I was thinking about all the things I still have to learn. This was more protracted than it should have been at my age. (I am 42) Then it also occurred to me that there are many blanks where questions should be as well. So I wanted to open a dialogue with the people reading this.
What is the greatest lesson you have learned writing? What are the things you believe to be your largest hurdles in writing? I would really love to have a discussion about what troubles you the most. Is it a mechanical issue, a logistical one, or do you get stuck at three AM with no time to write? We can all help each other if we work together. There is room for all of us to become big name authors someday. To write our own Grapes of Wrath, or Wrath of Kahn.
Please feel free to comment below. I will never belittle any idea or thought on writing, it is a far too personal to have a definitive answer to fit all. I will start below.
Charles R. Colp
Charles Colp on Living 
One of my problems writing is punctuation and passive voice. I was better at this at one time in my life. I took a sixteen year break from writing because I thought it was the responsible thing to do for my family. Now I know, I could have done both work full time and write regularly as well. In the interim I seem to have forgotten many of the rules and though I have the Holt book and several other resources. I find it harder to use punctuation correctly while writing.
For me, one of the biggest things I’ve learned is that every sentence, every word you use matters and to trim out everything that doesn’t move the plot forward or develop the character… Trying to be a wordsmith like this has improved my writing immensely. I think my biggest struggles are actually coming up with story ideas in the first place. Once I’ve got the initial idea, I can write a full-length novel about it, but I just have a hard time with inspiration lol.
That is good, Editing is not my strong suit so I will work with this when I write tonight and see if I like how it comes out better for me. Thank you.
Getting ideas hasn’t been as much of an issue yet for me. I am weird when it comes to that. I wrote a story one time because I heard the sound of a spoon striking the inside of a tea cup while stirring in the sugar. My biggest problem I have managed to overcome was finishing a story. I always got mired down in the murky middle. Now I do a skeleton for everything and it helps keep me from giving up on an idea. Being old helps too lol.
Haha. Yeah systematically plotting, asking myself what’s the worst that can happen, and discussing ideas with other writers has really helped me with the sagging middle. Plus if I’m really bored writing it or reading it, it probably shouldn’t be in there if that makes sense.
Yes that does make sense. I love the “what’s the worst that can happen” I do that with some of my characters as well. Just how bad can they dig the hole they are in. That way it is a challenge to come up with a logical and plausible way for the character to get themselves out in the end.
Yeah…… That can be hard haha. I actually toned it back a bit in my current novel.
I did something like that just last night. I ended the part with a Demon asking a half Angel if they wanted to talk about religion. It just struck me as the worst subject he could have used to initiate a conversation.