What's the most frustrating part about writing a novel?

Remembering all the little details so they don't become plot holes.

Finishing the writing and realizing that you have either of these still to do:

If self publishing: The mountain of self advertising you have to do.

If getting an agent: The metaphorical brick wall that is the query/proposal.

finishing

Never being sure if it's 'done', then having to write the query and synopsis.

I love everything but the later phase... the phase when you've already rewritten it a bunch and finally have the story set in stone and now you're just editing it and trying to find the exact right words to explain everything. That's usually the point I start getting bored, and inspiration is beginning to pull me in a new direction. It takes everything to ignore the ache to move on to the next story and get the current one done.

Transitions; writing those necessary bits to get from good part to good part.

Starting the book. I always fret about such a commitment and look ahead to projected work and other commitments.

During the course of getting the first draft down, I inevitably come to a dead end. It can happen anywhere, close to the beginning, in the swampy middle, or near the conclusion. The final chapter is fully formed in my mind, but I suddenly have no idea how to travel from where I am to where I want to go. The last book took me to Chapter Three, and then the dead-end monster struck me down. Two months later, it still had me in a strangle hold. At that point, because I get cranky when I'm not writing, I started another book, and I am now within two chapters of the end. I can see it, but I cannot reach it.

Deciding whether to spend the royalty check on the Ferrari or the Maserati.

Jeff

I think that feeling (usually during a full rewrite) that something isn't working and the fix is to start from scratch. There's that time period where you know the answer is to start over, but you can't bring yourself to admit it.

tharris said:

I think that feeling (usually during a full rewrite) that something isn't working and the fix is to start from scratch. There's that time period where you know the answer is to start over, but you can't bring yourself to admit it.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I'm going through right now with a current WIP--120, 000+ words in and while I love the characters and have been having a lot of fun with them, I've realized the premise is too cliched and needs to be started from scratch. Thankfully, a lot of what I wrote in terms of the world building and side characters can still be used, and I am already coming up with a new, less cliched premise, but I'm balking at actually physically beginning the rewrite XD

I'd saying, when you know how you want it all to end and you know how it starts, but you have no idea how to reach that end.

I'm wondering: When you guys - tharris and Pancubuzz - say you are doing a rewrite, does that mean an edit that starts at the beginning and goes through the whole book, or do you mean you throw away your draft and start all over without referencing the earlier version or doing any copy/paste?

@WeaselFire: Go with the Maserati.

plotting secondary conflicts

primary usually is figured out when I start a project, but bringing in the threads of what internal conflicts occur, which are important and which are just getting in the way, what makes things flow and which ones drag... UGH.

Secondary to that is the unreliable narrator taking over plot direction. At least two books have been shelved for years due to their influence writing me into a corner.

For me the most frustrating part about writing a novel is getting the first draft written. Takes me years. And that's because I don't write more than I do write.

Querying!

At the moment, because I'm editing, the most frustrating thing is deciding what I need to throw out. Keep in mind that I am the kind of person whose closet is stuffed with clothes that haven't been worn in 10 years.

Love writing, love editing, but hate querying.

Getting over my own fear and insecurity is the hardest and most frustrating part of writing so far. I have all these ideas, but I try to put fingers to keyboard and no apparently they all suck. It's not true, of course, but it's very hard to ignore.

All of it.

WriteMinded said:

I'm wondering: When you guys - tharris and Pancubuzz - say you are doing a rewrite, does that mean an edit that starts at the beginning and goes through the whole book, or do you mean you throw away your draft and start all over without referencing the earlier version or doing any copy/paste?

@WeaselFire: Go with the Maserati.

Click to expand...

It depends on the story, to be honest, this is actually my third time doing a rewrite (not on the same book!) The first time I did it, I wanted to rewrite the 2nd and 3rd book in a trilogy that I hadn't touched in a couple years (I'd been reworking the first one for ages, but not the other 2). For those two, I opened a blank word document and rewrote everything but one scene from scratch. The plot, the character names, the powers; a lot of that stuff I kept the same and built on it, but I felt like my writing had improved too much to settle with adding and editing, and that to do the story justice I needed to do it without copy/pasting. With that story, I definitely think it was worth it.

The one I'm rewriting now, I am again opening a new word doc and I've written the first chapter from scratch since the premise itself is new. However, there are some explanations of the magical theory that I have copied and pasted into the new version, and I think there will be a few scenes concerning character development/bonding (especially later on in the second book) that I will simply be copying and pasting. I always keep my early drafts in case of needing a reference or side-by-side comparison. But a lot of the scenes to do with the plot and conflict will be written completely from scratch.

(And then I will have to do the cursed start to finish edit of course XD )

For me, it's being wishy washy with my plot. I have very strong, concrete ideas about my characters and who they are, but when it comes to the plot, I can't seem to make up my mind, and I end up constantly changing it to the point where I end up getting bogged down and unable to make any progress. *sigh*

At the moment, the most frustrating thing for me is writing a scene I really love but then realizing it doesn’t advance the plot so I have to cut it. :’(

Quiet Melody said:

At the moment, the most frustrating thing for me is writing a scene I really love but then realizing it doesn’t advance the plot so I have to cut it. :’(

Click to expand...

That's always so sad Maybe save it to use for something else? Tweak some names and a few details and make it into a short story? Save it for a spinoff novella or a little vignette to use sometime in the future for related projects? I usually save all of my cut scenes to recycle or reuse

pbates said:

That's always so sad Maybe save it to use for something else? Tweak some names and a few details and make it into a short story? Save it for a spinoff novella or a little vignette to use sometime in the future for related projects? I usually save all of my cut scenes to recycle or reuse

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I'm definitely going to save it. I might be able to find a home for those scenes in my next book as I'm working on a series. If not, I might try to at least pick out some of my favorite lines and squeeze them in somewhere. I hate when you lose a really good line!

[h=1]What's the most frustrating part about writing a novel?[/h]

Click to expand...

I think prolly the bit where you send the ms off to your agent and then you have to read every single draft you've ever saved to make sure you didn't send the wrong draft out. (#protip: you sent the right draft out. And if you didn't it doesn't matter. It's done. Let it go.)