Which is harder...

Nateskate · Mar 28, 2008

Do you find it harder to come up with ideas or to write them out?

I find ideas come quite easily. Over the span of my writing, making them work on paper has always been such a chore for me. But I imagine others feel otherwise.

Which part is harder for you?

mscelina · Mar 28, 2008

the ideas. I've countered that by spending a portion of each day world-building. I build all sorts of worlds and characters that are just waiting in my files to be used. That way when I do come up with an idea, I can plug it in to a world whose history and characteristics are already done and dive straight into the story.

ChaosTitan · Mar 28, 2008

Write them out, definitely.

For me, ideas are easy. They float around in my head, just waiting for their chance to escape into a story. It's the BIC part that's harder.

geardrops · Mar 28, 2008

I think by the sheer fact that we can readily joke about "I have this idea, you write it, and we'll split the money" kind of tells you which is harder.

Which is why lots of people say "You know, I have this great novel idea I should write sometime" and so few people actually set their asses down and do it.

ChaosTitan · Mar 28, 2008

dempsey said:
Which is why lots of people say "You know, I have this great novel idea I should write sometime" and so few people actually set their asses down and do it.

The minute I told a co-worker I was a fiction writer, she says, "You know, I've had this idea for a book...."

maestrowork · Mar 28, 2008

Developing the ideas into a complete story is the hardest. Ideas are a dime a dozen.

Even in published work, sometimes the idea is so good that the actual execution pales in comparison. Too often I'd say "sheesh, if I had an idea like that I would have done a different and much better plot than this." Of course, it's easier said than done.

Mel · Mar 28, 2008

Ideas are always popping up. Writing them out is the hard part for me. Coming up with enough substance to fill the idea is what stumps me too often. Hence, too many languishing on my hard drive.

icerose · Mar 28, 2008

Writing it, definitely. I have ideas sprouting out of places they shouldn't! Writing them takes time, dedication, practice, patience, and so much more.

triceretops · Mar 28, 2008

I can't get the right idea. I don't have trouble getting it written. I need that super nova premise/concept. I've got all the other basis covered. I'm getting knocked down for concept repeatedly.

Tri

Charlie Horse · Mar 28, 2008

Well, when you consider it takes around a year (for me anyway) to complete a novel, I figure the 3 or 4 ideas for future work I have will easily hold me over until I come up with a few more.

EncrustedDaddy · Mar 28, 2008

A great idea poorly executed is a waste. A not-terribly-original idea expertly crafted is a best-seller. As an example, look at James Patterson. There's little that's original about a detective-chases-serial-killer thriller. But he does them so well that he can now buy expensive things just to see what they sound like when they are dropped from the top of his mansion.

The writing, to me, is always the harder part. Which I like, 'cause I think it's the part I'm better at.

Axelle · Mar 28, 2008

I'm not so sure, actually. It depends. Ordinarily, I'd agree with everybody else and say, the writing is the hard part, but I'm currently dealing with a major plot problem, and I keep thinking "goodness, if only I managed to fix that I could get some writing done".

Because, I mean, sure the writing takes a lot of time, and sometimes it's tedious, but when you push yourself you can always sit down and write something, regardless of the quality. But when you don't have ideas, you can't make them come by sheer strength of will.

Novel ideas aren't that hard to find, sure. I haven't had trouble with that since I learnt how to get my imagination to function properly. But the smaller details of the plot can be hell to work out.

rugcat · Mar 28, 2008

maestrowork said:
Developing the ideas into a complete story is the hardest. Ideas are a dime a dozen.

For me, writing is easy. (comparatively) It's the ideas that are the hard part. Or maybe, as Ray says, it's developing the idea into a story.

The big ideas are a dime a dozen, sure. Man seeks revenge on the killer of his wife. Man wakes up after twenty years in a coma and must deal with the changed world. Woman must choose between her husband and her child.

But the details that fill out the grand idea are equally important, if not more so, and to me that comes under the heading of "ideas."

TracyR · Mar 28, 2008

Writing it all out. I usually come up with either the beginning or the end right away, then decide on the other soon thereafter. It's all the middle stuff that's so hard to plot, plan, weave, thread, and write.

bluntforcetrauma · Mar 28, 2008

Nateskate said:
Do you find it harder to come up with ideas or to write them out?

I find ideas come quite easily. Over the span of my writing, making them work on paper has always been such a chore for me. But I imagine others feel otherwise.

Which part is harder for you?

Same here.

Mumut · Mar 28, 2008

I find general ideas are easy but new ideas in a specific situation are difficuly. Writing them adequately takes time and lots of editing but I wouldn't say it's difficult. But to keep interest and action in some areas (the saggies!) is harder for me.

JustGo · Mar 28, 2008

Heh, I personally find research to be the hardest part, but that's beside the point...

I think it's much tougher to come up with viable ideas. I can force myself to write 3000 words a day if I'm up against a deadline (and that's just for a class - if I ever get an editor, I should make them very happy that way), but I'll spend weeks agonizing over a good premise, starting and throwing away stories, giving up and starting again. Maybe I'm too concerned with originality - as EncrustedDaddy said, you don't need it as much as you need good writing - but I can't stand writing something if I can think of another book or film with the same concept.

ishtar'sgate · Mar 28, 2008

Nateskate said:
Do you find it harder to come up with ideas or to write them out?

I find ideas come quite easily. Over the span of my writing, making them work on paper has always been such a chore for me. But I imagine others feel otherwise.

Which part is harder for you?

I always have way too many ideas. Once I get that 'what if' ball rolling I can't seem to stop it. The writing part is the hard part.
Linnea

donroc · Mar 28, 2008

I believe it was Dickens who said: "Genius is 5%inspiration and 95% hard work."

Nateskate · Mar 29, 2008

dempsey said:
I think by the sheer fact that we can readily joke about "I have this idea, you write it, and we'll split the money" kind of tells you which is harder.

Which is why lots of people say "You know, I have this great novel idea I should write sometime" and so few people actually set their asses down and do it.

Lol- that was me a number of years ago when I felt my novel was getting away from me. "Somebody help me get this mess straightened out!" No volunteers came, so I kept plugging.

But when push comes to shove, I'm surprised how rarely the ideas people share are fleshed out more than just the initial theme. "Hey I have this book idea."

jannawrites · Mar 29, 2008

I think both can be hard, one no more than the other; it depends on which aspect you're working on.

During work on the first draft of my novel, it was the culmination of ideas - working toward the complete plot - that was hard. And now that I'm at the editing stage (wahoo!), it's polishing the flow and fleshing things out that's the hard part. Know what I mean?

Seaclusion2 · Mar 29, 2008

I think it was Thomas Edison who said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Richard

DamaNegra · Mar 29, 2008

Definitely writing out my ideas.... in a way that will entice other people to read.

DeadlyAccurate · Mar 29, 2008

dempsey said:
I think by the sheer fact that we can readily joke about "I have this idea, you write it, and we'll split the money" kind of tells you which is harder.

No one's ever said that to me, but when that day comes, I'm handing them two pennies and telling them, "That's what your idea is worth. Don't spend it all in one place."

Constantine K · Mar 30, 2008

Ideas coming to me daily. Finding one that I think could become a novel-length story . . . not so much.

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