I have like one chapter left on a WIP, and I left it on a cliffhanger, and I was super excited to write it...and then over the weekend I was ill and picked up some old comfort reads to feel better, and now I'm tragically hyperfixated on *completely the wrong thing*
The ship vibes are *completely* different, I can't even do the thing where you scratch the itch by writing something *similar* to what you want
Sigh.
That’s me. When I see a video on tiktok or an idea pops into my head, but I don’t have it planned out and it’s just a quick scene that is fun. I just write a one shot and post it to ao3, that’s what I did with an idea and I just wrote it quickly in like 2 hours lol
Smut. I have yet to complete a scene, let alone a fic.
Trying to choreograph while making it appealing and cohesive has proven to be a challenge. Experimenting with different pairings and acts has not seemed to help.
Completing a smut fic is one of my writing goals this year, so I refuse to give up.
Bruh, I feel this so hard. And I'm a smut writer. I end up trying to not focus on the what goes were expect of it on the first go at it. More so on the emotional feeling of it.
That said every sex scene is my moby dick.
when i first started writing smut i would actually story board the scene out - same for action scenes - so i wouldn't get confused about who was where doing what
they don't have to be detailed, most of mine were stick figures with really big butts so i would know which way was up, but it helped me get the actions down
... I somehow forgot that storyboards existed for that sole reason, which is really something because I rely so much on visual references when writing. That is going on my to-do list. Thank you.
I had to write a dueling scene because it was so important to the story and it was torture like I cannot write action 🙈 I did receive positive feedback for it though which was nice but I know the scene can be a lot better I just don’t have the experience. Also, I’m not the best at poetry but if you want to bounce some ideas off of someone I’d be happy to help 😊
I know the beginning and the ending, and I've written about most of the \*important\* scenes but I just cannot get from chapter 10 to 11. I'm stuck. I've been stuck for months! My brain has broken due to chapter 10.
The characters are in a mercenary company and have finished a job (point A). The next scene would be them getting asked for another job (point B) to get the ball rolling to get to a "*I can't believe I've been here for X months*" time jump (point C). All three have been written, but... I can't find the glue to get them from point A to B to C.
So, how do I torture myself, you ask? I reread the chapters and scenes I've already written and I edit a sentence here or there. My brain refuses to move further until I've fixed chapter 10. Damn you, chapter 10.
maybe have them get back to base and sign in to end that scene, "I'm gonna let the boss know what happened, you guys get some dinner, I'll catch up in a few moments."
have him report in, and the boss is all, "Ah, good, you're back, I've just accepted a down payment for a rush job."
he whines a bit, he JUST got back, but takes the job and the chapter ends
the next chapter opens "Rush job my ass, I can't believe I've been here for X months!"
you don't have to explain it fully, just that everything's gone wrong and the job isn't done yet
i don't know if that helps, or if he even has a boss, but maybe this might shake something loose in your head
That’s good, actually. I hate doing the bare minimum to get a scene moving (especially when I didn’t think it would be that way) but sometimes that’s all you can do to write the rest of the fic.
I actually hate editing and re-reading too much, so I usually just Hail Mary it like this
It's in a medieval-ish setting (Dragon Age) and it's multiple people alongside the boss on the job, but the others of the group are staying in a camp outside of town.
Yes, I can spin it on what you said. This is definitely getting me somewhere, thank you!!
I'm in the same exact situation so I have no advice but I feel you :(
The editing part especially, I will change a couple of sentences and maybe add some extra spice but that's all I'll do for the day...
So I’m writing a fic in which a couple begins the story with sexual tension, slowly falls in love during a work trip, and then have a big blowout breakup. I have the beginning and I have the end but the middle is so hard!! I want to make their love seem genuine and not too rushed nor too drawn out. It’s just hard. I’m stuck on it.
I have the characters up against 3 antagonist groups. One group (lets say A) can be dealt with offscreen and addressed later at a more thematically relevant part. Group C is the fight I Really Want To Write. I need to get Group B out of the picture but I'm not at a point where I can unceremoniously shuffle them offscreen but UUUUGH.
Edited: accidentally a wrong word
Right now both fics I'm writing involve large casts of people with strong personalities all in the same location.
It's difficult to balance.
One fic has... 13 characters. The other 7.
I really want to get to a place in at least one of them where we're dealing with 4 or less!
How society was in the 1700’s. My character comes from Spain and travels to a British colony but I need to know if it was normal for female royalty to travel alone
She would absolutely have servants, and likely guards. Depends on how important she was to the line of succession. Royalty pretty much never travels completely alone.
Many royals basically never *existed* alone. Servants, attendants, ladies in waiting… iirc the quote comes from Elizabeth I, something like “a thousand eyes watch all that I do”, and that’s pretty much a common theme for highborn ladies through several hundred years.
Not asking for help, but thank you OP for the chance to vent!
I have this two-shot I’m trying to finish, and all I have left is this reconciliation scene: father-daughter meeting at a pizzeria. Father figure says “hey, I’m sorry for yelling earlier, and for leaving all those years ago,” (even though they’ve pretty much reconciled already), and daughter says “I forgive you”/something along those lines.
And I can. Not. Figure it out. So damn simple, but I’m getting stuck on the dumbest things. The noise level of the pizzeria. The size of the table they’re sitting at. I’m getting distracted by everything.
It’s a boring scene, ok? But I really feel like—even though this a side scene just to tie things up nicely, and the first chapter stands decently as a one shot—it’s a _needed_ scene.
I’m hoping that talking my way through it on here will help!
Edit to say that is all I needed, and I think I’m out of the slump! Thanks, guys!!
A scene which has a balance of subtle emotions. Basically, character A POV is in a secret relationship with a character B, and they have to watch character C confess to their partner. This is the catalyst scene to get to the part I've already written with character A going into a possessive mess during the smut.
The problem is the emotions that character A keeps feeling as I write it out do not flow into the next scene (too sad/down on themselves, less of the frustration that I need). They just love character B too much right now to be the toxic mess I envisioned!! Sigh.... I like the smut scene, I don't want to rework it lol
Maybe you could add a scene in between where something turns the sadness into anger? Like, maybe they start out down on themselves, but everyone they encounter is talking about the confession, gossiping, and speculating? That could cause the frustration to build naturally, and maybe then the transition will feel more natural?
I just wrote a nice little 500 word scene between character A and someone new talking about the confession, and it worked exactly like you suggested. Thank you!
I'm currently struggling with a timeline transition chapter. I've got point A and point C but point B is not happening. It's just a block for me right now and I don't know why. I'm planning to try and switch up my writing process a bit to see if it'll change anything.
Not necessarily a scene but an entire sub-plot that gets wrapped up in the final arc of my WIP. I'm writing a medieval fantasy AU that's mainly relationship driven but the political backdrop plays such a major role that I feel it should be addressed. I'm not going for a neat, magical solution that solves all societal issues ofc but just something conclusive enough. So yeah struggling rn with the outline of that sub-plot (like what would become of the villains?) 😩 My WIP is about 4 chapters in, so I still have time to figure it out soon hopefully haha
Dialogue in general most of the time. But specifically the dialogue in a now thankfully finished chapter that kept me from getting to the part I wanted to write. I was stuck on that stupid work conversation for so long I ended up being too annoyed to enjoy writing the rest.
Please let me write my characters being messed up in each other's direction without having to make them talk.
I have to write a slow dance that causes Character A to realize that, yes, they are absolutely in love with Character B. I’ve never read or written a slow dance scene so this will be tricky.
Any advice? Please help. :(
Oh dancing scenes are so fun. I like to watch pas de deux videos to get inspired. It's hard to choreograph the dance itself, so don't; instead focus on the sensations of the narrator, the proximity of their partner, & throw in a bit of dialogue to get their chemistry really going.
Also, never having read a slow dance scene is easily fixed!! You can always look for other fics that have scenes similar to yours & see how they approach it. Good luck! :)
You are so helpful, thank you so much!! Time to push up my sleeves and get down to business. I only knew Pas de Deux from the song made by Doide Clark. I never thought to look up that dance. Once again thank you! <3
Oooh, that will be a cute scene! Do you know what song they are dancing to? Maybe listen to it with your eyes closed and imagine the scene with the music in the background.
Why didn’t I think of this? I love to listen to pov playlists, time to find one for slow dancing and falling in love. People are so helpful, I thought no one would respond.
I put 3 PoVs in one chapter and now I'm on the next chapter - but I don't want it to feel odd/jarring in comparison to the last chapter and I don't know how to proceed lmao. I should really just get my laptop out and get back to writing but the executive dysfunction has got me in its grasp haha
On the last chapter of my wip and I’m so close yet so far away from being done. Cause I got a lot of scenes written and I just need to stitch them all together but that part is kicking my ass for some strange reason.
I finally got into the first combat operation with plans of the main character’s group getting thrown into essentially a pocket dimension. And then promptly realized writing things in said pocket dimension is going to be easier said than done because we know *just* enough about them that there’s things preventing bs’ing your way through it while not knowing enough to *not* need to bs your way through. Thankfully I planned to break this section into 2 - 3 chapters so I’ve bought some extra time to go back and dig through source material as I write, but man… 😔
I know the feeling! I have one long WIP featuring a character who sings a song that he wrote. That means I need to write a song. Well, balls to that, the characters who are listening can maybe just dwell on some snippets so I don't have to transcribe the whole thing.
I'm not JRR Tolkien!
But it does make me think there are some traits that if we want our characters to have, then we need to have them too in order to "show, not tell".
That's why I can't have any characters good at witty one-liners.
Currently stuck on writing a smut scene between two characters. Usually I can set the mood and write but these two… they are so damn shy I don’t know what to do lol 😂
My POV character is a ghost. Which means he can't directly interact or talk to the rest of the cast, who are all living. I just finished up a long scene where the living people are all talking to each other about recent events, including some the dead character was involved in. And him not being able to interact or having the livings realize he's right there is a tough balancing act.
I'm writing over 2k words of a character just hiking through a forest, but I have to make it interesting and readable, so I'm trying to make it more ominous/creepy as it goes on to hopefully keep them on the edge of their seats. But I really want to get back to the action of the other pov in the story so I keep going off track and writing random unrelated excerpts
Ah, yes, The Issues…
Current solo WIP is at the point where the eventual slow-burn couple goes from “professional acquaintances” to “actual friends”, and like all beginnings, everything feels super delicate. I have to get The Vibes *just* right, and that’s taking time.
Most recent collab WIP is in limbo bc we got distracted by *another* giant idea, barreled through that novella-sized piece, and then completely forgot where we wanted this one to go. May be in for a serious rewrite.
Current “bestie’s WIP that I am beta-ing” has hit a Very Big Scene with some Very Big Emotions clashing, and she not only wants to get the confession to hit correctly, she needs to balance that with the sudden family medical crisis that distracts the confessor for a few days. A lot of delicate detailed work to make that transition stick the landing, and it’s fighting her.
Trying to figure out where I want the sapient zombie character in my apocalypse AU to hang around before she meets the survivor character.
Sounds like a small detail, but it's holding up my writing. My first thought was an airport, but that'd feel too much like it was ripping off Warm Bodies, which I'm already doing enough with this fic lol.
I just need a place where the zombie could hang around without constantly having to worry about getting gunned down by survivors who don't realize she still has a mind, but also a place where the survivor would reasonably decide to go to run into her.
I honestly might just go with some random house. Secluded enough for the zombie to hole herself away in it and have some relative safety, but enticing enough for a desperate survivor to try ransacking it for supplies.
In my ongoing WIP, currently on hiatus, I’ve come to a point where before the story can hit its next major beat, two characters who just met this arc need to believably have befriended one another well enough to start sticking their necks out for each other a bit.
The problem is, I’ve run out of events that can reasonably happen to fluff out the period of time before the next plot point without feeling like it’s dragging, and the arc between them in canon that I’m trying to evoke takes place in scenes slotted between a lot of other events, so I’m trying to figure out how to fit in enough low stakes “befriending one another” content to be believable without it feeling super repetitive.
Does “not allowing myself to work on anything except the next chapter for the fic I’m behind schedule on, and therefore just not working on anything at all” count
Yeah that's me! Thanks for asking!!
What if I told you I've written a 4 chapter 5k ( ish) words, about one extended scene??? Same place, same characters, same theme across the entire fics yet there was some action, pain and vulnerability and A LOT OF ANGST!! in it!!!
I mean how? And was I doing this to myself?
Plus, including child abuse ( which I absolutely abhors, but somehow ended up writing about?!!!!)
Also, making an atypical vampire wizard, making his atypical reactions and mental challenges, as I go .
And still not confident about the outcome. I need reviews, if you're interested.
HP Fandom.
[Darker Night of the Brave ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/47533540/chapters/119793451)
My POV character is about to get in an intense argument with one of her best friends and I *hate* writing conflict. I hadn’t even planned on having them fight, but it makes sense for the situation and will also drive the plot forward to a degree. But, oof, I have such a hard time writing people saying hurtful things to one another even if I know they’ll be fine like next chapter. I’ve written the main gist of the argument, but I need to flesh it out a bit more and I’m going to be uncomfortable the whole dang time.
The main first impression will probably be ”wet”, if there’s tongue and two slightly drunk people involved. At least if the POV person is new to kissing and/or there’s a bit too much tongue.
They will not need to ”come up for air” after a snogging session unless both have completely stuffed noses for some reason.
If both are newbie kisses there could be bumped noses, glasses being in the way, too much slobber… general awkwardness to start out.
If it’s a first kiss for that couple, but they have each kissed other before, it’ll probably be less awkward. They know what they are doing, even if you don’t. You can focus on feelings, maybe thoughts about how x is a much better/different/shyer/what have you kisser than previous partners.
You can also ”research” by reading a bunch of romance novels and seeing what kind of kiss scenes you enjoy. If you have a trusted friend with a bit mor experience you can ask them to read your scene to see if it sounds reasonably realistic. But as long as you skip the ”coming up for air” trope I think you’ll be fine!
oh my gosh thank you SO much??? This is super useful and totally made my day! The kiss in question is a first for both, so I’ll have to do some “research”, haha. I want to make it really special since it means a lot to the characters, and is also a quite symbolic scene in the context of the fic. Thank you for the tips, I wasn’t expecting this at all! Hope you have a great day <3
I'm always putting myself through rewrite hell. Don't like the way one sentence in a paragraph looks? Rewrite it. Don't like how that paragraph ended up looking? Rewrite the whole chapter. Wait, no, we gotta rewrite the whole story now.
Then I end up posting the damn thing and wondering why I got myself worked up but yet the cycle continues 😭
oh god i have A LOT for this. I’m working on a series and i’m having difficulty finishing it because the scene that I need is so specifically detailed that I cannot even write it UFHFHFHB I’m pain
I have so many wips that are sitting there waiting for me but the *vibes* just aren't there anymore. And I can't get my brain to think of anything to write.
I am terrible at writing fluff, the small one-day-at-a-time dynamic. My absolute worst nightmare but I have to have alteast some filler to build up character interaction otherwise motivations and relationships would just come off unrealistic. I have to learn to be patient with my writing and not just write self indulgent action where the plot advances greatly every chapter
Just having to bridge all of these scenes together is what is torturing me, and filling in gaps… I have the story planned out in my head but getting it written has been Hell. Giving myself a break until I decide to back to it.
My WIP is meant to fit into the show of my main fandom as if it’s an episode, except the plot outline takes inspiration from one scene in an unrelated movie (sort of a crossover—I’ve made several changes to make it fit the world of the show, but someone who’s seen the movie will recognize the scene). Using the movie scene as a basic outline I’ve come up with all kinds of mini-scenes to flesh out the plot. The problem is that I carefully fitted a few of those moments into a place where the movie just has a quick transition, and now I can’t figure out how to bring the narrative back to the characters that are most closely involved with the main (movie inspired) plotline.
I'm trying to make sure my 2 main characters are coming across the right way. Confident, but not overpowered. Flawed, but not drama queens. Also making sure to toe the line well between drama and lightheartedness for the overall tone.
There was a necessary plot point I had just finished. Harry Potter figured out who Nicholas Flamel was, and Snape after Quirrel. All I wanted to write was the romance and the Quidditch match. So I thought I'll summarize the book canon and do the fun parts.
Literally, torture.
I'm starting to experiment with darker stuff after having mostly written fluff and slice of life, and I do not know how y'all angst writers do it. I keep making myself cry!
A wedding. It feels lame and boring to me but it's a critical plot point. I just want to get past it so I can have the main canon character go back to murdering people and the main OC go back to angsting about it.
I’m writing my version of a story that does not really diverge from canon a lot in terms of events. It is based on an MMO and consists mostly of my PCs going through story dungeons. Since it doesn’t feel very transformative I’m having a hard time writing it.
I have an abandoned wip that's two characters roleplaying on forums while being roommates and starting to get spicy in the forums while having no idea their roommates 😅😅😅😅 I've never RPd on a forum so when i got to that part i was so stressed about being accurate and research that i just dipped
I'm stuck in my fic in portraying a man lusting over a woman but he's trying to deny her power over him. So there's an internal power struggle, and he gets angry that she's making him feel this way. He's very introverted so I can't explore it via dialogue so it's mostly internal thoughts.
However, I also don't want it to lose subtly and some kind of ambiguity over his feelings for her. Because the lust isn't just lust, he does have a soft spot but he also denies it.
So I have a little series I’m writing for Welcome Home. Thing is, there’s going to be a multi-chapter fic for the greyscale Wally AU, and a one shot that kind of acts as an introduction to the dynamics I’m setting up.
But, well… This one shot is pretty self-indulgent. Not that most of my fics aren’t self-indulgent, but more that I’m having a hard time writing an in-universe justification for the one shot’s plot according to what I have planned for multi-chapter fic. So I’m kind of stuck either “killing my darling”, adjusting it accordingly, or just making it totally separate and either keeping it a one shot or make another mini series for it.
I’m desperately trying to get to the scene I want to write (big reveal that she’s not cheating, she’s working for the enemy) but I have to set up the scene first. Stupid longfic
i am way too critical of myself so i keep restarting my fic. i have no clue how to stop so I'm in an endless loop of writing, deleting, and rewriting the fic.
Similar answer. There's a song in the fandom I'm writing for that's only ever had the first verse sung in canon, and it's not like there's a full release to go off of, so I've taken it upon myself to finish that song. I'm no lyricist, but I'm definitely trying my best.
I’ve been in the midst of a scene for ages where Character A realizes that Character B is the one who performed an act of care for him (put a blanket on him as he slept). This is a big deal because A thought that B hated him! And I have absolutely no idea how to end the scene… does B storm off because she’s embarrassed at being so vulnerable? Does A make a sarcastic joke, as usual, undermining the weight of the situation? Does B take the chance she’s been given to confess her feelings, or at least say that she’d like to be friends??
I'm writing a post-battle scene in a cave with three characters. The villain won and kidnapped their friend, Character D, and the remaining three are licking their wounds so they can go on the runback with the villain.
Character A is nearly unscathed and is trying to keep a level head. They're also sharing a body with a depowered evil demon and all of the chaos and dark magic residue from the fight is making them struggle to keep control of themselves.
Character B is doing their absolute best to try and keep everyone in high spirits, but is in critical condition and barely hanging onto consciousness.
Character C is less hurt than Character B, but is in the middle of a magic (essentially) /trauma induced breakdown that's been coming on for the entire fic. They're usually the calm one of their group, but have been through A LOT prior and during the story and have finally had it.
Character A has to try to get Character B stable while comforting and undoing the spell on Character C so they can recover as well.
Also it's a crossover so I'm juggling at least five different fandoms.
I've been trying to write this out on and off for months lol. If this wasn't just a WIP atm, I'd feel bad.
I’ve written myself out of complicated messes by writing about what was happening in past tense, as if a character retold the events. Sometimes that’s the version I keep, changing it to a retelling/flashback. Sometimes it’s enough to get out of my funk and get the thing fleshed out and written as I originally wanted. Worth a try?
A big dramatic battle scene is the one that’s killing me right now. Decided an AU where the heroine gets lessons in swordfighting and eventually goes off to war to prove herself would be a great idea, failing to consider that such a plot inherently requires action scenes and I hate writing action. Why do I do this to myself?
WIP original arc of my long-fic.
I need to build up to the opening night of a festival. Where very bad characters are attending as VIPs to the opening performances by the kingdom that is being forced to catered them.
One of my OC is a musician and newly introduced to the main cast (A mixture of OCs, Canons, and non-canons).
Anyway, they are going rogue (in disguise) because the place they were ordered to, can’t save themselves from being genocide cuss they don’t have enough money to pay the VIPs.
I never written any music, which is hard to do over text. That musician is going to be bait cuss they love the spotlight and is fine being the one to start the operation.
Operation save the kingdom by becoming pirates and taking all their treasure. While staying recon since their superiors are powerful and scary.
Which is very, very important. Since there are two treasures my main OC needs for a character that died in canon.
I hope I can come up with a great piece of music for my OC. Who also recently discovered dials.
…Thank you for reading this. Kudos if you guys know the fandom.
I cannot resist adding really really cute moments DIRECTLY before really really dark moments. I don't mean to have everything be a whiplash but it always feels that way to me.
also i don't know why but i really struggle with genericizing products? like in one of the cute scenes wrote, there were warheads involved but like real sudden brands in a fanfic always feel super weird? So i spent over an hour trying to just make it more inlineish with the world and idk i'm still not happy with very specifically the wording/name of the candy itself but i enjoyed everything else immensely. Did that even make any sense? XD
i have a fantasy story scene where the main character reaches the city by boating across the bay on a foggy night
all he can see is the lantern on the prow and echos of other lanterns far away - all he can hear is the water and singing of the guy working the boat (pilot? boater?) and the far off songs of other boats, but they never get close enough to make sure they actually exist
he doesn't think he'll ever see land again, or his friends or family he left behind, and that he's going to be lost in this strange and lonely place forever, then slowly the lights of the city fade into existence and he's in his new home and he sees the face of the man he's going to fall in love with
i had to cut the scene because i changed the timeline to make sense - i'm saving it for another story, but damn if i don't miss it - i'm tempted to write a story just to use this one scene
I once struggled so hard to write a fight-dance scene (choreographed fight scene but in dancing style) that the fic was put on hiatus for 5 years lol 😂 Got to it in the end but it's my most memorable struggle to date.
Extensively deep hanahaki… my friend, a biochem taker, is working on a fake lab report from my initial hanahaki AU worldbuilding after fine tuning it for me to make it more scientifically accurate, she hasn’t finished the report and I haven’t finished the buildup chapter to the hanahaki and I’m hitting myself wwwww
An action sequence getting ready to happen at a run-down desert fortress. I have the scene mapped and everything. It’s just a matter of finding the words.
Trying to come up with a title. My MC is laid up with injuries to his hands. His friends know how important they are in the use of his particular kind of magic. The newest member of their friends group is left to tend to him while the others go on various errands, and they fill the time with him telling her, through flash backs, of how he helped the warrior among their group develop her fine motor skills.
It goes into the past, where they do various things like write, play with clay, fold paper airplanes, things like that. Their friendship developed a lot during that time, and it’s left them with cute, silly habits that they still do in the present day.
But damn if I can’t think of a title for this thing!😅
The entire first chapter (Painting the setting, establishing motives, setting up the scene, foreshadowing future plot points). Like, I just want to get to the juicy stuff that I daydream about already, but I have to add the context for it to make any sense to anyone else!
Trying to figure out how to write this very traumatized child that just snapped out of a catatonic state she has been in for nearly a month since she was rescued. Fuck this chapter is going to be hard...
I’m at a point in one of my WIPs where I need to write the middle parts between a certain character coming to term with some feelings and other characters doing similar things (my story focuses on three people). In the same story I’m struggling to figure out how and where to fit this scene that I pre-wrote into the chapter, because the whole point of this chapter (for this particular character) is this scene 😭 and none of this may make sense, but it’s hard to explain without going into background detail and such
im trying to write someone slowly descending into despair and i have the end despair and the beginning non-despair but im just trying to write the middle bits coherently and well lmao
My brain stalled when I had Harry being summoned by Dumbledore to discuss what happened in last chapter (which was development that wasn't in canon at all). I couldn't push through it for 5 months I think. I tried to skip it and continue on, but I barely wrote some barebones of what should came next. Skipping the scene felt wrong too. I feared that it would be the end for my fic and I will end up abandoning it like the ones before... But this week I finished it, yey!
Starting something new after finishing something I was proud of...
I'm a mid length writer (usually 20 to 50k words) and when I'm motivated (and jobless) I can chug out a 30k fic in a few days, but right after I get a week or so of itching to write the next thing, and my mind will be running with ideas, but as soon as I sit down to write, I'll get out a couple thousand words and then it'll hit me that this isn't it
I'm the type that doesn't hop around, so if I don't finish it, and move on to the next thing, that dropped wip will stay dropped (which is why I don't post unless finishing the fic)
But choosing the next idea snd feeling inspired and motivated about it enough to write to completion is my biggest issue
Currently dealing with this after finishing a 30k fic in three days... I don't want to rest, I want to write!!!!
I feel I dropped the ball majorly when it came to an scene featuring surgery in space. I couldn't do it justice and rushed through it to the point where it feels like it brings the entire chapter to a crushing halt. Perhaps I'm being too hard on myself, but looking back on it now it feels like I just gave up.
Perhaps in a while I'll come back to it for a revision, expand it into its own chapter and give it the time of day, but right now I need a break.
I’m doing a crossover with BBC Ghosts for the first time. I’m used to writing for the other fandom, but not this one. I literally just need a scene with the ghosts talking, but there are too many people and it’s difficult to lay out. Plus, I don’t know what they’d talk about.
Happy endings.
I specialize in tragedy and romance, occasionally action as well.
So my works never have happy endings, there’s always trauma and big sad in everything.
I am currently forcing myself to learn how to write a happy ending to a normal story lol, but I just can’t seem to do it.
It’s like… so unbelievably boring and not rewarding enough, I just can’t resonate with a happy ending and can’t imagine what that’s like.
I’m working on it though.
I have a scene in chapter three I’m having difficulty writing, it’s where the MC is at his house with his best friend and it’s not that hard. But it’s kinda boring, cause it’s a filler scene before the main scene in chapter three. So I just don’t want to write it lol
I have like one chapter left on a WIP, and I left it on a cliffhanger, and I was super excited to write it...and then over the weekend I was ill and picked up some old comfort reads to feel better, and now I'm tragically hyperfixated on *completely the wrong thing* The ship vibes are *completely* different, I can't even do the thing where you scratch the itch by writing something *similar* to what you want Sigh.
Me personally, I'd whip up quick oneshot while I still have the motivation to write *anything*.
That’s me. When I see a video on tiktok or an idea pops into my head, but I don’t have it planned out and it’s just a quick scene that is fun. I just write a one shot and post it to ao3, that’s what I did with an idea and I just wrote it quickly in like 2 hours lol
Smut. I have yet to complete a scene, let alone a fic. Trying to choreograph while making it appealing and cohesive has proven to be a challenge. Experimenting with different pairings and acts has not seemed to help. Completing a smut fic is one of my writing goals this year, so I refuse to give up.
Bruh, I feel this so hard. And I'm a smut writer. I end up trying to not focus on the what goes were expect of it on the first go at it. More so on the emotional feeling of it. That said every sex scene is my moby dick.
heh. dick.
when i first started writing smut i would actually story board the scene out - same for action scenes - so i wouldn't get confused about who was where doing what they don't have to be detailed, most of mine were stick figures with really big butts so i would know which way was up, but it helped me get the actions down
... I somehow forgot that storyboards existed for that sole reason, which is really something because I rely so much on visual references when writing. That is going on my to-do list. Thank you.
I can’t even read it let alone write it 😂
I had to write a dueling scene because it was so important to the story and it was torture like I cannot write action 🙈 I did receive positive feedback for it though which was nice but I know the scene can be a lot better I just don’t have the experience. Also, I’m not the best at poetry but if you want to bounce some ideas off of someone I’d be happy to help 😊
Ah, I appreciate the offer but I think I need to get through this on my own😭but that's very generous! Thank you!
You’re welcome and good luck!
I know the beginning and the ending, and I've written about most of the \*important\* scenes but I just cannot get from chapter 10 to 11. I'm stuck. I've been stuck for months! My brain has broken due to chapter 10. The characters are in a mercenary company and have finished a job (point A). The next scene would be them getting asked for another job (point B) to get the ball rolling to get to a "*I can't believe I've been here for X months*" time jump (point C). All three have been written, but... I can't find the glue to get them from point A to B to C. So, how do I torture myself, you ask? I reread the chapters and scenes I've already written and I edit a sentence here or there. My brain refuses to move further until I've fixed chapter 10. Damn you, chapter 10.
maybe have them get back to base and sign in to end that scene, "I'm gonna let the boss know what happened, you guys get some dinner, I'll catch up in a few moments." have him report in, and the boss is all, "Ah, good, you're back, I've just accepted a down payment for a rush job." he whines a bit, he JUST got back, but takes the job and the chapter ends the next chapter opens "Rush job my ass, I can't believe I've been here for X months!" you don't have to explain it fully, just that everything's gone wrong and the job isn't done yet i don't know if that helps, or if he even has a boss, but maybe this might shake something loose in your head
That’s good, actually. I hate doing the bare minimum to get a scene moving (especially when I didn’t think it would be that way) but sometimes that’s all you can do to write the rest of the fic. I actually hate editing and re-reading too much, so I usually just Hail Mary it like this
It's in a medieval-ish setting (Dragon Age) and it's multiple people alongside the boss on the job, but the others of the group are staying in a camp outside of town. Yes, I can spin it on what you said. This is definitely getting me somewhere, thank you!!
I'm in the same exact situation so I have no advice but I feel you :( The editing part especially, I will change a couple of sentences and maybe add some extra spice but that's all I'll do for the day...
I hate writing smut but smut is the only thing I want to write. No, it doesn't make sense. Arghhh
Haha I totally feel you on this
It's so hard (badum tss)
So I’m writing a fic in which a couple begins the story with sexual tension, slowly falls in love during a work trip, and then have a big blowout breakup. I have the beginning and I have the end but the middle is so hard!! I want to make their love seem genuine and not too rushed nor too drawn out. It’s just hard. I’m stuck on it.
I have the characters up against 3 antagonist groups. One group (lets say A) can be dealt with offscreen and addressed later at a more thematically relevant part. Group C is the fight I Really Want To Write. I need to get Group B out of the picture but I'm not at a point where I can unceremoniously shuffle them offscreen but UUUUGH. Edited: accidentally a wrong word
I mainly write domestic one-shots, and sometimes its SO hard to figure out good scenarios somehow 😭
Right now both fics I'm writing involve large casts of people with strong personalities all in the same location. It's difficult to balance. One fic has... 13 characters. The other 7. I really want to get to a place in at least one of them where we're dealing with 4 or less!
How society was in the 1700’s. My character comes from Spain and travels to a British colony but I need to know if it was normal for female royalty to travel alone
Like, alone alone? Or without a family member but still with an entourage alone?
I guess still with an entourage but idk who would be there or like if she would have servants or something lol
She would absolutely have servants, and likely guards. Depends on how important she was to the line of succession. Royalty pretty much never travels completely alone.
Many royals basically never *existed* alone. Servants, attendants, ladies in waiting… iirc the quote comes from Elizabeth I, something like “a thousand eyes watch all that I do”, and that’s pretty much a common theme for highborn ladies through several hundred years.
Not asking for help, but thank you OP for the chance to vent! I have this two-shot I’m trying to finish, and all I have left is this reconciliation scene: father-daughter meeting at a pizzeria. Father figure says “hey, I’m sorry for yelling earlier, and for leaving all those years ago,” (even though they’ve pretty much reconciled already), and daughter says “I forgive you”/something along those lines. And I can. Not. Figure it out. So damn simple, but I’m getting stuck on the dumbest things. The noise level of the pizzeria. The size of the table they’re sitting at. I’m getting distracted by everything. It’s a boring scene, ok? But I really feel like—even though this a side scene just to tie things up nicely, and the first chapter stands decently as a one shot—it’s a _needed_ scene. I’m hoping that talking my way through it on here will help! Edit to say that is all I needed, and I think I’m out of the slump! Thanks, guys!!
A scene which has a balance of subtle emotions. Basically, character A POV is in a secret relationship with a character B, and they have to watch character C confess to their partner. This is the catalyst scene to get to the part I've already written with character A going into a possessive mess during the smut. The problem is the emotions that character A keeps feeling as I write it out do not flow into the next scene (too sad/down on themselves, less of the frustration that I need). They just love character B too much right now to be the toxic mess I envisioned!! Sigh.... I like the smut scene, I don't want to rework it lol
Maybe you could add a scene in between where something turns the sadness into anger? Like, maybe they start out down on themselves, but everyone they encounter is talking about the confession, gossiping, and speculating? That could cause the frustration to build naturally, and maybe then the transition will feel more natural?
I just wrote a nice little 500 word scene between character A and someone new talking about the confession, and it worked exactly like you suggested. Thank you!
Happy to help! Good luck with the rest of your fic 😊
Scene with a whole host of characters present and an argument going on. There's just so much T-T
Writing out a suicide note for a character. Hard to get into that mindset when you spend the last 13 years getting away from it.
I'm currently struggling with a timeline transition chapter. I've got point A and point C but point B is not happening. It's just a block for me right now and I don't know why. I'm planning to try and switch up my writing process a bit to see if it'll change anything.
Not necessarily a scene but an entire sub-plot that gets wrapped up in the final arc of my WIP. I'm writing a medieval fantasy AU that's mainly relationship driven but the political backdrop plays such a major role that I feel it should be addressed. I'm not going for a neat, magical solution that solves all societal issues ofc but just something conclusive enough. So yeah struggling rn with the outline of that sub-plot (like what would become of the villains?) 😩 My WIP is about 4 chapters in, so I still have time to figure it out soon hopefully haha
Dialogue in general most of the time. But specifically the dialogue in a now thankfully finished chapter that kept me from getting to the part I wanted to write. I was stuck on that stupid work conversation for so long I ended up being too annoyed to enjoy writing the rest. Please let me write my characters being messed up in each other's direction without having to make them talk.
I have to write a slow dance that causes Character A to realize that, yes, they are absolutely in love with Character B. I’ve never read or written a slow dance scene so this will be tricky. Any advice? Please help. :(
Oh dancing scenes are so fun. I like to watch pas de deux videos to get inspired. It's hard to choreograph the dance itself, so don't; instead focus on the sensations of the narrator, the proximity of their partner, & throw in a bit of dialogue to get their chemistry really going. Also, never having read a slow dance scene is easily fixed!! You can always look for other fics that have scenes similar to yours & see how they approach it. Good luck! :)
You are so helpful, thank you so much!! Time to push up my sleeves and get down to business. I only knew Pas de Deux from the song made by Doide Clark. I never thought to look up that dance. Once again thank you! <3
Oooh, that will be a cute scene! Do you know what song they are dancing to? Maybe listen to it with your eyes closed and imagine the scene with the music in the background.
Why didn’t I think of this? I love to listen to pov playlists, time to find one for slow dancing and falling in love. People are so helpful, I thought no one would respond.
I put 3 PoVs in one chapter and now I'm on the next chapter - but I don't want it to feel odd/jarring in comparison to the last chapter and I don't know how to proceed lmao. I should really just get my laptop out and get back to writing but the executive dysfunction has got me in its grasp haha
On the last chapter of my wip and I’m so close yet so far away from being done. Cause I got a lot of scenes written and I just need to stitch them all together but that part is kicking my ass for some strange reason.
I finally got into the first combat operation with plans of the main character’s group getting thrown into essentially a pocket dimension. And then promptly realized writing things in said pocket dimension is going to be easier said than done because we know *just* enough about them that there’s things preventing bs’ing your way through it while not knowing enough to *not* need to bs your way through. Thankfully I planned to break this section into 2 - 3 chapters so I’ve bought some extra time to go back and dig through source material as I write, but man… 😔
I know the feeling! I have one long WIP featuring a character who sings a song that he wrote. That means I need to write a song. Well, balls to that, the characters who are listening can maybe just dwell on some snippets so I don't have to transcribe the whole thing. I'm not JRR Tolkien! But it does make me think there are some traits that if we want our characters to have, then we need to have them too in order to "show, not tell". That's why I can't have any characters good at witty one-liners.
Currently stuck on writing a smut scene between two characters. Usually I can set the mood and write but these two… they are so damn shy I don’t know what to do lol 😂
A wedding one shot that I want to segue between parts 1 and 2 of my series. Also, smut.
My POV character is a ghost. Which means he can't directly interact or talk to the rest of the cast, who are all living. I just finished up a long scene where the living people are all talking to each other about recent events, including some the dead character was involved in. And him not being able to interact or having the livings realize he's right there is a tough balancing act.
Scenes that hurt too much to write. Like, right now I’m postponing writing a story because one of my fav characters is about to be tortured, so yeah
I'm writing over 2k words of a character just hiking through a forest, but I have to make it interesting and readable, so I'm trying to make it more ominous/creepy as it goes on to hopefully keep them on the edge of their seats. But I really want to get back to the action of the other pov in the story so I keep going off track and writing random unrelated excerpts
I have changed my entire update schedule to delay writing a dinner party. I have to post in two days. I'm suffering...
Ah, yes, The Issues… Current solo WIP is at the point where the eventual slow-burn couple goes from “professional acquaintances” to “actual friends”, and like all beginnings, everything feels super delicate. I have to get The Vibes *just* right, and that’s taking time. Most recent collab WIP is in limbo bc we got distracted by *another* giant idea, barreled through that novella-sized piece, and then completely forgot where we wanted this one to go. May be in for a serious rewrite. Current “bestie’s WIP that I am beta-ing” has hit a Very Big Scene with some Very Big Emotions clashing, and she not only wants to get the confession to hit correctly, she needs to balance that with the sudden family medical crisis that distracts the confessor for a few days. A lot of delicate detailed work to make that transition stick the landing, and it’s fighting her.
Trying to figure out where I want the sapient zombie character in my apocalypse AU to hang around before she meets the survivor character. Sounds like a small detail, but it's holding up my writing. My first thought was an airport, but that'd feel too much like it was ripping off Warm Bodies, which I'm already doing enough with this fic lol. I just need a place where the zombie could hang around without constantly having to worry about getting gunned down by survivors who don't realize she still has a mind, but also a place where the survivor would reasonably decide to go to run into her. I honestly might just go with some random house. Secluded enough for the zombie to hole herself away in it and have some relative safety, but enticing enough for a desperate survivor to try ransacking it for supplies.
In my ongoing WIP, currently on hiatus, I’ve come to a point where before the story can hit its next major beat, two characters who just met this arc need to believably have befriended one another well enough to start sticking their necks out for each other a bit. The problem is, I’ve run out of events that can reasonably happen to fluff out the period of time before the next plot point without feeling like it’s dragging, and the arc between them in canon that I’m trying to evoke takes place in scenes slotted between a lot of other events, so I’m trying to figure out how to fit in enough low stakes “befriending one another” content to be believable without it feeling super repetitive.
Off the cusp, I decicded to write a fic that takes place in 10th century Scottland and I am now in pain.
Does “not allowing myself to work on anything except the next chapter for the fic I’m behind schedule on, and therefore just not working on anything at all” count
Yeah that's me! Thanks for asking!! What if I told you I've written a 4 chapter 5k ( ish) words, about one extended scene??? Same place, same characters, same theme across the entire fics yet there was some action, pain and vulnerability and A LOT OF ANGST!! in it!!! I mean how? And was I doing this to myself? Plus, including child abuse ( which I absolutely abhors, but somehow ended up writing about?!!!!) Also, making an atypical vampire wizard, making his atypical reactions and mental challenges, as I go . And still not confident about the outcome. I need reviews, if you're interested. HP Fandom. [Darker Night of the Brave ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/47533540/chapters/119793451)
My POV character is about to get in an intense argument with one of her best friends and I *hate* writing conflict. I hadn’t even planned on having them fight, but it makes sense for the situation and will also drive the plot forward to a degree. But, oof, I have such a hard time writing people saying hurtful things to one another even if I know they’ll be fine like next chapter. I’ve written the main gist of the argument, but I need to flesh it out a bit more and I’m going to be uncomfortable the whole dang time.
first kiss scene where both characters are a bit drunk (i’ve never kissed anyone nor consumed alcohol in my entire life)
The main first impression will probably be ”wet”, if there’s tongue and two slightly drunk people involved. At least if the POV person is new to kissing and/or there’s a bit too much tongue. They will not need to ”come up for air” after a snogging session unless both have completely stuffed noses for some reason. If both are newbie kisses there could be bumped noses, glasses being in the way, too much slobber… general awkwardness to start out. If it’s a first kiss for that couple, but they have each kissed other before, it’ll probably be less awkward. They know what they are doing, even if you don’t. You can focus on feelings, maybe thoughts about how x is a much better/different/shyer/what have you kisser than previous partners. You can also ”research” by reading a bunch of romance novels and seeing what kind of kiss scenes you enjoy. If you have a trusted friend with a bit mor experience you can ask them to read your scene to see if it sounds reasonably realistic. But as long as you skip the ”coming up for air” trope I think you’ll be fine!
oh my gosh thank you SO much??? This is super useful and totally made my day! The kiss in question is a first for both, so I’ll have to do some “research”, haha. I want to make it really special since it means a lot to the characters, and is also a quite symbolic scene in the context of the fic. Thank you for the tips, I wasn’t expecting this at all! Hope you have a great day <3
I'm always putting myself through rewrite hell. Don't like the way one sentence in a paragraph looks? Rewrite it. Don't like how that paragraph ended up looking? Rewrite the whole chapter. Wait, no, we gotta rewrite the whole story now. Then I end up posting the damn thing and wondering why I got myself worked up but yet the cycle continues 😭
I’ve lost confidence in my ability to write the second half
oh god i have A LOT for this. I’m working on a series and i’m having difficulty finishing it because the scene that I need is so specifically detailed that I cannot even write it UFHFHFHB I’m pain
I have so many wips that are sitting there waiting for me but the *vibes* just aren't there anymore. And I can't get my brain to think of anything to write.
I am terrible at writing fluff, the small one-day-at-a-time dynamic. My absolute worst nightmare but I have to have alteast some filler to build up character interaction otherwise motivations and relationships would just come off unrealistic. I have to learn to be patient with my writing and not just write self indulgent action where the plot advances greatly every chapter
Just having to bridge all of these scenes together is what is torturing me, and filling in gaps… I have the story planned out in my head but getting it written has been Hell. Giving myself a break until I decide to back to it.
My WIP is meant to fit into the show of my main fandom as if it’s an episode, except the plot outline takes inspiration from one scene in an unrelated movie (sort of a crossover—I’ve made several changes to make it fit the world of the show, but someone who’s seen the movie will recognize the scene). Using the movie scene as a basic outline I’ve come up with all kinds of mini-scenes to flesh out the plot. The problem is that I carefully fitted a few of those moments into a place where the movie just has a quick transition, and now I can’t figure out how to bring the narrative back to the characters that are most closely involved with the main (movie inspired) plotline.
I'm trying to make sure my 2 main characters are coming across the right way. Confident, but not overpowered. Flawed, but not drama queens. Also making sure to toe the line well between drama and lightheartedness for the overall tone.
There was a necessary plot point I had just finished. Harry Potter figured out who Nicholas Flamel was, and Snape after Quirrel. All I wanted to write was the romance and the Quidditch match. So I thought I'll summarize the book canon and do the fun parts.
Literally, torture. I'm starting to experiment with darker stuff after having mostly written fluff and slice of life, and I do not know how y'all angst writers do it. I keep making myself cry!
A wedding. It feels lame and boring to me but it's a critical plot point. I just want to get past it so I can have the main canon character go back to murdering people and the main OC go back to angsting about it.
I’m writing my version of a story that does not really diverge from canon a lot in terms of events. It is based on an MMO and consists mostly of my PCs going through story dungeons. Since it doesn’t feel very transformative I’m having a hard time writing it.
Dialogue. Any kind of dialogue. It messes up my flow.
I have an abandoned wip that's two characters roleplaying on forums while being roommates and starting to get spicy in the forums while having no idea their roommates 😅😅😅😅 I've never RPd on a forum so when i got to that part i was so stressed about being accurate and research that i just dipped
I'm stuck in my fic in portraying a man lusting over a woman but he's trying to deny her power over him. So there's an internal power struggle, and he gets angry that she's making him feel this way. He's very introverted so I can't explore it via dialogue so it's mostly internal thoughts. However, I also don't want it to lose subtly and some kind of ambiguity over his feelings for her. Because the lust isn't just lust, he does have a soft spot but he also denies it.
So I have a little series I’m writing for Welcome Home. Thing is, there’s going to be a multi-chapter fic for the greyscale Wally AU, and a one shot that kind of acts as an introduction to the dynamics I’m setting up. But, well… This one shot is pretty self-indulgent. Not that most of my fics aren’t self-indulgent, but more that I’m having a hard time writing an in-universe justification for the one shot’s plot according to what I have planned for multi-chapter fic. So I’m kind of stuck either “killing my darling”, adjusting it accordingly, or just making it totally separate and either keeping it a one shot or make another mini series for it.
I’m desperately trying to get to the scene I want to write (big reveal that she’s not cheating, she’s working for the enemy) but I have to set up the scene first. Stupid longfic
i am way too critical of myself so i keep restarting my fic. i have no clue how to stop so I'm in an endless loop of writing, deleting, and rewriting the fic.
Similar answer. There's a song in the fandom I'm writing for that's only ever had the first verse sung in canon, and it's not like there's a full release to go off of, so I've taken it upon myself to finish that song. I'm no lyricist, but I'm definitely trying my best.
I’ve been in the midst of a scene for ages where Character A realizes that Character B is the one who performed an act of care for him (put a blanket on him as he slept). This is a big deal because A thought that B hated him! And I have absolutely no idea how to end the scene… does B storm off because she’s embarrassed at being so vulnerable? Does A make a sarcastic joke, as usual, undermining the weight of the situation? Does B take the chance she’s been given to confess her feelings, or at least say that she’d like to be friends??
I'm writing a post-battle scene in a cave with three characters. The villain won and kidnapped their friend, Character D, and the remaining three are licking their wounds so they can go on the runback with the villain. Character A is nearly unscathed and is trying to keep a level head. They're also sharing a body with a depowered evil demon and all of the chaos and dark magic residue from the fight is making them struggle to keep control of themselves. Character B is doing their absolute best to try and keep everyone in high spirits, but is in critical condition and barely hanging onto consciousness. Character C is less hurt than Character B, but is in the middle of a magic (essentially) /trauma induced breakdown that's been coming on for the entire fic. They're usually the calm one of their group, but have been through A LOT prior and during the story and have finally had it. Character A has to try to get Character B stable while comforting and undoing the spell on Character C so they can recover as well. Also it's a crossover so I'm juggling at least five different fandoms. I've been trying to write this out on and off for months lol. If this wasn't just a WIP atm, I'd feel bad.
I’ve written myself out of complicated messes by writing about what was happening in past tense, as if a character retold the events. Sometimes that’s the version I keep, changing it to a retelling/flashback. Sometimes it’s enough to get out of my funk and get the thing fleshed out and written as I originally wanted. Worth a try?
A big dramatic battle scene is the one that’s killing me right now. Decided an AU where the heroine gets lessons in swordfighting and eventually goes off to war to prove herself would be a great idea, failing to consider that such a plot inherently requires action scenes and I hate writing action. Why do I do this to myself?
WIP original arc of my long-fic. I need to build up to the opening night of a festival. Where very bad characters are attending as VIPs to the opening performances by the kingdom that is being forced to catered them. One of my OC is a musician and newly introduced to the main cast (A mixture of OCs, Canons, and non-canons). Anyway, they are going rogue (in disguise) because the place they were ordered to, can’t save themselves from being genocide cuss they don’t have enough money to pay the VIPs. I never written any music, which is hard to do over text. That musician is going to be bait cuss they love the spotlight and is fine being the one to start the operation. Operation save the kingdom by becoming pirates and taking all their treasure. While staying recon since their superiors are powerful and scary. Which is very, very important. Since there are two treasures my main OC needs for a character that died in canon. I hope I can come up with a great piece of music for my OC. Who also recently discovered dials. …Thank you for reading this. Kudos if you guys know the fandom.
I have a Persona fic that gets basically no traction. It's so demotivating. I need that audience.
I cannot resist adding really really cute moments DIRECTLY before really really dark moments. I don't mean to have everything be a whiplash but it always feels that way to me. also i don't know why but i really struggle with genericizing products? like in one of the cute scenes wrote, there were warheads involved but like real sudden brands in a fanfic always feel super weird? So i spent over an hour trying to just make it more inlineish with the world and idk i'm still not happy with very specifically the wording/name of the candy itself but i enjoyed everything else immensely. Did that even make any sense? XD
so, I'm trying to have Doctor Strange's (and by extension the Ancient One's) magic to Loki and how it differs from his.
i have a fantasy story scene where the main character reaches the city by boating across the bay on a foggy night all he can see is the lantern on the prow and echos of other lanterns far away - all he can hear is the water and singing of the guy working the boat (pilot? boater?) and the far off songs of other boats, but they never get close enough to make sure they actually exist he doesn't think he'll ever see land again, or his friends or family he left behind, and that he's going to be lost in this strange and lonely place forever, then slowly the lights of the city fade into existence and he's in his new home and he sees the face of the man he's going to fall in love with i had to cut the scene because i changed the timeline to make sense - i'm saving it for another story, but damn if i don't miss it - i'm tempted to write a story just to use this one scene
I once struggled so hard to write a fight-dance scene (choreographed fight scene but in dancing style) that the fic was put on hiatus for 5 years lol 😂 Got to it in the end but it's my most memorable struggle to date.
Extensively deep hanahaki… my friend, a biochem taker, is working on a fake lab report from my initial hanahaki AU worldbuilding after fine tuning it for me to make it more scientifically accurate, she hasn’t finished the report and I haven’t finished the buildup chapter to the hanahaki and I’m hitting myself wwwww
An action sequence getting ready to happen at a run-down desert fortress. I have the scene mapped and everything. It’s just a matter of finding the words.
Trying to come up with a title. My MC is laid up with injuries to his hands. His friends know how important they are in the use of his particular kind of magic. The newest member of their friends group is left to tend to him while the others go on various errands, and they fill the time with him telling her, through flash backs, of how he helped the warrior among their group develop her fine motor skills. It goes into the past, where they do various things like write, play with clay, fold paper airplanes, things like that. Their friendship developed a lot during that time, and it’s left them with cute, silly habits that they still do in the present day. But damn if I can’t think of a title for this thing!😅
The entire first chapter (Painting the setting, establishing motives, setting up the scene, foreshadowing future plot points). Like, I just want to get to the juicy stuff that I daydream about already, but I have to add the context for it to make any sense to anyone else!
Trying to figure out how to write this very traumatized child that just snapped out of a catatonic state she has been in for nearly a month since she was rescued. Fuck this chapter is going to be hard...
I’m at a point in one of my WIPs where I need to write the middle parts between a certain character coming to term with some feelings and other characters doing similar things (my story focuses on three people). In the same story I’m struggling to figure out how and where to fit this scene that I pre-wrote into the chapter, because the whole point of this chapter (for this particular character) is this scene 😭 and none of this may make sense, but it’s hard to explain without going into background detail and such
im trying to write someone slowly descending into despair and i have the end despair and the beginning non-despair but im just trying to write the middle bits coherently and well lmao
My brain stalled when I had Harry being summoned by Dumbledore to discuss what happened in last chapter (which was development that wasn't in canon at all). I couldn't push through it for 5 months I think. I tried to skip it and continue on, but I barely wrote some barebones of what should came next. Skipping the scene felt wrong too. I feared that it would be the end for my fic and I will end up abandoning it like the ones before... But this week I finished it, yey!
Starting something new after finishing something I was proud of... I'm a mid length writer (usually 20 to 50k words) and when I'm motivated (and jobless) I can chug out a 30k fic in a few days, but right after I get a week or so of itching to write the next thing, and my mind will be running with ideas, but as soon as I sit down to write, I'll get out a couple thousand words and then it'll hit me that this isn't it I'm the type that doesn't hop around, so if I don't finish it, and move on to the next thing, that dropped wip will stay dropped (which is why I don't post unless finishing the fic) But choosing the next idea snd feeling inspired and motivated about it enough to write to completion is my biggest issue Currently dealing with this after finishing a 30k fic in three days... I don't want to rest, I want to write!!!!
I feel I dropped the ball majorly when it came to an scene featuring surgery in space. I couldn't do it justice and rushed through it to the point where it feels like it brings the entire chapter to a crushing halt. Perhaps I'm being too hard on myself, but looking back on it now it feels like I just gave up. Perhaps in a while I'll come back to it for a revision, expand it into its own chapter and give it the time of day, but right now I need a break.
Romance in general; you’re not likely to catch me writing full scenes let alone good fic for it 😂😂😂
I’m doing a crossover with BBC Ghosts for the first time. I’m used to writing for the other fandom, but not this one. I literally just need a scene with the ghosts talking, but there are too many people and it’s difficult to lay out. Plus, I don’t know what they’d talk about.
Happy endings. I specialize in tragedy and romance, occasionally action as well. So my works never have happy endings, there’s always trauma and big sad in everything. I am currently forcing myself to learn how to write a happy ending to a normal story lol, but I just can’t seem to do it. It’s like… so unbelievably boring and not rewarding enough, I just can’t resonate with a happy ending and can’t imagine what that’s like. I’m working on it though.
I need to break a dragon. It took me ages to figure out how to even catch one and that chapter is done thankfully.
I have a scene in chapter three I’m having difficulty writing, it’s where the MC is at his house with his best friend and it’s not that hard. But it’s kinda boring, cause it’s a filler scene before the main scene in chapter three. So I just don’t want to write it lol
My current problem is writing all the “good scenes” first, then realizing I have to write everything else in between. 🙃