14 thoughts on “Reader Friday: The Hardest Part

  1. The hardest part is whatever I’m doing right now. And it seems to get harder as the years go by.

  2. Finding traction in the early going. It’s just like the photo you used, Jim. I feel like I’m pushing that boulder up hill until about page 100 then the darn thing just starts rolling and I race to keep up.

    • Me too – it’s that first steep climb and then suddenly the story seems to gain its own momentum…at least until the first draft is finished and you have to begin editing… and you have to push that boulder back up the hill!

  3. Starting the novel. Trying to introduce the characters and the place, set the mood and the scene in the first chapter without giving too much information or adding too many characters.

  4. Great question. I think the answer connects to the author’s ultimate goal. If the goal is to be introspective on the relationship (for example), between a man and his dog… by all means go for it, but adjust your market expectations accordingly. If you’re writing a thriller – by definition, in that case, you’re shooting for a large commercial audience – then match your expectations in that regard with a high level of knowledge about the craft.

    The hardest part isn’t the writing, it’s coming up with something readers are eager to engage with. Sometimes the writing assists in that, other times the writing disappears (if you do it well; bad writing never disappears, it screams to be noticed) because the story itself is so imaginative and immersive.

    For novelists there are always multiple balls to keep in the air as we juggle concept, premise, character, theme, structure and, of course, our marvelous sentences and paragraphs and scenes, all of them separate and essential to the task at hand.

  5. I’d hafta say getting out my own way~ as in making the time during the “creative” hours around the day-job~ and before Morpheus k-o’s me in the evening.

  6. Getting started on the daily writing.

    When I get up, my mind is still foggy and I can’t start writing fiction right away.

    So I do other things, like check my mail, review non-fiction products and stuff, and then other things happen and time flies, and suddenly it’s too late to write fiction.

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