(no subject)

[apocalypsos]

[Poll #817764]

EDIT: You know what's the best thing in the world right now? It's that I changed it so that when I get a new email, Yahoo alerts me with a, "Grr! Argh!" *snickers*

Comments

[bibliotech.livejournal.com]

I have three stories sitting on my hard drive, just waiting for a synopsis, and I can't write one. I suck at them! I don't even know how to smush my story down into a paragraph or less! It's driving me insane.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Dude, you really don't want to know how long it took me to boil my novel down to four pages, give or take. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, although I'll freely admit I'd much rather be sitting in front of my computer stressing out over a synopsis that WILL NOT COME than doing anything at my place of employment.

[tully-argyle.livejournal.com]

Writing the synopsis can be pretty hard. It does take time and while you are doing it, every action, every character is crowding in trying to stake its claim for importance in the synopsis. It is like a movie: the whole movie plays in my head and I am trying to make a trailer, for the synopsis. And it wants to include all the explosions, all the kissy bits, and all the snark one-liners.

And it can't. The story has to smush down.
I feel your pain.

[mice.livejournal.com]

None of the above. Action is hardest. I can write seven pages of dialogue and then realize that nobody has done anything but talk. That's why I started to write screenplays, but then I realized you had to write even more action.

...I hate writing actions...

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I hear you on that one. I had a much easier time writing action after I started putting on a handkerchief as a blindfold and letting the scene play out in my mind as if I were actually watching it unfold.

Well, that, and I occasionally use my brother as a dummy when planning out fight scenes.

"Dude, put your arm around my neck so I can figure out where exactly I would connect if I slammed my elbow into your midsection."

"... you want to do what?"

[tully-argyle.livejournal.com]

I have a different problem with action. My action is sometimes deemed excessive. Part of that may be because I did not begin writing my stories until after college, where a few of my courses were on screenplays. So I have developed a very easy style where dialogue and action mix, sometimes too much.

"Dude, do all your characters have ADD or something?"

"Why?" he asked, head tilted in curiousity.

"Because," she replied, hands on hips, "It seems like every few lines you have someone tilting their head or putting their hands on their hips, or something like that."

"Do I?"

"Yes."

He picked up a coffee mug. "I hadn't noticed."

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

Titles. Titles are the worst. Because the story might be the greatest thing since sliced bread, and the dialogue/action/plot/synopsis might all be equally awesome, but if your title sucks who's going to be intrigued enough to look further than that? Titles are usually the last thing on my list when I'm writing; it's very rare I have one in mind when I begin.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm exactly the opposite. I love writing titles. I could come up with story titles all day long and just start off with those. And even if I don't start out with one, just finishing the story, putting on my headphones and listening to music until a phrase catches in my head usually does the trick.

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

Unfair, dude.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Heh. If you can write a synopsis without letting it completely cripple your brain, I'll trade ya. ;)

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking that. We should have a writers' pool where the non-titlers and synopsis-challenged can offer up their naked stories for baptism and confirmation, and people who're good with dialogue can tweak, and ... yeah, just a big fannish beta reading collective.

But I'm far too lazy to actually do anything like that. *g*

[tully-argyle.livejournal.com]

Hey! A kindred soul!
For me, titles are the easiest thing about the entire process.

[lcsbanana.livejournal.com]

weirdly, everything up there is pretty easy for me--i can come up with reasonable plots, although it does take some work, and i totally PWN dialogue. but creating actual emotional development, like, from point a to point c in a relationship--OR TO POINT B, no, seriously, it's so hard. i think this is due to how i am a robot who doesn't really understand human emotions at all, but it makes writing haaaaaaaaard.

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

You didn't have an option for "Actually FINISHING a story you start." But that's what's hard for me.

[milkshake-b.livejournal.com]

*raises hand*

FINISHING THE MOTHERFUCKIN' THING.

[jellicle.livejournal.com]

The plots dance in my head day and night, so this is the last of my worries.... and since I write little dialogue, this is not really an issue. Making the characters believeble IS an issue to me, but it goes around my biggest one that is WRITING the story. It's the hardest thing because my fics come like thunderstorm in the middle of summer, ie, when you least expect, and then they force themselves out until they're on paper. So this is my biggest issue.
But between your options, the worst for me is choosing a title, I suck at that. :(

[opportunemoment.livejournal.com]

Also with the finishing problems here. I only picked plot rather than synopsis because I've never got anything finished enough that I have to worry about a synopsis - I expect that when I do it will be hell on toast...

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

Other: Starting/finishing

[jfc013.livejournal.com]

If I have a plot, a title comes to me. Synopses are easy (often just one word). I hope my characters are right, and work hard to make it read clearly (hence my vote for editing).

The hard part? Finding time to write! (Secondary--getting it longer than two to six pages. How DO people write novels?)

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Synopsis.

The characters come to me and perch on my desk and demand stories, whether I want them or not. The dialogue and plot flow from them. Titles turn up.

But a synopsis? I can't do a 10 page summary of my novel. You get 1 page, or you get the whole thing.

[tabaqui]

I don't do a synopsis!!
Because i am eeeeeevol!!
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHhahahahhahhaahaha!!

*cough*

Seriously, i don't. Screw 'em.

[mcee.livejournal.com]

i need option g) actually making myself sit down and write. i love writing and when i actually do it it comes pretty easily, but i have the attention span of a gnat. *facedesk*

[mouseykins1.livejournal.com]

The plot is always really difficult with me. I get inspired and I write about half of it, until I realize that I have no clue where it's going.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Action/plot. good lord, if all I had to do was write characters sitting around all day yapping, I'd be *golden*. But making them do things? Gah.

[ghostrunner7.livejournal.com]

It was either synopsis or title, but there were no ticky boxes so I was forced to choose. Damn you for putting me in such a precarious position!

[audrey1nd.livejournal.com]

I also have trouble coming up with a title, and I can never finish my fics! They all just get half written!

[darcydodo]

Note that my answer would be different depending on whether we're talking original fic or fanfic. For fanfic, it's the plot, mostly. For original fic, it's kind of all of the above, but particularly the characters, I think.

[morvoren.livejournal.com]

This one would need an 'all' option to describe me. And I wonder why I don't write anymore....

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Finishing the freaking thing and not getting distracted by the next bunny to go hopping past....

[strix-an-stones.livejournal.com]

The hardest part for me is the ending. I can do everything but massively SUCK at finishing that last chapter.

[iseult-variante.livejournal.com]

The hardest thing is finding the fricking TIME. *kicks grad school* Aside from that? Taking the pictures out of my head and turning them into text. I am happy with dialogue, and even a really talky narrator, but sometimes setting and such just kills me.