What's your least liked or most hated part of writing?

[John_Owl]

For me, I hate coming up with a title. Sometimes it's easy. As I'm writing, a title pops into my head (such as with DragonBound). Other times, I start with the title (Lay the Dragon). But more often than not, neither of these are the case, and I end up going through like 4-10 working titles before finally settling on one that's "not as bad". which kinda sucks because now I have work for the same story under 4-10 different titles, plus the final title on my computer.

And for note, I don't mean things outside of active progress. Yeah, we all hate that lack of motivation, or trying to find time without distractions to write, but I mean actively making progress to prepare the story for consumption by your readers—titling, cover art, planning, plotting, storyboarding, etc.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

News and my lack of discipline.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

Exposition. It's easy to say "just weave the worldbuilding into the story!", but unless the MC gets put on a game show where he's quizzed about his world's history, there are some things that just can't be slipped into a conversation without sounding wildly unnatural.

 

[John_Owl]

Exposition. It's easy to say "just weave the worldbuilding into the story!", but unless the MC gets put on a game show where he's quizzed about his world's history, there are some things that just can't be slipped into a conversation without sounding wildly unnatural.

oh, yeah, I feel that. Exposition is needed, but you don't want it to FEEL like exposition. It's a lot like the advice "show, don't tell".

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Feeling a need to focus on one story when I kind of want to be writing a different one (but have deadlines, or expectations, or a scene I really need to get out but am not quite there yet)...

That and mandatory editing of "fiddly bits" after the fact.

 

[Corty]

Having to comb through 300 chapters to find if I had already named a character or just mentioned it in passing. Then, after not finding anything and giving him a name and background, the moment I publish it, someone tells me that I had, in fact, named him, and he wasn't like this.

Then, for the next time, I write down the name in a note but then, when I check later, I already forgotten what I did with him so… reread it is. Again.

 

[Justhetip...]

The fact that a first draft is a first draft.

What do you mean I have to edit? My writer's ego tells me it looks perfect enough.

 

[John_Owl]

Having to comb through 300 chapters to find if I had already named a character or just mentioned it in passing. Then, after not finding anything and giving him a name and background, the moment I publish it, someone tells me that I had, in fact, named him, and he wasn't like this.

Then, for the next time, I write down the name in a note but then, when I check later, I already forgotten what I did with him so… reread it is. Again.

I had this issue even the very next chapter. A little throwaway line that I thought would be fairly meaningless but my readers latched onto it. so next chapter, I had forgotten about it and had three people point it out. Since then, I've gotten an alpha reader to catch things like this for me. Since I'm usually too focused on what's next to think about what just was.

The fact that a first draft is a first draft.

What do you mean I have to edit? My writer's ego tells me it looks perfect enough.

And this is where having fresh eyes comes in. Write today, edit tomorrow. It gives your brain time to switch from writer mode to reader mode, basically. And having someone else to read it helps too.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Having to comb through 300 chapters to find if I had already named a character or just mentioned it in passing. Then, after not finding anything and giving him a name and background, the moment I publish it, someone tells me that I had, in fact, named him, and he wasn't like this.

Then, for the next time, I write down the name in a note but then, when I check later, I already forgotten what I did with him so… reread it is. Again.

Only laughing because I've kind of been there - only 60 chapters but took two passes to find the character before I could progress.

 

[LiteraryWho]

I actually kind of hate everything about writing (the actual writing part itself, specifically). I much prefer the world building before hand, and the editing/redrafting after. Writing the initial prose is like pulling teeth.

 

[Valmond]

Hmm…this is a difficult thing for me to say. I honestly do not dislike any part of the process. Sure, editing is tedious, but it is also fun.

My memory and plans are extremely strong, so I don’t get stuck.

 

[Paul__Michaels]

I guess it goes in the least like section. But editing. It needs to be done but I wish I was way faster at it.

The other thing I would classify under a feared section. Goes along a similar lines with Corty, when I write something that already happened in my story. There's nothing better than receiving a comment from a reader saying, "didn't such and such person find out about this earlier in you book?"

And all I could do is say "well shyt... You're right my friend." Then I need to got back into editing mode then cry a little

 

[Valmond]

I guess it goes in the least like section. But editing. It needs to be done but I wish I was way faster at it.

The other thing I would classify under a feared section. Goes along a similar lines with Corty, when I write something that already happened in my story. There's nothing better than receiving a comment from a reader saying, "didn't such and such person find out about this earlier in you book?"

And all I could do is say "well shyt... You're right my friend." Then I need to got back into editing mode then cry a little

Your answer,

“Yes! You entered into the time-loop part of the story! Totally intended!”

You inside,

Safe.

 

[dukerino]

The bit after you're done writing the sex scene you have to go back and tweak all the overused words.
A note to the guys in charge of English: you need to invent more words for "jiggle."

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I hate the editing process.

 

[John_Owl]

The bit after you're done writing the sex scene you have to go back and tweak all the overused words.
A note to the guys in charge of English: you need to invent more words for "jiggle."

as a smut author, I relate to this on a personal level. It sucks trying to ride the line between sounding like a thesaurus, (boob, mammary, globe, orb, ball of flesh, peaks, mountainous boulders, etc). or childish (how close can I get to saying "boob" without actually saying "boob", but letting everyone know I'm talking about a boob), or like a broken record (boob, boob, boob, boob, etc)

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Planning.

Planning is my favorite thing to do when writing, but it's also my greatest poison. Once I plan ahead enough writing the actual chapters becomes tedious. I'd much rather be developing the plot then retracing my steps.

Because of that I've sorted limited myself with how far I'll plan ahead. I'm hoping it won't effect my writing, but a masterpiece seen by none is not preferable to a decent work seen by all

 

[PancakesWitch]

Planning.

Planning is my favorite thing to do when writing, but it's also my greatest poison. Once I plan ahead enough writing the actual chapters becomes tedious. I'd much rather be developing the plot then retracing my steps.

Because of that I've sorted limited myself with how far I'll plan ahead. I'm hoping it won't effect my writing, but a masterpiece seen by none is not preferable to a decent work seen by all

yeah thats how creative juices, imagination, and motivation works. if you plan something awesome and write it down to follow your chapters towards that goal, you've suddenly already "expressed" those ideas, and therefore it's no longer fun to write them, it becomes tedious. instead of writing any idea its better to simply move the novel towards that point as long as it is inside of your head.
this is probably one of the reasons why proffessional authors from big franchises get tired and burn out of writing their super famous best sellers, they have to plan out everything so much and once they're done, actually writing just becomes painfully boring and tedius, so they take years after years to produce a single volume, or they end up writing something else entirely (like the author of Game of Thrones).
its always better to just write all you want and then just polish it afterward...

 

[CharlesEBrown]

yeah thats how creative juices, imagination, and motivation works. if you plan something awesome and write it down to follow your chapters towards that goal, you've suddenly already "expressed" those ideas, and therefore it's no longer fun to write them, it becomes tedious. instead of writing any idea its better to simply move the novel towards that point as long as it is inside of your head.
this is probably one of the reasons why professional authors from big franchises get tired and burn out of writing their super famous best sellers, they have to plan out everything so much and once they're done, actually writing just becomes painfully boring and tedius, so they take years after years to produce a single volume, or they end up writing something else entirely (like the author of Game of Thrones).
its always better to just write all you want and then just polish it afterward...

Alfred Hitchcock loved plotting out movies, planning every scene and movement ... and then regularly fell asleep during the actual filming because THAT bored him.

 

[Kigol]

cant write dialogue for shit
i know whats supposed to happen but it just feels weird