Names. For me the hardest thing is coming up with (and remembering) names.
You might want to think about the character's design before the name. Many authors name their characters based on their design. Take the characters in One Piece, for example.
Thanks, El.
For me they are pretty much the same. Different things can be a bigger challenge at some points - like keeping track of what was planned vs. what was actually written, coming up with titles, naming characters - sometimes these are difficult, and sometimes they take care of themselves. But being able to make use of them when they do is the biggest challenge.
this is *exactly* what I do... and the "other site" I'm on where us authors of WNs gather? I catch *unholy* hell for it. I get a lot of...The hardest part for me is the style I choose to write in. It's difficult, but incredibly fun.
There isn't really a standard term for it, so I called it "Temporal Bleed" narration. The idea is that the thoughts and the narrated moment occupy the same second, so narration isn't retrospective. It's a live feed from the character's mind.
That real-time monologue is a deliberate choice of mine that I absolutely love because it explains the unfiltered jumps, contradictions, and sudden humor you don't get when narrating in past or present tense. It mimics the brain's natural processing under duress. I'm not describing events, I'm experiencing them as they happen.
The best word I can use for how it works is... hold on, let me look up a term that best describes this. Okay, done: syntax. The broken pacing, the sensory overload, the panicked self-commentary; all that shit in a character's head, all that's deliberate rhythm. It's not roughness or lack of polish; it's the organic thought-pattern of a living character streaming directly onto the page.
That’s what makes it hard: you don't get to smooth things out without killing the effect. But when it works, nothing else feels as alive.
Oh, one more thing: Happy New Year!
Fuck 'em. Okay? Do not listen to that crap and enjoy what you've been doing because that is the lane you've been driving in and you want to keep that engine running hot. Don't slow down to make a pass on your smooth cruising just because you're receiving some neighborly road rage, got it?
I dig. I just... need readers, you know? Writing is like cooking. A person that likes eating gourmet food and spends years learning how to make it at home. All that time and effort, years. Then what's the point, if no one eats it. I hear so much shit back on that other place I was before I landed here, I wonder. They keep drilling into my head. If you want readers, you have to do exactly what the authors with big readers are doing. Writing for years trying to get somewhere at it, the object is to get readers. A gourmet cook will bring people in off the street to sit down to the big expensive meal. But if no one wants to eat my meal, there's little point to it all.Fuck 'em. Okay? Do not listen to that crap and enjoy what you've been doing because that is the lane you've been driving in and you want to keep that engine running hot. Don't slow down to make a pass on your smooth cruising just because you're receiving some neighborly road rage, got it?
I found that I am actually struggling most with writing slice of life scenes. Having characters do mundane activities and talk about inconsequential things while keeping it engaging is a bigger challenge than introducing stakes and following a plot, lol.
The trick is to slip the stakes and stuff in quietly in the background. Those scenes are tough to get right, but also some of the most rewarding as a writer if you DO get them right.
