What do you think is the most difficult aspect of writting.?

Dialogue and Characterization. I can't help but make my Dialogue seem stilted, and my characterization is boring and uneventful.

Amen to that. It gets worse when I try to write either a Magnificent Bastard or, God save me, Guile Hero. I really, really, SUCK at thinking of plans and mystery, which is terrible considering my first arc is basically an urban fantasy murder mystery.

I'd say...

1) doing what I think is cool.

2) writing attacks and realistic responses.

3) the flow

Those are what I have trouble with.

edited 27th Jul '11 1:38:41 AM by NickTheSwing

I think that writing an Insufferable Genius sounds fun, but I've never done one before.

It might help, when dealing with so-called dumb characters, to realize that what passes for stupidity is usually just a subscription to a different set of priorities and values.

I find writing more eloquent, intelligent characters somewhat easier than writing average or stupid ones, but it's probably more due to my own upbringing and the people I surround myself with than anything.

I think that this should be the way you deal with all of your characters; write them as they are or how they think, rather than taking too much stock in how stupid or smart they are.

edited 27th Jul '11 8:42:16 AM by BetsyandtheFiveAvengers

^^Well, of course, the idealized is always easier to depict than reality, especially if you're endeavoring to be entertaining

edited 27th Jul '11 8:44:03 AM by kashchei

Intelligent character, to me, are easier to write because, whereas you and me have only seconds to think about what are we going to say next in a conversation, with an intelligent character we can spend hours crafting accurate and intricate responses that only a genius would be able to come up with in the few seconds that it takes to reply.

The real risk is going overboard with it do.

edited 28th Jul '11 7:34:39 PM by Baff

Besides taking time to actually do it, instead of any of ten million other available distractions, my hardest work is pacing. I often get bogged down in tiny details which really don't need to get written out in full, and have a hard time finding where to skip over things.

For me it's carrying on a consistent character voice. For some reason my character voice starts to wander over and then my character start to have the same voice. I think I've made some progress on it in the pass year but it's still one of my most persistent problems.

Pacing and character interaction always were a pain in the ass for me.

For me, names.

I hate names.

Character names, place names, everything. PITA for me.

@ Baff: Not really, since there's also the problem of the character's logic faculties exceeding the author's.

I mean, a number of times I've written something and a reader has been able to point out a logical hole or inconsistency in it, so there's really no reason why an intelligent character wouldn't.

edited 29th Jul '11 6:31:47 PM by BobbyG

I always suffer when I have to come up with original names. It took me, literally, months to find a specific character's name.

Yeah, I'm not particularly gifted in comedy. I have a character who was supposed to be the comic relief, but, in the end, he's just weird.

edited 29th Jul '11 3:29:08 PM by Teraus

I find transitions hard, because I can't bridge the gap between a vending machine conversation and boarding a battleship.

I used to have horrific problems with names, until I realized-

-if I change it, I can just [ctrl+f] all instances of the name later, and replace it. A placeholder name is just fine, and I have little attachment to many of the names I've thrown down.

Placeholder names. Even a literal placeholder, like _____, would work. Don't let naming bog you down.

For me, conversations with more than 3/4 people are a huge problem. They tend to become incomphrensible messes all too easily, so I try and focus on smaller groups where possible.

Describing physical settings and physical appearances too, because I'm hopeless at doing so in any circumstances. I simply cannot describe a person. Ask me what someone looks like when I'm not directly looking at them, and I can't do it in a way that doesn't sound like almost everyone else on the planet. Describing the inside of a building or room is easy enough, but if the characters are outdoors, forget it.

Beyond that, just sitting down and actually focussing on writing.