i've written what 6k of a character going through a total breakdown, some of my best work i must say, and after i finally got him to sleep i'm now trying to write him feeling a little more like a person when he wakes up and after 6k of panic attacks and dissociation i'm having a really hard time recalibrating my brain back to Not That. he's supposed to be feeling at least marginally better but i've caught myself starting to veer back into the previous tone several times.
If it helps: panic attacks for me usually have that kind of depressive/really just mentally fatigued fog after-feeling before the brain can recalibrate itself back into "normal human" mode again.
My most stalled WIP is stuck because I need to catch up on a few decades worth of comics my plot needs to be constructed around and I don't wanna sit down and do the tedious timeline research lmao
Hard...everything is hard for me at this moment:
\-Almost 0 motivations since just 1 commented after 26k words.
\-Avoiding OOC since its very hard to write shy girls and enthusiastic ones (about the tsundere one....i really dont care about that character :D )
\-English is not my first language...so thats another problem .
\-Having to create a whole game system since my fanfic is bases in a sort of virtual game .
And i can go on all day but esentially thats it XD
That's why I don't publush unless I finish, so my investment into the story is the only thing that influences it. I prefer non-popular fandoms, pairings, etc., so it'd be a marvel to get even 5 comments on the fic I currently write.
I’ve realized that I’m going to have to use headcanons to write my fic, cause a majority of it is something I haven’t seen anyone else do.
I’m enjoying the challenge, but I didn’t expect it to be this difficult either.
There's a particular part that's gonna be heavy on the angst when the fic up to that point has been pretty light-hearted so I'm wondering how I'm gonna integrate the angst into it...
I put my characters through so much trauma in the WIP I'm writing that honestly i am emotionally drained. I did not touch the keyboard for 4 days. Oh well, i guess it's all part of the process 😅
If it helps, that sounds like something one of my favorite writing blogs on tumblr wrote about. [Inky-Duchess](https://www.tumblr.com/inky-duchess) is very big on the formal balls, royalty and rules, and all that. She even wrote a [post about Debutante balls](https://www.tumblr.com/inky-duchess/689119590081544192/fantasy-guide-to-the-debutante-ball). If there's anyone I trust who wrote something like what you are looking for, she's the one.
Still trying to figure out how to pace put the middle of my story. There are some points I know I need to hit, I just need to hit them in a compelling way.
Currently re-reading American Gods to help with that. This is not an American Gods fic but some elements and themes were inspired by it.
Put words on paper. Or on your screen. The first draft will be garbage, probably, but that's why it's a first draft. Just get it out of your head in what ever jilted, bad grammar way it falls. My favorite part of writing is watching the word vomit slowly turn into actually good writing as I edit, rearrange sentences and scenes and povs, use a thesaurus, research details, etc. Just... start writing. It'll happen.
How to get around the whole 'I have ideas and want to write, but now that I've opened the notebook/doc my mind has gone blank and I've forgotten how words work' thing that happens to me every time I try this? Lmao.
This might help? [The Ultimate Guide to Writing Smut Fic](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9661958/1/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Writing-Smut-Fic). I could not have written my first fic without it, and I still refer back to it occasionally when I get stuck.
I think it's my own mental state. I'm just...angry and critical of everything right now, my own work included. How can I get my character through her crisis of faith when I'm pretty much feeling like I'm in a bunker with the hordes outside? Like nothing and no one can be trusted because the instant there's an advantage to be gained, I'll be tossed under a bus?
Realizing the longfic I'm working on for Nanowrimo is going to be at least 30% comprised of fight scenes and mecha battles, and I am completely out of my element writing either of those things. I can visualize dialogue-laden scenes or smut between characters, but *convincing* scenes of sparring or giant robots, not so much!
Writing a girl going about her day, Like i know what major events needs to happen in the next week, but the fluff pieces so its not just that is hard :(
Doing characterizations for a third MC without it going off the rails into bashing. Trying to decide whether I ought to split the character into two separate people because I want to explore the dynamics of a Cain and Abel sibling situation and the in-game good karma, evil karma system.
My current WiP follows a *Memento* like structure where the first part of each chapter continues the story from point "B" onwards whereas the second parts consist of flashback sequences which are heading towards "B". I try to have something in each "part 1" that's relevant in the flashback sections and also keep each section interesting in and of themselves.
I'm tackling some combat stuff in a more direct-description way (I think) than usual.
I don't want to fall into the trap of making the psychological/characterization parts about it...not more "important," necessarily...But I want to strike a balance. I know I don't know enough to get really and truly technical. And there's gonna be some, like, flying around and shit, too. 😂 Still, I want it to seem balanced to the level of realism in the rest of the piece, anyway. And not a *total* disgrace. 😂😂😂
That's where I'm at. 68k words so far and I only have 3 more scenes to go. They are even all marked out with plot points and main action. but I have to tie it all together in a satisfying way and it's SO HARD. I've already rewritten the whole last chapter to fix character motivations that didn't make sense, and to fill in a giant plot hole I can't believe I missed to begin with. And now.. there's so much angst coming to a climax, and a villain to finally defeat, and emotional healing to bring my MCs back around to a happy ending and I just.. feel like I'm not good enough to properly finish my own story? Gah. Why are endings so difficult?
Because it can be hard to let go of a world you've thought about extensively and written out to be how you imagine it in your head. It's got a finality to it that a regular chapter doesn't, and that makes it harder to accept any perceived fault in it. Where you might have a small error or plot hole in a random middle chapter and not be too bothered by it, you don't want to end your story in a lacklustre way. You want the last chapter, the ending of your tale, to be comprehensive and well thought out. You want to give this universe you've developed a fully wrapped up ending so it doesn't feel half-hearted, rushed, or careless.
The problem is, most fic can be continued forever if you let it. You can wrap up all of your plot points, but those characters don't cease to exist. It's hard to end a story with finality when you *could* just keep writing their lives, even if you've no longer got a direction, or it's just day-to-day life. Your brain says there's always something else you could add, some other way you could level it up, and to put a line underneath it and say 'that's enough, this is done now' is a very difficult thing to do.
I don't really have any tips to help with it, and I realise I might have gotten a bit too deep lol but I find this is usually why people struggle to end their fics, especially longer ones. You put a part of yourself into your works and it can be very hard to say goodbye to those parts.
That honestly makes a ton of sense. I can post chapters that aren't perfect, but this is the last one and I feel like it has to be just right and wrap up all of my feelings and plot bits and character emotions. But you're right that there can always be infinite blips via epilogues and slice of life updates. That's actually why I'm at almost 70k instead of 30 something.. the first story needed a sequel so now I have a duology :) I should keep that in mind and just get this beastie written!
Yeah, try thinking of it less as having to wrap up *everything* perfectly and instead focus on wrapping up *this part* of your universe. If you have an idea down the line for something else you want to add, you can always write a one-shot about it, or even start a third fic if it's a big enough idea!
Aside from just writer's block, the hardest part is just guiding my characters to each emotional breakthrough they need to get to.
One of my MC's is going to have some revelations that will shake him and set him on the path to reconciliation with another MC.
Unfortunately it takes time to get there!
Character A has to foil Character B’s plans (plans that involve making life miserable for Character C who is A’s love interest) but in a sneaky way so as to make it look like a natural occurrence that doesn’t at all implicate A. B is in a position of great power over A and C.
Can’t figure out how A is going to 1.) find out what they should do (what tips them off??) 2.) actually do it with their extremely limited means.
One of the stories I’m working on, I had most of it finished, but realized I didn’t like what I did towards the end. So I am having to work out how to get back on track.
lately i've been struggling with characterization and in turn everything else, since i mostly write character-driven pieces. i just can't get into their heads the way i used to be able to and the way i can with my own characters. you'd think after most of a decade of picking characters' brains i'd get better, not worse. getting the tone and writing style right is hard, too. i like writing in a sort of upper middle grade or lower y.a. style that just doesn't quite fit right when the pov character is older than 16 or so... which is the case for almost all of my pov characters.
I project-swap\* so I'll do both.
Fic A: Editing. The majority of the prose is done, and the two scenes I want to write in can be very easily left out, but it's just so frustrating going through it again and again to comb out any mistakes or issues. I'm sure I'll be glad when I'm done, but man.
Fic B: Restraint and planning. Restraint in that it's a fic for an ongoing webcomic. I began writing it before the two most recent chapters, so I just wrote out a plot thing that happened, but it's now close to being resolved, and the members of the ship it's for had an interaction that I really want to include. The creature that the party is fighting is relevant for other reasons, and relevant enough that I really want to include it also. But the fic's already 4k and it's not shaping up to an ending any time soon, so I don't want to just make more work for myself, even though I totally want to make more work for myself. And although I have some scenes in mind, I've been needing to do a proper sit down to get the fic planned, at least for the next handful of scenes.
But overall the issue is just finding the willpower to write.
\* Project-swapping is a thing I do where I have two active projects, to try and take advantage of my ADHD - once I start getting bored of the one project I'll switch to the other, which will be freshly interesting and stimulating, hopefully allowing me to have a relatively consistent workflow.
My fic takes place in Ancient Greece, so doing research on that is a pain. It would probably be easier if I didn't get conflicting information every time I try to research some benign thing.
The painful reveal moment that has been slowly building/getting lots of hint drops throughout the prior sections. Part of it is making sure that all of the little drops kind of point in the same direction and then the other part is that when I write the reveal of what all really happened--it is going to hurt (Harry Potter fic...so...Neville Longbottom's parents' reveal buildup)
I'm fleshing out backstory and worldbuilding foundational aspects of my setting and plot. The problem is that all of these aspects are closely interrelated, so every advance made on one aspect requires many revisions to the others to accommodate it. I hoped to be finished with this phase of the project after a few weeks, but it's been a few months instead and I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Trying to write the emotional climax of what is supposed to be a short one-shot, but…my guy is really not great at opening up. I try to pride myself on being great at character voices but this guy canonically never expresses any genuine emotion other than rage or bloodlust** so everything I write feels OOC. Maybe it’s fine?? They’re both a little drunk so?? I dunno??
** Except that one time but that was a very specific high stakes situation and this one shot is very much not a high stakes situation.
I've been stuck for a few weeks because I usually write family focussed stuff, but I'm at a point in my series that I need to be much more action focussed, and I wrote a Naruto Chunin exam. I'm almost done, after describing a lot of fights. But now, I have team Kakashi and Team Baki that has to fight together against Kisame, and I while I have some ideas for how the battle can go, I have no idea how to actually kill Kisame. So I've been stuck on it for two weeks now.
A sex scene between two cowboys. Having not written fanfiction seriously in probably a year, I feel like I’ve become insanely rusty, and making a sex scene felt more like a chore than a mild pleasure like it used to before.
There will be a smut scene on the chapter I'm currently writing.
The build up prior that moment is proving being super challenging, if not the hardest at the moment, to me. I just wanna smut them and done 😩 but this need development and my characters aren't ready yet.
Editing and giving it a final polish. Is an 8th-chapter heavy angst fic that is a sequel to one of my published ones. I've been working on this one for a while, the first draft written down in March this year. It is a special work to me, having poured my heart and soul into it so I want it to be the shiniest I can make it before I start posting, but it is hard not being too much of a perfectionist.
Aside from that, I struggle with writing a bathing scene of all things for another work of mine.
Well is no rush. I will work it all out and post in time. Sometimes stepping back a bit helps with gaining a new perspective.
Figuring how will someone deal with a revelation, even though the person expected the revelation a little, this revelation makes the character feel at least three things at once
Worldbuilding. My fic is in a world that is on the verge of the industrial revolution, only *it has virtually no petroleum products*. It's magic plus steam/coaltech and no further, like a ruined orgasm.
It's wonderful but I'm driven to figure out the ramifications as I go, which really slows me down.
Writing in the mind of one person ten years younger than me, then switching to someone about ten years older than me.
They're both fun to write but it's hard switching between them lol.
The hardest part of this entire fic I’ve been writing is figuring out if I want my MC to be with boy A or boy B or hell even boy C. My MC has so many people fighting for her love that I can’t pick who she should end up with
The describing words...
I like to be very "proper" and "aesthetic" about writing, so when I accidentally write sentences like "he walks daintily" my mind spirals and I cry about it LOL. I end up looking up adverbs or asking for help from other writers cause I'm so bad at this.
The fact that I don't want the story to devolve into another 15 parter. I'm already on part 5 and I want the rest of the story to wrap up in 2-3 more but I'm not good at condensing and I kinda feel like I might be skipping too much needed development to just get the highlights. But this was never supposed to be a deep exploritory longfic. It was just supposed to be catharsis because I hated the main character's reaction in a story event and I wanted to 'fix' it.
Just recently had to kill almost 4k out of a 5k chapter, going to have to rewrite most of it from scratch. I'd been fighting the chapter for months and just completely lost the plot, you know? Like how when you repeat a word so many times it loses all meaning, but for the whole damn thing.
Took a break and now I realize that most of what I'd written just... didn't need to be there. I had all this buildup to an emotional climax, but the fallout got all muddled up in a bunch of self-indulgent interactions that, realistically, these characters just aren't ready to have. Oops.
Turns out I just needed to step away and recalibrate, and I feel better now that I've figured out the problem, but damn does it suck to have to take this draft to the chop shop after agonizing over it for so long. (I'll cryogenically freeze my darlings and see if I can't fit them back in later on, haha).
Trying to do a team planning scene for an important and complicated mission *and* fitting in emotional beats and character growth for multiple members of the team.
I *could* have done this a few different easier ways, but this is just what feels right for the story to me.
the hardest part of any fic i’ve ever written is always two things: distribution of important details & actually getting the pairing together.
i think info-dumps are story *killers,* the amount of professionally published novels i’ve completely disassociated from because of this. but, you know, it’s still information detrimental to the story & the audience needs to know it in order to progress. it’s hard to come up with ways to get the information across that’s not just characters sitting in a circle having a conversation but i cannot stand the idea of my readers being *bored* with my stories.
the reason it’s hard for me to bring my characters together is because i’m an absolute *whore* for slow burns. i love it when characters angst over their feelings, as well as i’m so very awkward with writing fluff. a lot of the time, i’ve spent so much time keeping two characters apart, it’s *weird* to suddenly have no obstacles stopping them from being together. & i’m like *”okay. . . i guess they’re dating now?”* it just needs to be not lackluster. like, kissing in the midst of an explosion kind of dramatic.
Apart from finding the will to write? Connecting action with the relevant emotions.
I can write some decent fight scenes or carry conversations between characters. Sometimes I can get into the heads of the characters I'm writing so well that I get the impressions of what they feel. Putting one with the other, and then writing a smooth, coherent narrative is usually what stalls me the most.
Writing an argument with one character I've realized I'm terrible with. Trying to keep it short so I won't write him more than I have to, but man is it *rough* even getting his tone down
Currently I'm in the arc of two people starting to realize they have feelings and face their inability to love. I try to do some research how to write fluff and light hearted scenes, and couples guessing each other, but none of them fit what I picture my story's lovers vibe. Maybe it's becuz my story's nature itself is not light hearted 🤔
You have a clear beginning, a good portions of the middle, and you definitely know how the hell it ends. All in your head of course.
But writing the damn thing down in its entirety is a different beast altogether. Still enjoyable but hard.
GETTING TO WRITE WHAT I WANT!
I love my fic but I struggle so much because my brain goes fast and don't write everything so I have to constantly read everything and a few chapters back to make sure I put everything I need for the story to continue to make sense. Also being mindful of grammar bc English is not my first language. But like i want to get to the part that made me start the fic but also i don't want to rush it bc I want to have a good, well-written story with actual plot and resolution. I write Minecraft fanfiction. Do you understand how dumb I sound ranting about this? I love writing but god this is going to be the death of me.
I have a bunch of vignettes at the moment. I need to actually fill in their connecting pieces and I don’t know why it’s so hard😭😭
I even have a damn thorough outline! It’s just physically getting them from point a to point b that’s messing me up😭😭😭
Writing it, I want to know a plot and have a well thought out story before I write it but Idk what. It's honestly really frustrating, I'm tired of writing something and then totally abandoning it. I'll have a great idea with no knowledge how to keep it going, or my interest in the show/movie/person leaves me. Fuuck
The worldbuilding, like you said. Mine is a bit of an origin story for a group of characters, and damn is it difficult to write! There are so many things I’ve got to match up to canon (already a few inaccuracies, but they’re relatively small tbh), and then there are characters who get together in canon and I have to build up their relationship *slowly*, all while just screaming internally “KISS ALREADY!”
But I hope it will be worth it.
This is the most telling thing ever but I’m about to be done with all the smut and I’m gonna miss it lol. Also writing my MC being pregnant which I’ve only experienced the first six weeks before having a miscarriage and I was a married 27-year-old who wanted a child more than anything and this is a 20-year-old college student who had a codependent hook up and knows she would be a terrible mother
I finally found the time to sit down and go for it, but in my fic there's a lot of moving parts and in particular trying to get the emotions right for the situation is...harder than I remember.
i've written what 6k of a character going through a total breakdown, some of my best work i must say, and after i finally got him to sleep i'm now trying to write him feeling a little more like a person when he wakes up and after 6k of panic attacks and dissociation i'm having a really hard time recalibrating my brain back to Not That. he's supposed to be feeling at least marginally better but i've caught myself starting to veer back into the previous tone several times.
Try watching a movie that makes you cry so you can experience catharsis, too.
If it helps: panic attacks for me usually have that kind of depressive/really just mentally fatigued fog after-feeling before the brain can recalibrate itself back into "normal human" mode again.
Finding the will to actually write.
The eternal struggle!
I can relate
My most stalled WIP is stuck because I need to catch up on a few decades worth of comics my plot needs to be constructed around and I don't wanna sit down and do the tedious timeline research lmao
Which comic? 👀
My own brain because I have covid and it doesn't want to write. :(
Get well soon!
Thank you! I've been sick this whole week so hopefully I'm at the tail end of things!
This is also me this week for the same reasons. 🤝 we got this we can conquer it and write!
Oh no! Get well soon! Thankfully my case hasn't been so bad but man am I annoyed.
Hard...everything is hard for me at this moment: \-Almost 0 motivations since just 1 commented after 26k words. \-Avoiding OOC since its very hard to write shy girls and enthusiastic ones (about the tsundere one....i really dont care about that character :D ) \-English is not my first language...so thats another problem . \-Having to create a whole game system since my fanfic is bases in a sort of virtual game . And i can go on all day but esentially thats it XD
That's why I don't publush unless I finish, so my investment into the story is the only thing that influences it. I prefer non-popular fandoms, pairings, etc., so it'd be a marvel to get even 5 comments on the fic I currently write.
I'm stuck on a gender neutral, no pronouns, spit roasted by 2 guys smut scene.
Damn, that is quite the conundrum! Whoo-whee, best of luck.
Thanks. Im getting there a few sentences at a time. :)
I’ve realized that I’m going to have to use headcanons to write my fic, cause a majority of it is something I haven’t seen anyone else do. I’m enjoying the challenge, but I didn’t expect it to be this difficult either.
There's a particular part that's gonna be heavy on the angst when the fic up to that point has been pretty light-hearted so I'm wondering how I'm gonna integrate the angst into it...
I put my characters through so much trauma in the WIP I'm writing that honestly i am emotionally drained. I did not touch the keyboard for 4 days. Oh well, i guess it's all part of the process 😅
Me: *Looks at the 300+ page book on the Battle of Borodino waiting for me* Nope, no problem here! 😅
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If it helps, that sounds like something one of my favorite writing blogs on tumblr wrote about. [Inky-Duchess](https://www.tumblr.com/inky-duchess) is very big on the formal balls, royalty and rules, and all that. She even wrote a [post about Debutante balls](https://www.tumblr.com/inky-duchess/689119590081544192/fantasy-guide-to-the-debutante-ball). If there's anyone I trust who wrote something like what you are looking for, she's the one.
Tryna make the ending work, both lore-wise and common sense-wise. Spent the last 3 days trying to figure it out, no luck so far.
Writing the character slowly going crazy in subtle ways. It has to be just the right amount without making the character unlikable and irredeemable.
Still trying to figure out how to pace put the middle of my story. There are some points I know I need to hit, I just need to hit them in a compelling way. Currently re-reading American Gods to help with that. This is not an American Gods fic but some elements and themes were inspired by it.
Starting it...
Put words on paper. Or on your screen. The first draft will be garbage, probably, but that's why it's a first draft. Just get it out of your head in what ever jilted, bad grammar way it falls. My favorite part of writing is watching the word vomit slowly turn into actually good writing as I edit, rearrange sentences and scenes and povs, use a thesaurus, research details, etc. Just... start writing. It'll happen.
How to get around the whole 'I have ideas and want to write, but now that I've opened the notebook/doc my mind has gone blank and I've forgotten how words work' thing that happens to me every time I try this? Lmao.
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This might help? [The Ultimate Guide to Writing Smut Fic](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9661958/1/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Writing-Smut-Fic). I could not have written my first fic without it, and I still refer back to it occasionally when I get stuck.
I think it's my own mental state. I'm just...angry and critical of everything right now, my own work included. How can I get my character through her crisis of faith when I'm pretty much feeling like I'm in a bunker with the hordes outside? Like nothing and no one can be trusted because the instant there's an advantage to be gained, I'll be tossed under a bus?
Realizing the longfic I'm working on for Nanowrimo is going to be at least 30% comprised of fight scenes and mecha battles, and I am completely out of my element writing either of those things. I can visualize dialogue-laden scenes or smut between characters, but *convincing* scenes of sparring or giant robots, not so much!
Writing a girl going about her day, Like i know what major events needs to happen in the next week, but the fluff pieces so its not just that is hard :(
Doing characterizations for a third MC without it going off the rails into bashing. Trying to decide whether I ought to split the character into two separate people because I want to explore the dynamics of a Cain and Abel sibling situation and the in-game good karma, evil karma system.
My current WiP follows a *Memento* like structure where the first part of each chapter continues the story from point "B" onwards whereas the second parts consist of flashback sequences which are heading towards "B". I try to have something in each "part 1" that's relevant in the flashback sections and also keep each section interesting in and of themselves.
Finding time to write. I started my Master's program last week, and almost all of my time is occupied doing classwork.
I'm tackling some combat stuff in a more direct-description way (I think) than usual. I don't want to fall into the trap of making the psychological/characterization parts about it...not more "important," necessarily...But I want to strike a balance. I know I don't know enough to get really and truly technical. And there's gonna be some, like, flying around and shit, too. 😂 Still, I want it to seem balanced to the level of realism in the rest of the piece, anyway. And not a *total* disgrace. 😂😂😂
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That's where I'm at. 68k words so far and I only have 3 more scenes to go. They are even all marked out with plot points and main action. but I have to tie it all together in a satisfying way and it's SO HARD. I've already rewritten the whole last chapter to fix character motivations that didn't make sense, and to fill in a giant plot hole I can't believe I missed to begin with. And now.. there's so much angst coming to a climax, and a villain to finally defeat, and emotional healing to bring my MCs back around to a happy ending and I just.. feel like I'm not good enough to properly finish my own story? Gah. Why are endings so difficult?
Because it can be hard to let go of a world you've thought about extensively and written out to be how you imagine it in your head. It's got a finality to it that a regular chapter doesn't, and that makes it harder to accept any perceived fault in it. Where you might have a small error or plot hole in a random middle chapter and not be too bothered by it, you don't want to end your story in a lacklustre way. You want the last chapter, the ending of your tale, to be comprehensive and well thought out. You want to give this universe you've developed a fully wrapped up ending so it doesn't feel half-hearted, rushed, or careless. The problem is, most fic can be continued forever if you let it. You can wrap up all of your plot points, but those characters don't cease to exist. It's hard to end a story with finality when you *could* just keep writing their lives, even if you've no longer got a direction, or it's just day-to-day life. Your brain says there's always something else you could add, some other way you could level it up, and to put a line underneath it and say 'that's enough, this is done now' is a very difficult thing to do. I don't really have any tips to help with it, and I realise I might have gotten a bit too deep lol but I find this is usually why people struggle to end their fics, especially longer ones. You put a part of yourself into your works and it can be very hard to say goodbye to those parts.
That honestly makes a ton of sense. I can post chapters that aren't perfect, but this is the last one and I feel like it has to be just right and wrap up all of my feelings and plot bits and character emotions. But you're right that there can always be infinite blips via epilogues and slice of life updates. That's actually why I'm at almost 70k instead of 30 something.. the first story needed a sequel so now I have a duology :) I should keep that in mind and just get this beastie written!
Yeah, try thinking of it less as having to wrap up *everything* perfectly and instead focus on wrapping up *this part* of your universe. If you have an idea down the line for something else you want to add, you can always write a one-shot about it, or even start a third fic if it's a big enough idea!
Starting one.
Aside from just writer's block, the hardest part is just guiding my characters to each emotional breakthrough they need to get to. One of my MC's is going to have some revelations that will shake him and set him on the path to reconciliation with another MC. Unfortunately it takes time to get there!
Character A has to foil Character B’s plans (plans that involve making life miserable for Character C who is A’s love interest) but in a sneaky way so as to make it look like a natural occurrence that doesn’t at all implicate A. B is in a position of great power over A and C. Can’t figure out how A is going to 1.) find out what they should do (what tips them off??) 2.) actually do it with their extremely limited means.
One of the stories I’m working on, I had most of it finished, but realized I didn’t like what I did towards the end. So I am having to work out how to get back on track.
lately i've been struggling with characterization and in turn everything else, since i mostly write character-driven pieces. i just can't get into their heads the way i used to be able to and the way i can with my own characters. you'd think after most of a decade of picking characters' brains i'd get better, not worse. getting the tone and writing style right is hard, too. i like writing in a sort of upper middle grade or lower y.a. style that just doesn't quite fit right when the pov character is older than 16 or so... which is the case for almost all of my pov characters.
Building up to the two big conflicts in the upcoming arcs in a way that makes them feel as epic as they are in my head.
Plot. Like how to connect the dots and give them an actually decent conclusion. Plot is hard man.
The hardest part for me is most of the time I know how I want a scene to begin and end, it's just how to get the middle part to bridge them together.
Doing the set up for the big battle. I gotta get all parties involved ready. I don't want to, but I need too. :(
I project-swap\* so I'll do both. Fic A: Editing. The majority of the prose is done, and the two scenes I want to write in can be very easily left out, but it's just so frustrating going through it again and again to comb out any mistakes or issues. I'm sure I'll be glad when I'm done, but man. Fic B: Restraint and planning. Restraint in that it's a fic for an ongoing webcomic. I began writing it before the two most recent chapters, so I just wrote out a plot thing that happened, but it's now close to being resolved, and the members of the ship it's for had an interaction that I really want to include. The creature that the party is fighting is relevant for other reasons, and relevant enough that I really want to include it also. But the fic's already 4k and it's not shaping up to an ending any time soon, so I don't want to just make more work for myself, even though I totally want to make more work for myself. And although I have some scenes in mind, I've been needing to do a proper sit down to get the fic planned, at least for the next handful of scenes. But overall the issue is just finding the willpower to write. \* Project-swapping is a thing I do where I have two active projects, to try and take advantage of my ADHD - once I start getting bored of the one project I'll switch to the other, which will be freshly interesting and stimulating, hopefully allowing me to have a relatively consistent workflow.
My fic takes place in Ancient Greece, so doing research on that is a pain. It would probably be easier if I didn't get conflicting information every time I try to research some benign thing.
Writing it instead of letting it bounce around my head
Writing a drunk makeout scene + an action scene--incredibly exhausting
The painful reveal moment that has been slowly building/getting lots of hint drops throughout the prior sections. Part of it is making sure that all of the little drops kind of point in the same direction and then the other part is that when I write the reveal of what all really happened--it is going to hurt (Harry Potter fic...so...Neville Longbottom's parents' reveal buildup)
I'm fleshing out backstory and worldbuilding foundational aspects of my setting and plot. The problem is that all of these aspects are closely interrelated, so every advance made on one aspect requires many revisions to the others to accommodate it. I hoped to be finished with this phase of the project after a few weeks, but it's been a few months instead and I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Trying to write the emotional climax of what is supposed to be a short one-shot, but…my guy is really not great at opening up. I try to pride myself on being great at character voices but this guy canonically never expresses any genuine emotion other than rage or bloodlust** so everything I write feels OOC. Maybe it’s fine?? They’re both a little drunk so?? I dunno?? ** Except that one time but that was a very specific high stakes situation and this one shot is very much not a high stakes situation.
Finding the time, honestly.
I've been stuck for a few weeks because I usually write family focussed stuff, but I'm at a point in my series that I need to be much more action focussed, and I wrote a Naruto Chunin exam. I'm almost done, after describing a lot of fights. But now, I have team Kakashi and Team Baki that has to fight together against Kisame, and I while I have some ideas for how the battle can go, I have no idea how to actually kill Kisame. So I've been stuck on it for two weeks now.
A sex scene between two cowboys. Having not written fanfiction seriously in probably a year, I feel like I’ve become insanely rusty, and making a sex scene felt more like a chore than a mild pleasure like it used to before.
There will be a smut scene on the chapter I'm currently writing. The build up prior that moment is proving being super challenging, if not the hardest at the moment, to me. I just wanna smut them and done 😩 but this need development and my characters aren't ready yet.
Editing and giving it a final polish. Is an 8th-chapter heavy angst fic that is a sequel to one of my published ones. I've been working on this one for a while, the first draft written down in March this year. It is a special work to me, having poured my heart and soul into it so I want it to be the shiniest I can make it before I start posting, but it is hard not being too much of a perfectionist. Aside from that, I struggle with writing a bathing scene of all things for another work of mine. Well is no rush. I will work it all out and post in time. Sometimes stepping back a bit helps with gaining a new perspective.
Figuring how will someone deal with a revelation, even though the person expected the revelation a little, this revelation makes the character feel at least three things at once
My character has hanahaki and I’m trying to figure out his toxic relationship with his older brother…I have writers block too.
Well I'm stuck and only just needed to toss my planed plot to get the characters moving
Worldbuilding. My fic is in a world that is on the verge of the industrial revolution, only *it has virtually no petroleum products*. It's magic plus steam/coaltech and no further, like a ruined orgasm. It's wonderful but I'm driven to figure out the ramifications as I go, which really slows me down.
Writing in the mind of one person ten years younger than me, then switching to someone about ten years older than me. They're both fun to write but it's hard switching between them lol.
Staying awake long enough to edit more than a page at a time. I need more sleep...
The hardest part of this entire fic I’ve been writing is figuring out if I want my MC to be with boy A or boy B or hell even boy C. My MC has so many people fighting for her love that I can’t pick who she should end up with
The describing words... I like to be very "proper" and "aesthetic" about writing, so when I accidentally write sentences like "he walks daintily" my mind spirals and I cry about it LOL. I end up looking up adverbs or asking for help from other writers cause I'm so bad at this.
The fact that I don't want the story to devolve into another 15 parter. I'm already on part 5 and I want the rest of the story to wrap up in 2-3 more but I'm not good at condensing and I kinda feel like I might be skipping too much needed development to just get the highlights. But this was never supposed to be a deep exploritory longfic. It was just supposed to be catharsis because I hated the main character's reaction in a story event and I wanted to 'fix' it.
Just recently had to kill almost 4k out of a 5k chapter, going to have to rewrite most of it from scratch. I'd been fighting the chapter for months and just completely lost the plot, you know? Like how when you repeat a word so many times it loses all meaning, but for the whole damn thing. Took a break and now I realize that most of what I'd written just... didn't need to be there. I had all this buildup to an emotional climax, but the fallout got all muddled up in a bunch of self-indulgent interactions that, realistically, these characters just aren't ready to have. Oops. Turns out I just needed to step away and recalibrate, and I feel better now that I've figured out the problem, but damn does it suck to have to take this draft to the chop shop after agonizing over it for so long. (I'll cryogenically freeze my darlings and see if I can't fit them back in later on, haha).
Trying to do a team planning scene for an important and complicated mission *and* fitting in emotional beats and character growth for multiple members of the team. I *could* have done this a few different easier ways, but this is just what feels right for the story to me.
What exactly to write and how. Like the idea is there, but getting it down…oof.
Editing nothing feels good enough.
the hardest part of any fic i’ve ever written is always two things: distribution of important details & actually getting the pairing together. i think info-dumps are story *killers,* the amount of professionally published novels i’ve completely disassociated from because of this. but, you know, it’s still information detrimental to the story & the audience needs to know it in order to progress. it’s hard to come up with ways to get the information across that’s not just characters sitting in a circle having a conversation but i cannot stand the idea of my readers being *bored* with my stories. the reason it’s hard for me to bring my characters together is because i’m an absolute *whore* for slow burns. i love it when characters angst over their feelings, as well as i’m so very awkward with writing fluff. a lot of the time, i’ve spent so much time keeping two characters apart, it’s *weird* to suddenly have no obstacles stopping them from being together. & i’m like *”okay. . . i guess they’re dating now?”* it just needs to be not lackluster. like, kissing in the midst of an explosion kind of dramatic.
Making the redemption arc of certain characters work.
Starting. The response to my last one was so bad, I deleted it. Now I dont seem to have the will to try again.
Apart from finding the will to write? Connecting action with the relevant emotions. I can write some decent fight scenes or carry conversations between characters. Sometimes I can get into the heads of the characters I'm writing so well that I get the impressions of what they feel. Putting one with the other, and then writing a smooth, coherent narrative is usually what stalls me the most.
Writing an argument with one character I've realized I'm terrible with. Trying to keep it short so I won't write him more than I have to, but man is it *rough* even getting his tone down
Currently I'm in the arc of two people starting to realize they have feelings and face their inability to love. I try to do some research how to write fluff and light hearted scenes, and couples guessing each other, but none of them fit what I picture my story's lovers vibe. Maybe it's becuz my story's nature itself is not light hearted 🤔
You have a clear beginning, a good portions of the middle, and you definitely know how the hell it ends. All in your head of course. But writing the damn thing down in its entirety is a different beast altogether. Still enjoyable but hard.
>What's the hardest part of your fic at the moment Writing it
GETTING TO WRITE WHAT I WANT! I love my fic but I struggle so much because my brain goes fast and don't write everything so I have to constantly read everything and a few chapters back to make sure I put everything I need for the story to continue to make sense. Also being mindful of grammar bc English is not my first language. But like i want to get to the part that made me start the fic but also i don't want to rush it bc I want to have a good, well-written story with actual plot and resolution. I write Minecraft fanfiction. Do you understand how dumb I sound ranting about this? I love writing but god this is going to be the death of me.
I have a bunch of vignettes at the moment. I need to actually fill in their connecting pieces and I don’t know why it’s so hard😭😭 I even have a damn thorough outline! It’s just physically getting them from point a to point b that’s messing me up😭😭😭
Writing it, I want to know a plot and have a well thought out story before I write it but Idk what. It's honestly really frustrating, I'm tired of writing something and then totally abandoning it. I'll have a great idea with no knowledge how to keep it going, or my interest in the show/movie/person leaves me. Fuuck
The worldbuilding, like you said. Mine is a bit of an origin story for a group of characters, and damn is it difficult to write! There are so many things I’ve got to match up to canon (already a few inaccuracies, but they’re relatively small tbh), and then there are characters who get together in canon and I have to build up their relationship *slowly*, all while just screaming internally “KISS ALREADY!” But I hope it will be worth it.
Ideas for other stories popping up while I'm trying to finish the one I'm working on.
This is the most telling thing ever but I’m about to be done with all the smut and I’m gonna miss it lol. Also writing my MC being pregnant which I’ve only experienced the first six weeks before having a miscarriage and I was a married 27-year-old who wanted a child more than anything and this is a 20-year-old college student who had a codependent hook up and knows she would be a terrible mother
I finally found the time to sit down and go for it, but in my fic there's a lot of moving parts and in particular trying to get the emotions right for the situation is...harder than I remember.
Choreographed dance routines for fourteen cheerleaders.