#Monday Mourning

[crystalsbooksandtea]

Sarah Reese going to dr. Charles because she realised everybody dumps their pain on him was so soft and pure and I love them so much.

She is going to be an amazing psychiatrist

[rmd-writes]

Monday Mourning

share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

thanks for the tags @hippolotamus @mostlyinthemorning @jesuisici33 

There are two things that I struggle with the most:

1. Getting the words on the page - So often I get stuck tweaking a sentence or a phrase until it’s just right. And I’m incapable of opening my docs and just picking up where I left off, I need to go through and edit what’s already there first. Dialogue seems to be the only exception to this - I can get that down and go back to work around it, adding dialogue tags and description later.

2. Description of movement - gratuitously describing what a character looks like? I love it. Describing how they move? It paralyses me. Do I have the correct number of limbs? Is this physically possible? Does this entire paragraph read like an instruction manual and should it be deleted? Inevitably, I force myself to get the choreography on the page and then edit it later but then, see 1 above.

wanna share your writing woes (sorry if you’ve done this, I haven’t scrolled much this morning) @maxbegone @treluna4 @cheesecurdsgravyandfries @chelle-68 @cha-melodius @this-is-bwr @three-drink-amy @iboatedhere @celaestis1 @celeritas2997 @carlos-in-glasses @never-blooms @freneticfloetry @heartstringsduet @liminalmemories21 @strandnreyes

[welcometololaland]

Monday Mourning

Share your toughest writing challenge - dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar / punctuation)

Thank you for the tag @ramonaflow!

I definitely have more than one Struggle, but the main ones are:

Overwriting - I literally always blow out my word counts by at least double, and I think half of that is due to me coming up with new plot points halfway through, but also because I overuse filler words to a ridiculous degree. Would love to make my writing sound a little less...Too Much?

Losing Motivation - Sometimes I get 50% of the way through and just...hate everything I've written. There's usually no particular reason for that, and if I go back later and review it, I realise it's Not That Bad. But I find it so easy to start a hating war against myself and it just ruins the experience (and sometimes the fic). Need a Cooper to tell me to shut down that negative self talk.

Needing Everything to be Different - I find idea generation pretty easy, and one of the things I love the most about writing is coming up with things that haven't been written in the fandom before OR spinning a popular trope, or going in a slightly different direction. But this creates decision paralysis a lot of the time because I'll write myself into a place which I think is TOO SIMILAR to something else and then I'll have a freak out about it not being different enough.

As you can see - many struggles. If anyone else wants to share their struggles, this is an open tag, but I'll also loop in: @celeritas2997 @clottedcreamfudge @rosedavid @iboatedhere @three-drink-amy @goodways @carlos-in-glasses @basilsunrise @strandnreyes @reyesstrand @never-blooms @alrightbuckaroo @heartstringsduet

[stereopticons]

Monday Mourning

thanks for the tags, @trickiwooao3 @mostlyinthemorning @hippolotamus

This MM I'm inviting you to share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

For me, the toughest part of me is actually drafting things. Like I have no ability to write an honest to goodness rough draft. I want things to be perfect from the beginning and so I have a really hard time just getting things on the page to edit later. I can't write "David says" and come back to change the word later. I have to find the correct word right away.

As you might imagine, this slows me down a lot, and makes it very easy to get stuck. I also have a hard time skipping scenes I'm not feeling, so if I'm stuck on a scene, I'm stuck there until I figure it out. It also applies to celebrity references, Ted's puns, and Moira words (though I have gotten a little better about bracketing these and moving on). I'm working on it, but it is really, really hard.

I also HATE writing dialogue tags. And like @hippolotamus said, I tend to get very in my head about pronouns vs names, like sometimes I just wanna write something M/F so I don't have to worry about it for once

Tagging @rosedavid @alienajackson @jettestar @blackandwhiteandrose @wordthieve @apothecarose @housewifebuck and anyone else who wants to share what the hardest part of the writing process is for you

[alrightbuckaroo]

monday mourning

Share your toughest writing challenge - dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar / punctuation). Thanks for the tag @welcometololaland and @reyesstrand!

My desire for everything to be right. I bury myself into research of things that I get overwhelmed by the writing process before the words are even on the page! Then, once they are on the page, I overthink it all. I'm so concerned that it's not correct, I end up robbing myself of the joy of writing it. I think I'm starting to get better at it, just the other day, I told @heartstringsduet the other day in regards to my workplace AU, "There's no way a cybersecurity intern who works at an equity firm in the financial district of New York is reading this fic, I can allow myself to be a little wrong"

I wish I knew more words 😭 Everyone is mumbling, chuckling, grinning and sighing. I like to think there's enough variety, but every time I use any of those, I sigh and then mumble to myself, "There's that word again."

There's so much I start that I'm afraid I won't finish. I've got an Old West AU over here, a Bodyguard AU over there, now there's a Dating Show AU that's bouncing around my head that will probably have a Pinterest board dedicated to it before the night is over. I'm slowly starting to level my focus, but gosh, I wish I made it easier for my self

Got any grievances you wanna share? no pressure tagging: @carlos-in-glasses, @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut, @heartstringsduet, @chaotictarlos, @sanjuwrites, @bonheur-cafe, @rosedavid, @basilsunrise, @irispurpurea?

[freneticfloetry]

monday mourning

share your toughest writing challenge -- dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

Thanks to @rmd-writes, @reyesstrand, and @liminalmemories21 for the tags. Behold, my neuroses:

1. Inflexibility. My brain is an asshole (thanks, ADHD!), and I have to write completely linearly and in total silence. So there's no "write what you're most excited about and come back to the rest" or "put on a playlist for inspiration while you write." And god forbid I've come up with some sort of narrative theme or throughline (like the play on three act structure in scenes from an unfinished story or naming each of the chapters in to build a home after the back half of "home is" statements that are thematically applicable to the seven scenes that chapter contains). Once that's in my head, there's no deviating from it — which is part of how I end up with three-chapter fics that are 75k.

2. Indulgence. Speaking of… Oh how I long to be a writer who can tell stories in stark, sparse, straight-to-the-gut prose, that no-frills perfection that so many authors I love have mastered. Alas, I am a wordy bitch. I write paragraph-length sentences. I push punctuation to its very limits. I once posted a 33k chapter. I will never say in a hundred words what I could say in a thousand, which is probably why I have never mastered the art of the drabble. And it isn't just word count, it's character work. Give me two snarky boys with complicated feelings for each other and I will let them banter for hours. (My next Tarlos fic, for the @tarlosweddingcelebration event, needs to be done in snippet-style scenes I haven't tackled in ages, so we'll see how that goes.)

3. Raging Perfectionism. If I could just write now and edit later, I would be so much more productive than I am. As it stands, the red pen never leaves my hand — I edit as I write, changing things constantly until I feel like everything works. I'm obsessive about the perfect word use, about dialogue being true to character, about pulling each thread I've previously laid so that everything ties together. There is no such thing as a first draft, for me — by the time I reach the end of a fic or a chapter, the whole thing is close to final because I've edited so much already. As you can imagine, this makes for an extremely slow writing process. I have no idea how to rectify this. I tried writing straight through once, as part of a sprint spree, and it literally gave me hives.

Also summaries. I hate summaries.

Tag, you're it (but no pressure!): @mixtapestar, @finnglas, @hoko-onchi-writes, @rubickk7, @eidetictelekinetic, @carlos-in-glasses

[hippolotamus]

monday mourning

@trickiwooao3 wants to know more about our writing challenges this week:

This MM I'm inviting you to share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

Thanks for the tags @jesuisici33 @carolrain @ramonaflow

Honestly I get really in my head about pronoun/name use + action. Primarily writing m/m and f/f pairings lends itself to difficulty there anyway (so many she's, he's, they's... who am I referring to?!). Beyond that I start getting paranoid that I'm overusing she says, he does, etc.

And, for the love of all that's holy, I hate writing dialogue. I'd much rather stick inside a character's brain and peel their emotional layers open.

What are your writing woes @stereopticons @blackandwhiteandrose @shortsighted-owl @alyxmastershipper @elvensorceress @littlebitofdiaz @mysteriouslyyounggalaxy @rmd-writes @apothecarose my love @lizzie-bennetdarcy @911onabc @monsterrae1 @spotsandsocks @saraminia @panbuckley?

[tyfinn]

Monday Mourning

@trickiwooao3 wants to know more about our writing challenges this week (and thanks to @trickiwooao3 @a-noble-dragon @smblmn and @jesuisici33 for the tag!)

This MM I'm inviting you to share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

I have to say description, as well. I feel I may underwrite because of my lack of descriptions. And I cannot tell you how much I fucking hate "show not tell!"

I think I may be getting better, though. On one of my recent fics @a-noble-dragon and @chelle-68 both commented (In not so many words) that the visual I presented landed. Some small comment like that can mean the world to the writer, and even possibly give that little push to keep creating.

It's still frustrating as hell to know what you want to say, but not know how to write it.

I know many have been tagged, but I'm tagging @jamilas-pen @chelle-68 @apothecarose @mallpretzles and @statueinthestone if you would like share your writing challenge.

[ramonaflow]

Monday Mourning

@trickiwooao3 wants to know more about our writing challenges this week:

This MM I'm inviting you to share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

Thank you for the tag @trickiwooao3 and @a-noble-dragon @jesuisici33 😘

What if I said literally all of it? Is that cheating? Most of the time I wonder why I'm putting myself through the torture but then every now and again I'll finish something and be happy with the outcome and then it's all worth it. It's a funny thing, struggling but sort of enjoying the struggle.

I'm tagging @flowertrigger @smblmn @hippolotamus @apothecarose @welcometololaland @mammameesh @alienajackson @brrose-apothecary 💜

[filet-o-feelings]

Monday Mourning

@trickiwooao3 wants to know more about our writing challenges this week:

This MM I'm inviting you to share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

Thanks for the tags @a-noble-dragon @jesuisici33 @ramonaflow @hippolotamus @smblmn @tyfinn and @stereopticons 💕

Is it fair to say that most days I struggle with all of it? But it's a labor of love, ultimately. My toughest is probably description, which is extra annoying because I think I used to be a lot better about it. I found some fics I wrote 20 years ago recently, and while it wasn't great it was a lot better than I expected, and the descriptive language was so much better than anything I've written recently. I need to tap back into my 20 year old brain (except please no, that was a dark and angsty place). I'm getting better at it, but editing is another area where I struggle. I want to just write everything perfectly the first time (which makes things move so slow, and allow thoughts to disappear before I can get them written down) and be done with the thing, because by the time I get around to editing I'm sick of it and just want it out in the world so I can get some validation.

I haven't really been on my dash much today so I don't know who has done this, but if you haven't please feel free to consider this your tag!

[flowertrigger]

Monday Mourning

Thank you for the tags @a-noble-dragon @ramonaflow @smblmn 💕🦩🌷

Share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

Obviously all of the above, with plot taking the slight lead. I'm good at coming up with an initial idea but fleshing it out to make up an actually story is hard because I'm not imaginative enough. I guess that encompasses dialogue as well. People who write really natural and funny banter are so amazing.

Sometimes I feel like my brain is just empty, no original thoughts but that's a whole other issue I won't go into here.

[chicgeekgirl89]

Monday Mourning

Share your toughest writing challenge - dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar / punctuation).

Thanks @irispurpurea for the tag!

1. World building- let the characters have dialogue in a box, I beg of you.

2. Ending the fic- the absolute worst part, I cannot stop the train once it’s going.

3. Overuse of the word “just”- I “just” love it so much and I always have to go back and edit out all but like three of them.

I’m sure there are more, but these are the three that really put me on the struggle bus.

[rosedavid]

Monday Mourning

Share your toughest writing challenge - dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar / punctuation). Tagged by @stereopticons @welcometololaland @alrightbuckaroo @reyesstrand

1. Description is by far what I struggle with most! I feel like my descriptions, especially of what the characters are doing, are always so repetitive. Trying to show emotions in the characters is the same struggle. It seems like I use the same descriptors and such over and over, and that they’re cliches. I’ll write all the dialogue but then I get so anxious about filling in the rest!

2. Everything being perfect. I will edit a sentence I just wrote over and over and then I end up getting hardly any writing done!

3. My writing not being good enough, which I think is something that most people struggle with, but it can be hard to deal with. I think this also contributes to my perfectionist problem lol.

Tagging: @three-drink-amy @lizzie-bennetdarcy @jettestar @jesuisici33 @carlos-in-glasses @rmd-writes @heartstringsduet and anyone else who wants to vent!

[mostlyinthemorning]

Monday Mourning

@trickiwooao3 wants to know more about our writing challenges this week (and thanks to @carolrain for the tag!)

This MM I'm inviting you to share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

Editing. It is definitely, 100% editing. Writing is mostly fun-taking characters, putting them in situations, (hopefully) getting them out of situations, discovering where the story is going to go, all of that is great. But editing. Editing is awful.

You mean I have to reread everything I wrote, figure out why it's not good enough and some how come up with the brain power to make it better? And probably more than once? That is a total scam. It should be good enough the first time and everyone who reads it should just deal with the typos and plot inconsistencies.

What's your biggest writing challenge? @missgeevious @likerealpeopledo-on-ao3 @noahreids @blackandwhiteandrose @stereopticons @rmd-writes

[carolrain]

Monday Mourning

@trickiwooao3 wants to know more about our writing challenges this week:

This MM I'm inviting you to share your toughest writing challenge--dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar, punctuation)?

Well, I really like putting characters into situations. I'm not as fond of trying to figure out how to get them out of situations. I don't know! It's a situation worth thinking about because it's hard! The thinking about how it's difficult is the part that I'm good at. How is helping them escape from this my responsibility to write as well?? Such a scam. So, in short, plotting.

This is a slightly-too-blurry map of Bigfoot encounters in the NW corner of the US/SW corner of Canada. I was searching my photos for maps and it came up. It kind of fit the theme? And I thought you might like it.

Does anyone else want to complain about writing challenges? Tagging @jesuisici33 @mammameesh @a-noble-dragon @hippolotamus @mostlyinthemorning

[lemonlyman-dotcom]

Monday Mourning

Share your toughest writing challenge - dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar / punctuation).

Thanks for the tag @never-blooms 💛

Plot I come up with a good idea or scene, and then I kind of struggle with how to build around that.

Underwriting I have a background in news writing, honestly this fanfiction thing kind of came as a real surprise to me because I did not think I had a strong enough imagination for it. My base instinct is to keep everything really concise and straight forward, just the facts. I really struggle with filling out the story and fleshing out the details. Usually I throw everything out onto the page, and I try not to get too hung up on the details and then I go back through it 500 million times looking for ways to add detail and description. I am in so much awe of people who can put together a 20k+ story. My brain would break.

Imposter Syndrome honestly I just kind of feel like I’m a terrible creative writer a lot of the times and I want to just delete everything. But I shall persevere. I am having a lot of fun!

I think pretty much everyone has been tagged at this point. Consider this your open tag!