicker.
This is something I'm pretty good at if you wanted to shoot me a sample. I have an English degree and I help people in my writing group with this all the time.
Something that worked for me was watching writing podcast/lectures/videos to really get in the mood, and it also satiated my procrastination and desire for watching something.
Making characters that aren't "flat". Also, plot development. Sometimes I have scenes I get really excited about writing, but if the build up isn't strong or interesting, then the big scene will just be a disappointment.
One is definitely regarding the time management, but mood is usually a mess, and you don't get the best piece when you are not in the necessary mood. It swings into a different direction in a milisecond, whatsoever. As for the second... maybe trying out new horizons? That can definitely be challenging.
I have a terrible time keeping motivated for long projects. I absolutely love the process of planning a story, but once I start writing it (if it's serialized) if I don't get feedback I lose steam so fast. This happens a lot with my OC writings that aren't smut, people will leave kudos and such but never really give actual feedback orz
Trying to write simple and concise prose - I’ve only ever been able to achieve it sparingly. I’ve been reading more often with the intent to study sentence structure which has been helping.
It's a PP tandem, perfectionism and procrastination. I hate the words themselves because that's been my attitude in writing something. If something goes wrong, I overthink it until it becomes cringe and I barely touch the work until I remember it. I have a habit of making first drafts at least decent because I dislike editing, plus a pantser here
Transitioning from outlining to actually writing. I'll gladly write a scene as bullet points, but draw months-long blanks and writer's block when it comes to actually writing a single sentence of prose.
Have you tried writing without planning? I struggled with this too for awhile. I would meticulously plan an entire story and then completely lose motivation to actually write it. I finally decided to just write without truly planning anything other than a general plot line or maybe a specific ending point. This only really works for short stories but it might help you get going at least.
My struggle was always leaving the work alone. As I'm sure everyone does, you could edit your writing into oblivion. It'll never be "perfect". That is completely fine and your work can still be great despite this.
Trying to find beta readers and someone I can have edit my stories. Also not knowing what to do with these stories when they are complete. Would anyone be interested in reading short scifi stories???
Starting to write the first sentence or two. I usually don't know how to start a new chapter or story. I found out that it's probably best to just start then edit your first few sentences
Every now and then I find myself stumped about how to write characters talking without them turning into talking, floating heads. In the past I've had characters standing beside each other, sitting at a table, discussing things without much action or motion. I've come to realize that what characters are doing as they're talking is just as important as what they are talking about.
Editing. God it's hard. Like I want to move on and write other stuff, but I know it isn't close to perfect so I must edit. Then again cut stuff, add stuff, edit characters and make their stuff more obvious or less obvious. So much stuff and it's just hard to get motivated when editing.
When I start writing, I always want to have this..hm, 'focused' feeling for a lack of a better word. If I don't have it, I feel dissatisfied with my writing, feeling like I didn't give it my all and now it's worse than it should be. I'm getting over it by forcing myself to ignore these urges to drop it, continue until I reach my word goal, and then check it tomorrow to show myself that what I wrote wasn't bad as I thought it is, and it's usually pretty satisfactory to me.
Just finding the motivation to write everyday. I'm an occasional writer, not an all time writer.
What has allowed you to keep writing?
My struggle is making a story work throughout the novel. I feel I can begin the story very well, and I can write individual scenes with character and tension. But I find in aggregate my stories are all over the place, and don’t seem to have focus or just peter out at the end.
Edited
Are you considering the theme of your novel?
I struggled with three act structure for a long time which is why it took me years to attempt my first novel.
I believe what you need is the ability to surprise yourself and temporarily throw away the plan.
Never having enough time for everything. If anyone has any tips on freezing it for temporary periods or turning it back I'd be very interested.
Let me know if anyone gets back to you on that!
Neil Gaiman said he used to write 50 words a day for Coraline, if I remember correctly.
ADHD, and I'm feeling like the whole 'write what you want to read and you will find an audience' is a lie, considering how my last several works have gone over.
If you could put it into words, what would you say the issue was between what you were writing and the lack of connection it was making to your readers? I’ve always really connected to that statement, I think because my interests are so niche and I’m desperate to read the kinds of stories few seem to be telling, so I’m curious about what your experiences have been.
For ADHD, find your rhythm.
Burnouts and finding a proper pattern for breaks away from the keyboard. Sometimes I can spend hours behind the computer desk without achieving much really. I think my productivity deteriorates when I write for long hours without breaks.
It can take years of experimenting to figure out what works for you. Try a fifteen minute break every hour to take a walk or do dishes or prep a big salad for lunch. Try two hours in the morning and two in the evening (or one and one, whatever you have time for.) Good luck!
Try the 90/20 rule.
Writing everyday is no easy feat.
Marketing. I just don't get it.
If you only have one book, it's probably not going to sell. You need three in a series or three in a pen name in the same genre/niche. Great covers, a great blurb. If after a year and three books, you still can't see sales moving, I'd switch genres, pen names, and try again. I started a new pen name this year that is doing well without ads, so I know it can still happen.
It's a marathon more than it's a sprint.
Starting. Then finishing.
Marketing. Unless you’re at the top, it’s extremely difficult to get a decent number of people to read your work. You can be doing everything “right” and still not succeed due to a stroke of bad luck.
Write in more places, and create content as a whole.
the moment#1 you're in chapter 13 and realize you need a Chekhov gun in chapter 1.
Write the story, you can always come back and flesh things out.
My greatest struggles with writing, and really anything, have always been with perfectionism and fear of criticism (assume a background of psychological abuse).
You will always be your greatest critic.
Writing an entire plot driven narrative that lasts more than 2700 words maximum. I have yet to crack it, but short stories are acceptable enough I suppose. Oh and detail, I am AWFUL at detail, never have been good at it and never will be.
For both detail and narrative, I like leaving things open ended.
I struggle with this too. I feel I’m decent at adding detail and I think my prose is okay too. My brain just only comes up with stories that can be wrapped up in 4K words or less. At the moment I am content with that though because I have no desire to write an entire novel any time soon.
There's a good amount of authors who excel at short stories and their collected works are fantastic. But it is always good to have many tricks up your sleeves.
Then write the whole novel as a set of short stories. Make use of new characters, later return to older characters.
My greatest challenge at the moment is in overcoming technical issues in trying to format an epub so it will display my work as expected on any standard epub reader. I have a lot of web experience and can do that with creating websites that will display properly in all browsers and devices, but trying to achieve the same with an epub file has proven more difficult than it should be. Every time I dive into that mess it makes me want to stop writing and take a vacation from it for a few months.
Just pay someone else to do that for you. It doesn't cost too much, and will save you a lot of time and mental anguish.
Focus on your strengths, outsource the rest so you can keep focusing well.
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Talk to someone about your idea, if it excites them write it down.
My greatest challenge is time. Unfortunately I have many responsibilities so I'm often in a bad mood in order to write. On the other hand I don't expect from me to write constantly. I'm not a robot. Some say that you must write constantly nonstop but, it different when you have the spark. You put more passion. Your writing becomes easier and meaningful~
Write a word, turn it into a sentence.
Production was once an issue. Then I started setting daily quotas, and then I discovered writing in sprints, the final key for that lock, and I wrote faster and surprisingly better. Writing quickly and getting through a novel draft quickly means, for me at least, that the whole thing hangs together in tone and structure. It's more like I'm immersed and living the story when I write fast.
My biggest problem is writing third person. I am very good at first person. I can put people inside the character’s head and make them feel like they’re there. (I know I know a tragedy but hear me out) I also write multiple POV stories. Running from only one perspective for an entire novel length thing doesn’t work for me. I want to give the reader more information than the (in the current project two) main characters have so that tension can build and things can be foreshadowed. Writing in third person for secondary characters is the norm for this (at least as far as ive seen and been advised) but I am horrible with third person. It feels wrong. Impersonal and dry. Idk if it’s just me unable to wrap my head around not being completely inside the character’s head or what but that’s my biggest struggle
You might need to play around with Psychic Distance, it might make you feel better about your narrative voice in third person:
Transforming First into Third can make the story quite immersive if done well.
number 4. - how much description do you miss? does it just look like a clean light novel and how much description does someone really need?
I think you're being too critical. Just take it one at a time, and you'll get better every new project.
I have specifics scenes mapped out but it’s hard to plan something that leads up to that moment, and finishes off the story. Filler chapters bore me but sometimes their necessary to include, but they’re hard for me to come up with
Keep those in mind, and write out random scenes which somehow lead up to what you already have.
My English and grammar is suck
Write, then get an editor.
John Gardner talks about this in his book The Art of Fiction. I went through and summarized
Thank you.
I start writing and I hate what I write so I redo redo redo and don’t even get a first chapter I’m happy with so I try writing something else and repeat said process 😅
Write it all once, then redo it. That's how it goes.
Have time to write. I get up at 6am, and back from work at 5-6pm, then a bit of time with my two small kids and everything else, and then back in bed at 9pm.
small kids make it hard, and that's a brutal schedule. Hang in, and one day your kids won't need as much attention and you can carve out 90 minutes every evening to write, I hope!
Yea, that's a tough one.
Knowing if my prose is any good. I’m currently trying to get short/flash fiction published as that’s a good way to rep out a lot of work pretty fast and hopefully get better quicker.
This is something I'm pretty good at if you wanted to shoot me a sample. I have an English degree and I help people in my writing group with this all the time.
Just get it looked at by others. You can't stay trapped in your head.
Writing.
Something that worked for me was watching writing podcast/lectures/videos to really get in the mood, and it also satiated my procrastination and desire for watching something.
Making characters that aren't "flat". Also, plot development. Sometimes I have scenes I get really excited about writing, but if the build up isn't strong or interesting, then the big scene will just be a disappointment.
Focus on your strengths, if you know they aren't flat you can add to it in the moment, or in an edit.
My largest challenge is editing/revising. It's not a skill I've practiced as much, so I'm building it now.
It's something we must all do, just don't lose yourself along the way. You can ask for help.
One is definitely regarding the time management, but mood is usually a mess, and you don't get the best piece when you are not in the necessary mood. It swings into a different direction in a milisecond, whatsoever. As for the second... maybe trying out new horizons? That can definitely be challenging.
This will always be an issue, so find patterns in your day/week and find out when you're at your best.
I have a terrible time keeping motivated for long projects. I absolutely love the process of planning a story, but once I start writing it (if it's serialized) if I don't get feedback I lose steam so fast. This happens a lot with my OC writings that aren't smut, people will leave kudos and such but never really give actual feedback orz
Trying to write simple and concise prose - I’ve only ever been able to achieve it sparingly. I’ve been reading more often with the intent to study sentence structure which has been helping.
Organizing my ideas in a way that is both cool and reasonable. I am still struggling with that. I have 99 pages of ideas and only 28 of the story.
It's a PP tandem, perfectionism and procrastination. I hate the words themselves because that's been my attitude in writing something. If something goes wrong, I overthink it until it becomes cringe and I barely touch the work until I remember it. I have a habit of making first drafts at least decent because I dislike editing, plus a pantser here
Transitioning from outlining to actually writing. I'll gladly write a scene as bullet points, but draw months-long blanks and writer's block when it comes to actually writing a single sentence of prose.
Have you tried writing without planning? I struggled with this too for awhile. I would meticulously plan an entire story and then completely lose motivation to actually write it. I finally decided to just write without truly planning anything other than a general plot line or maybe a specific ending point. This only really works for short stories but it might help you get going at least.
Many of us find ourselves having a hectic schedule. If you happen to freeze time for a bit, or turn it back it might help make life run more smoothly.
Money. No.
My struggle was always leaving the work alone. As I'm sure everyone does, you could edit your writing into oblivion. It'll never be "perfect". That is completely fine and your work can still be great despite this.
Finding conditions to write around other obligations. My solution was to take a 25 year hiatus.
Trying to find beta readers and someone I can have edit my stories. Also not knowing what to do with these stories when they are complete. Would anyone be interested in reading short scifi stories???
Starting to write the first sentence or two. I usually don't know how to start a new chapter or story. I found out that it's probably best to just start then edit your first few sentences
Every now and then I find myself stumped about how to write characters talking without them turning into talking, floating heads. In the past I've had characters standing beside each other, sitting at a table, discussing things without much action or motion. I've come to realize that what characters are doing as they're talking is just as important as what they are talking about.
Writing descriptions. Lately I began improving, but I still falter.
Editing. God it's hard. Like I want to move on and write other stuff, but I know it isn't close to perfect so I must edit. Then again cut stuff, add stuff, edit characters and make their stuff more obvious or less obvious. So much stuff and it's just hard to get motivated when editing.
Try to focus on writing and editing at the same time, so you don't burn yourself out.
Putting my thoughts in a lengthy novel format. And just plain motivation, but the readers' comments always make me push through it, somehow.
Maintaining discipline and working when I'm not in the mood. Sadly unable to provide an easy solution. You just gotta force yourself to write.
One of my biggest challenges is when my fountain pen runs out of ink mid sentence.
When I start writing, I always want to have this..hm, 'focused' feeling for a lack of a better word. If I don't have it, I feel dissatisfied with my writing, feeling like I didn't give it my all and now it's worse than it should be. I'm getting over it by forcing myself to ignore these urges to drop it, continue until I reach my word goal, and then check it tomorrow to show myself that what I wrote wasn't bad as I thought it is, and it's usually pretty satisfactory to me.
Writing should be therapeutic, do a degree, so you seem to be on the right page.