What Is The Hardest Thing You Ever Wrote?

The first alimony check to my ex.

caw

Myrealana said:

The middle of any book.

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Ditto x2.

Also I would say just from reading my revisions I have a serious problem with transitions and pacing, but those are more technical issues rather than writer's block.

I had another book in the works that was contemporary and pulled a lot of events from my own life into it, and there was the problem. It was too personal and I kept having these replays of events in my head that I really don't want to remember right now (especially since they only happened just two years ago). So I decided to put that story on hiatus until I was mentally ready to tackle it, and I intend to tackle it and put those demons to rest.

blacbird said:

The first alimony check to my ex.

caw

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Haha, thanks for the laugh. I needed it.


I was right. Already I've had to take a break from this WIP. It's been a few days. I thought I was ready to return to it. Watched Brian McKnight's Back at One video for some inspiration. That alone was enough to send me back into a mini-funk. Great song, still love it, but can't listen to it and think about my story at the same time.

Spoiler alert: Did the kid in the car see Brian McKnight's ghost? Of was it just coincidence?


ETA: Um, apparently I don't know how to hide the words. I changed it to white but it doesn't show up when I highlight it.

I've found that generally the hardest things to write are the things I shouldn't be writing -- I don't have enough inspiration, or the story isn't well thought out enough, or I need a break. Usually block isn't a hindrance, but a helpful signal that something needs to change.

Ending things, I'm so dissatisfied with so many book endings, i'm trying not to do that with mine.

The hardest thing I ever wrote was probably the classroom scene in my sci-fi dystopian WIP.

I'd created the world for the story long before I really started writing it, and I needed this classroom scene to provide the history behind how all of the characters got into the place they were in the story. And I mean, I'd been dreaming about this scene for months. Constantly making notes about it, adding details for when I'd finally get to it. The world and its history were fully formed in my head, and I was just so excited to get it down on paper.

But then I got to that point in the story, and I just....choked. I struggled for *so long* on it. I finally got it all out, and it's mostly an infodump that I'll probably have to majorly revise, if not slash completely. That is, if I ever get back to that story... I started it five years ago and it's maybe halfway done. At least I've got another project that flows a bit better!

The hardest thing I had to write was an uncomfortable scene to write, which was the explanatory scene in my Romantic Fantasy. It was awkward, and clumsily written, but it had to be written before I could continue.

This intimate moment between two characters.

And now I'm re-writing the novel to get a clearer head, so thus, it'll be hard again. ;_;

FCChen said:

For me, it's the planning phase of a novel. I find that portions of the snowflake method worked for me; but actually pushing through all the steps was a big problem for me. I like to maintain a certain spontaneity and let the words out; so the actual planning of the novel can actually make me lose steam more than the writing of everything itself.

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This is exactly my problem!

Then don't plan your novels: write into the abyss. Lots of successful writers work this way.

Old Hack said:

Then don't plan your novels: write into the abyss. Lots of successful writers work this way.

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I just feel like I'll end up with a big mess if I work without a plan :/ Fortunately I think I found what works for me though! A combination of both. So no strict planning but just writing down some ideas and putting them together.

The last sentence of any chapter. I get so picky with how things should be concluded!

Dark stories. I have a hard time keeping things dark. I'm a happy ending writer.

The scene where my MC's father dies. I wrote the book to write that scene, so my kids would have an idea of what my father was like and how his death went. It was pretty much verbatim, and I still tear up every time I read it.

The hardest scene is the emotional crux where the tears start and I'm trying to write and bawling my eyes out can't see the keyboard or the screen cause of my tears.