which scenes do you find hard to write?

Byakuya · Aug 21, 2009

I saw this post on another forum, but there were few replies, so i'm hoping to get more here.

Which scenes do you find hard to write? such as opening scenes, conflict scenes, infodump scenes etc...

I don't know how to put this, but personally, the bits i find hardest to write are the "filler" scenes, where you write inbetween the action or major plot points. I think it's because when i don't have some kind of objective for the scene, i kinda go astray and it messes up my ideas.

Mythical Tiger · Aug 22, 2009

The scenes that are hard for me to write would have to be the fighting scenes. Or the training scenes where Kai teaches Tessa how to fight :tongue

. One other thing that's hard for me is if an opening of any kind is an entryway, exit, doorway, or something else. Like my last scene theres an arched opening in Tessa's hospital den room. Theres curtains instead of doors and I called it a doorway. Hey I could call it and opening with curtains! Now I need to go fix it before I forget :tongue

.

Sorry for rambling on there. Happy writng!

~Sam

Mumut · Aug 22, 2009

I suppose mine is the start, the very first scene, in the sequels. I want to get into the action as soon as possible but I've left the last story in a cliff hanger or with MC discovering there is still unfinished business in what she thought was home and hosed. I want the book enjoyable if read first but satisfying to someone reading it in sequence.

What I do is write it and keep going but then I get to a stage where I think of something better so I change it. Then later I change it again and so on until the book has been written. By then it should be acceptable.

Danthia · Aug 22, 2009

For me, endings. I'm so focused on goal-conflict-complication structure that it's hard for me to just let things END -grin-. I always want to throw in one more problem, so it's tough to wrap things up.

Wark · Aug 22, 2009

The important ones. The "talking about sandwiches" scenes are easy.

I can write action and dialog all day, but in a scene where someone dies, or hope is lost, I flounder. I might write it OK, but it doesn't feel like it. -> doubt

Danth, I also can't do endings. My WIP ends with a cliche wake-from-coma. It has to, but...how do my people act when that happens? I can't ask the reader to play soft, victorious music as they read the last page to signal the end.

Libbie · Aug 22, 2009

Danthia said:
For me, endings. I'm so focused on goal-conflict-complication structure that it's hard for me to just let things END -grin-. I always want to throw in one more problem, so it's tough to wrap things up.

Oh my god, ME TOO. It's way hard for me to actually tie things up.

backslashbaby · Aug 22, 2009

The 1st and last because they are so important.

But, yeah, all of those transition scenes! I'm on my first draft of my WIP, and the fascinating things are easy. But at the moment it's too choppy and I need some pacing filler. What to include; what's boring? Oy. I hear ya.

lauraannwilliams · Aug 22, 2009

The easiest scene to write for me are two characters discussing whatever plot point I want them to reveal. ( Darth Vader 'Luke, I am your father' sort of scenes. ).

The hard part is rewriting them so they aren't crap. ( In my version, Luke would have clung to the pole thingy long enough to have several paragraphs of dialog, asking a ton of questions before falling. )

In my current story everyone has a secret, ( or just knows stuff the main character doesn't ), and trying to figure out how to reveal it and when is driving me nuts. ( "Oh, no one told you Darth was Luke's father? See, this is how it went down.... " ).

Blech.

firedrake · Aug 22, 2009

The end scene...I find it hard to let go sometimes.

Naughty bits. I'm getting better, but they're still tough.

Filler bits between major plot things...trying to justify their existence and make them interesting enough to hold the readers' attention is bloody hard work!

Samantha's_Song · Aug 22, 2009

For me it's the violent scenes. I'm not usually a violent-thinking person, but with my works often having that element of violence in it, I have to keep rewriting it until I think it comes over to the reader as I see it in my mind's eye.

thethinker42 · Aug 22, 2009

Byakuya said:
Which scenes do you find hard to write? such as opening scenes, conflict scenes, infodump scenes etc...

Sex scenes. Hands down. I think I'm good at writing them, and the vast majority of my books have quite a few of them (I write erotic romance, after all)...but they're not easy to write at all.

scarletpeaches · Aug 22, 2009

Liar. You're too good at them to find them ha- I mean difficult.

I hate writing scenes where I have to hurt my characters emotionally.

barbilarry · Aug 22, 2009

I agree with the thinker42. How to appeal to the masses, you know different strokes for different folks. Deciding what would appeal to the most readers and at the same time not offend anyone.

I'm aoso writing my first crime/mystery. I am having a horrible time with red herrings and clues.

Jane

thethinker42 · Aug 22, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
Liar. You're too good at them to find them ha- I mean difficult.

They're still not easy to write. It's a safe bet that I've written over 100 of them in the last year, and they're still hard. I mean...erm...

You know what I mean.

I hate writing scenes where I have to hurt my characters emotionally.

That too. Those are difficult in the "this hurts" sense.

Sex scenes are just plain old difficult. LOL

thethinker42 · Aug 22, 2009

barbilarry said:
I agree with the thinker42. How to appeal to the masses, you know different strokes for different folks. Deciding what would appeal to the most readers and at the same time not offend anyone.

It's not that...the difficulty for me comes from trying to be true to the scene/characters. Getting just the right level of sensuality, touching on all five senses so that the reader is as "into it" as the characters, etc.

I write erotica and erotic romance...I'm not concerned with offending people. I'm concerned with being true to my characters and my story. Some people will find a reason to be offended no matter what, and while I don't go out of my way to offend them, I also don't go out of my way not to. So that's not an issue at all...they're just not easy scenes to write.

scarletpeaches · Aug 22, 2009

Aye.

I write for readers of erotica. Not people who are offended by it. That way lies madness and a bucket of WTFery.

thethinker42 · Aug 22, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
Aye.

I write for readers of erotica. Not people who are offended by it. That way lies madness and a bucket of WTFery.

QFT.

Ruth2 · Aug 22, 2009

Transition scenes because getting from here to there can be boring. I hate info dumping..

Sex scenes, just because -- although I did find someone to beta the ones I'm not sure about for me.

Caramia · Aug 22, 2009

Conveying veiled emotions is my hurdle.

Byakuya · Aug 22, 2009

I thought i'd be one of the only ones who struggles with particular scenes, i guessed wrong.

But reading all your replies i've seen a few other parts that i have trouble with also =3

I was drunk when i wrote the post so forgive me, it seemed like a good question at the time. =P

scarletpeaches · Aug 22, 2009

Drunken posting? Well I am disgusted. As if I ever-

Wait.

Never mind.

ChaosTitan · Aug 22, 2009

Ditto sex scenes. I've only written a handful, but they are by and far the hardest scenes for me to write. I'd rather write hand-to-hand combat or a terrible, emotional breakdown for the MC. Torture someone, even.

scarletpeaches · Aug 22, 2009

ChaosTitan said:
Ditto sex scenes. I've only written a handful, but they are by and far the hardest scenes for me to write. I'd rather write hand-to-hand combat or a terrible, emotional breakdown for the MC. Torture someone, even.

That is sex, isn't it?

Adam · Aug 22, 2009

End scenes, and romance scenes. Thankfully my writing usually doesn't involve much romance, but when it does, bleh.

ChaosTitan · Aug 22, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
That is sex, isn't it?

It certainly can be.... :ROFL:

which scenes do you find hard to write?

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