Hey fellow authors-in-torment,
Let me paint you a picture: I’ve been chained to my desk, churning out what feels like the millionth description of the defender in my game’s fighting system getting wrecked in every conceivable way. It was a blast at the start—kind of a wicked pleasure in crafting these elaborate descriptions of chaos and misery. But now? It’s turned into the most mind-numbing slog. Writing about a character taking a sword to the neck ten different ways(and not outright killing them) is hard! Who knew?
I’ve officially hit the wall. My once thrilling descent into creative destruction has morphed into a monotonous loop of ‘hit, smash, repeat.’ So, in a desperate bid for some semblance of sanity, I’m hitting pause on the carnage carnival.
That’s where you come in. I’m on the lookout for fellow writers who’ve also been slogging through their own creative swamps. You know who you are. You’re the brave souls who’ve been wrestling with words and now find yourselves wondering, “Ughh, if I have to write one more *if statement I may commit murder!”
Here’s the deal:
- Ever written something so dull you bored yourself?
- Have you found yourself questioning your life choices while describing your 200th battle scene?
- Or maybe you’ve honed the fine art of procrastination to a new level (On the bright side, I’m all caught up on what everyone is doing on Instagram)
Let’s come together in this fest of frustration and have a laugh about it. Share your most absurd, mind-numbing writing experiences. We’ll swap stories of our tedious journeys, and who knows, maybe we’ll find a way to inject some life back into our beleaguered narratives.
So, if you’ve finally reached the end of your Instagram feed and are all caught up on the latest viral trend, it’s time to swap your scrolling for storytelling. Share your tragically humorous tales of writing woes right here. 
Can’t wait to hear your tales from the trenches of the writer’s slog!
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Perfect timing! This very moment I happen to be frying my brain editing what will likely end up being 20,000 words and have discovered that writing the MC’s personality is the bane of my existence. I can’t begin to describe all the different ways rewriting the same or a similar conversation to keep it in line with whatever choice the reader has drained my energy and left me limping along for the rest of the editing process.
Obviously, it’s something I’ve got to do to make a good IF of the kind I’m writing. But man, does it slow my progress to a crawl.
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Boo…
Is this just for writers of WIP? Or can Novel Writers share their tales of defeats and suffering as well?
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One thing i hate is when i have perfectly planned out everything for my WIP and at the last minute, I hate it all.
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Welcome to the slog! I’m right there with you. I’m about halfway through my damage descriptions and there are only so many way I can compelling write "The {attacker} hit the {defender} with {pointy object} in the {parlor}, before they all blur together. Though, it’s a trap of my own making. I must be some kind of masochist.
@E_RedMark We’re all tortured artists here! Come join us and wallow in our collective misery.
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Thank you!
Then let me share and combine my tears with yours, as I tell you the story of my 1st Novel. Even though it was a short story, I shall remember vividly the torture of writing in the setting of old Samurai and where battles were of the old sword.
The word ‘Twirle’ shall hunt me forever to this day, as it was the only word that would come to mind because for some reason every character I had wanted to do that sexy move, and I had no choice but to comply.
And so they Twirled their swords, as the main hero clashed against the dangerous Samurai again and again.
When I was done and submitted my story for reading to my old roommate, she told me (RIP roommate): You are so good at writing combat scenes!
My heart was crying at those words, recalling the Twirling suffering I had to endure. I remember swearing ‘Never Again, shall I write combat with Swords!’
I’ll die happy if I never have to write that word again. 
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Thanks for that! I just laughed out loud and did a little twirl of joy in my office chair. Just for that I’m going to include the word twirl in the sword fighting scene I’m currently working on.
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Beware…for once it’s adopted, it may never leave you alone dun dun dun
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“$!{attacker_name_possessive} weapon makes a devastating impact on the ${attack_location_narrative}, the force of the blow sending ${defender_name} twirling back. Gasping for air, ${defender_name} clutches at their throat, a sharp, radiating pain making every breath a battle. Amidst the chaos of the storm, ${defender_xhe} steadies ${defender_ximself}, eyes watering but fierce, preparing to strike back despite the searing agony.”
Huh? Huh? Perfection!
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I’ve barely begun so I cannot precisely state that I have a set frustration yet, given I’ve only begun writing IFs about 4 days ago, but honestly, the one thing I’ve never been good at is describing scenery and locations, I either lack the right word or I find myself rewriting it ten times as I realize it doesn’t make sense. It is the bane of my existence.
As for writing combat, honestly for me, atleast so far, it is fine for me because I’ve balanced writing it over the years to where I know how and what to write, and how to make it fun for me despite how monotonous it can be. (only so many ways you can punch, stab or shoot someone)
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Ah, but it’s not that simple. Maybe it is different when you are writing a WIP. But in a novel setting, it can become a bit complicated.
A good example was my 3rd story, in a crucial moment that would lead to the main Vilain.
So on one hand you have the mc who has a gun, but the sidekick of the villain has the upper hand with a gun on their own. So the mc can’t do shit, they hand over their gun and go inside the creepy house.
At this part, I wanted to show a lot of Insertherehorrificsdetailsofdeadbodiesscatterredaboutthefloor while the sidekick still pointing his gun guide and push the mc further in the house (still leading them to the villain but at the same time enjoying the look of horror on the mc face as they are putting two and two together).
You may ask what is so hard at writing this scene? Well, the sidekick doesn’t talk. He isn’t mean to speak at all. And here you have a blabbermouth MC reacting at seeing dead bodies and asking questions no stop as they walk, climb a bunch of stairs, and so on.
And the only thing I had in my poor brain was the sidekick ‘WAVING’ that damn gun over and over before they poke the mc with it to keep moving.
That was the longest walk I had to fucking write… 
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I imagine it was just as annoying for the sidekick as well :3
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Novel writing in a nutshell:
“Kill your darlings.”
Okay!
SHIT, WHAT NOW?
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Gasp You take that back! I write Happily ever after rainbow and Unicorn!
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Fabulous intro. You got me giggling. I’ve definitely felt this way about battle scenes, though I’d guess you write more of those than I do.
As a romance author whose readers enjoy spicy scenes as much as the epic stakes and adventure of my stories, the place I run into this issue is while writing sex scenes. I do my best to change up phrasing, positions, locations, and try very hard to make sure different ROs act and speak in ways that are unique to them in intimate settings. But I tell ya, after a while it gets challenging to keep coming up with new ways to describe the descent into bliss.
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Can I borrow your unicorn and bring a darling back to life? LMAO
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I’m no expert, but something I’ll do before I start writing a scene. Is I’ll imagine myself in that scene, looking at the scenery and jot down all five senses experiences of being there. They aren’t full sentences, just lists. Am I cold? Does it smell damp? Are the trees green? How about the grass? Then I’ll piece together really rough sentences. “Looking out over the plains below the grass is very green.” Then I’ll try to incorporate another ‘sense’ into the sentence, or spend a little time imagining a metaphor if it fits. “The rustling of the grass in the wind creates a soothing symphony, a gentle swishing sound that harmonizes with the calls of the birds and the distant lowing of cattle.” Again, it’s not great, but that’s my process, and I end up writing, rewriting, and rewriting seemingly ad nauseum.
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I haven’t written any of the spicy scenes to my story yet, but I plan to. And, I dreading it! I might have to keep a copy of the Kama Sutra near my desk to keep things fresh. You know, for…research.
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…and then your brain sigh LeSigh
Me: What?
LeBrain: There, I gave you the scenery…chop chop! get to it. Write it down.
Me: hey hey…who is boss here? Me–
LeBrain: No no, I’m doing the heavy lifting here! I’m tha Boss! The KingPin! the Don! The Los Patron!
Me: What the fuck I’m then?
LeBrain: Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave…
Me: Then how about you use your Brain Mojo and write the fucking thing yourself then! 
LeBrain: If I had arms of my own I would…bitchslap you then make you write it.
Me: You are so mean
LeBrain: Get on with it already…‘a gentle swishing sound that harmonizes with the calls of the birds—…’
Me: Not so fast! I ain’t a fucking secretary!!! Slow down!
LeBrain: Lesigh…and the distant moo of the cattle reminded me that human could also be tasty’
Me: Huh?
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