Learning to Write

[queenoftheskies]

What has been the most difficult thing you've had to learn/are trying to learn, as a writer?

Why? (If you know why.)

What has been the easiest thing you've had to learn/are learning, as a writer?

And, once again, if you know, why?

Comments

[calene.livejournal.com]

What has been the most difficult thing you've had to learn/are trying to learn, as a writer?

Why? (If you know why.)

Patience -- That whole thing about this being a slow business never really ends. Even when you finally take a major step forward in your submissions, there is still a LOT of waiting involved.

What has been the easiest thing you've had to learn/are learning, as a writer?

And, once again, if you know, why?

Butt in chair, hands on keyboard. Don't know why it was the easiest for me to learn. I just know it didn't take long to learn.

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

I'm going to pretty much agree with calene on this one :)

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

What has been the most difficult thing you've had to learn/are trying to learn, as a writer?

Why? (If you know why.)

That there is more to telling a coherent, compelling story than just throwing words on a page. Plot and structure and narrative arc and having it all make sense was hard for me at first.



What has been the easiest thing you've had to learn/are learning, as a writer?

And, once again, if you know, why?

Econony of words and the use of language to enhance what I'm writing. I think writing all the poetry I write really helps here.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

I'm going for patience too. I want to send something out as soon as I've finished the first draft, and this has almost always been wrong wrong wrong. (In fact, I can only think of two good examples where I sold something after sending it out so soon.) I also shamefully admit that I've ignored some good markets in the past because of their return times.

I suppose it's just because I know how inexorably long the publishing process can take, and I try to jump the gun--often then screwing myself over in the process.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

Hmmm--actually I think brevity is still an equally big challenge too. I always seem to overwrite and haven't yet learned exactly what to cut. Don't know why.

[kimberlychapman.livejournal.com]

Hardest: discipline. Some days I'm addicted to my story and will write so long I'll forget to eat or go to the bathroom. Other days, the TV or a computer game beckons.

Of course, that's pre-baby. Now I'll take any scrap of time I can for writing, and it's never enough.

Easiest: just listening to the characters. At any time of day or night, I can tune in to them and watch them like a TV show. I can set it to my mood or do it randomly. This allows them to come out as individuals, not just different types of me.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

The easiest thing to learn, I think, was dialogue. I just copied the way my friends and I speak.

The hardest is discipline. I don't write nearly as much as I should, and not as quickly. This vexes me, and yet I do nothing about it.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

Hardest thing was to learn to stop listening to advice that didn't suit me, to learn to trust my own instincts and not get frustrated when the advice didn't suit me.

Why? Because I thought everyone knew more than I did. Especially published writers (including those who write how-to-write books) and writing teachers.

Easiest? Hmmm.... Once I got past the hangup of the hardest, the rest has been a breeze. So far. ;)

I write a continuing universe that spans over 100 years......

[dracschick.livejournal.com]

and I write my stories out of chronological order. It's interesting and challenging sometimes to go back and have to fill in stuff. Also, sometimes, I have to go back and read my older stories to make sure I don't contradict myself along the way.

[icepicklobotomy.livejournal.com]

Poetry.
Because I bloody hate it.

[pet-hypothesis.livejournal.com]

What has been the most difficult thing you've had to learn/are trying to learn, as a writer?

Honestly? That I'm not special. That I never will be special. And that that's not the point :-)

[johnwrt1.livejournal.com]

Most difficult - Getting it finished is just perseverance - After that all you need is a lot more perseverence to do endless revisions.
Easiest - Getting into the story - I find it very easy to make the situations and people come alive in my own head. Then I just write down what happened in my mind. Often I will have an entire chapter worked out in detail in my head before I ever put a word on the screen.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Dialog came natural for me, scarcely had to 'learn' it: a 'got it free' card as Matociquala and others say. Punctuation, tags, gestures instead of tags, all that.

What's being harder is ... I guess they call it 'voice'.