writing

What do you find more difficult about writing a novel? Getting started, continuing the novel or ending it? This will be different from one person to another such as having trouble beginning if you can't think of a good starting point, are a perfectionist or have too many ideas to choose from. You might have trouble continuing if you can't imagine what's going to happen next, get a brand new idea that you want to pursue or don't know how the characters will get from point A to point B. Finally, after you have grown to love the characters and the world, do you have trouble wrapping it up in a satisfying way or letting go of everything you have worked so hard on? Give a commentary on what part of writing a novel you find the most difficult.

I would advise getting commentary from different people. I personally find the beginning to be the most difficult. If I have time, I might take this up... – SpectreWriter 10 years ago
7
The endings to most novels are the least effective and usually the most artificial. Nineteenth-century novels remain the best models that overcome this deficiency. – JeffinAurora 10 years ago
1
I always find it difficult to end a novel because I like to leave a little to the readers' imaginations, but struggle with also giving them a satisfactory ending. – Catherine Conte 10 years ago
2
I think it's definitely the beginning. Personally, my endings are the first things that come to me and then the story is modeled to achieve that ending. The start of the story is what draws readers in. The goal is to hook the reader so that they'll want to invest in the story on a whole. The beginning is your story's sales pitch and it makes or breaks your story's reader appeal. At the moment, I have three story ideas with well thought out endings and plot twists, but not one of them have a beginning. If a story doesn't have a good opening, I won't have the drive to read it, so I want to ensure that my stories will appeal to someone like myself. Worst of all, I'm one of those perfectionists with major anxiety issues who procrastinate alot and spend way too much time on the internet (lol, tumblr reference.) I want to have a good intro, but I won't be interested in continuing a story if I don't like how I started it. And even if I'm somewhat satisfied with it, that does not guarantee that the reader majority will feel the same. Honestly, I think it's the pressure to write a good opening that makes writing it so hard. Really, all we need to do is just WRITE and let the plot flow naturally, rather than worry about the audience. If only I could silence the critics in my head, then maybe I'd have started at least one of my stories by now. – RLynch 9 years ago
1
In my experience, it has always been easier for me to formulate a story whenever I have the ending already plotted out. It's sort of like a treasure map; You know where it will end, but the fun is creating the journey to get to the satisfying ending – Ricardoandstuff 9 years ago
1
DEFINITELY the ending. For me, deciding on a compelling conclusion (and title) is the most challenging. – Alexis 9 years ago
1
For me personally, I would say continuing. I have tons of good ideas of topics, and although the first few paragraphs or pages can be a struggle sometimes, more often they write themselves. The ending is perhaps the most natural part of this, though deciding when to end it can be annoying sometimes because you just want to write more. It's the middle, what's plausible and how it fits into my idea, the daily plog, that gets me. – nsiegel 9 years ago
1

Hardest part of writing a novel; starting, continuing or ending?