What parts of fanfiction do you think are hardest to write?

When you're writing a fanfiction (or fiction in general), what parts do you find hardest to write? Action? Dialogue? Feelings? All or none of it? Here are some answers from the folks at Reddit. Let me know your own thoughts!

#fanfiction #writing #reddit

[lillialuna]

"I hate literally every step in the writing process. The only thing I hate more than making a fic is not making a fic."

[SKStar-zfvn]

You want angst; no problem
You want comedy; got you covered
You want romance; I'm your girl
You want dialogue; easy peasy
You want an action scene; I'm on it

You want a title; 😶

[crimson-cloud]

The most difficult to write is beginning writing. Literally just opening the document and writing. Once I can get in the swing I'm pretty good

[glam]

Hardest things;
1) describing appearances.
2) figuring how to get from the beginning of my story to the end I planned.

[NekoChanSenpai]

Pacing!! My stupid toddler brain hasn't quite grasped the fact that just because it took a long time to WRITE, that doesn't mean it's gonna be a long READ. So I go back and struggle to fill out the story so it goes slower.

[molasses]

Flirting/teasing/dirty talk. It comes off as corny and i cringe so hard. Granted, one of the characters fits this, is always flirting and very cringey in an adorable way about it, but it still feels awkward to write.

[CK_Productions]

I know it’s not necessarily a specific part but figuring out the plot has always been by far the hardest part for me.

I’ve got 10s of _concepts_ but trying to tie an actual plot to them is agonising, I have almost no problems once I get going but for some reason even coming up with the most basic of plots can completely stump me.

[orangetreestudiosII]

Usually, it's the middle of the fic. I have a beginning, I have a couple of scene ideas, and I have an end. I just gotta figure out how they connect. Also, commitment. If I lose interest or get another idea, it can be really hard for me to go back when I know I don't have the love anymore

[taytaythehufflepuff]

Hardest part of fic writing is coming up with the title and description. I can't tell ya how many fics I've posted with titles that are unsatisfactory.

As far as genuine writing goes: trying to write emotion-tense scenes between characters. I love my heavy angst and emotion-filled convos, but my writing rate always goes to a screeching halt.

[reinarosario]

The actual words detailing actual events and not just vague ideas and feelings

[josteinhenrique]

For me, the hardest part for me is "The middle". When I start a story, I usually know how to start it and how it's supposed to end. However, I have to figure out what's supposed to happen between both of these.

I also have difficult writing action scenes, specially body-to-body fighting... which is ironical, given how much I LOVE action/adventure stories.

[softmoonfairy]

Am I the only one who imagines their fics like a TV series and thinks they have it all planned out and then sit down to write and realize they need to use description and set the scene, cause readers can't actually SEE it? As an overthinker, my own behavior just mindboggles me every time.

I'm also really bad at transition between the characters not realizing they're in love with each other and figuring it out. My characters always end up being the most oblivious, innocent beings ever until I finally realize I need to switch it up.

[-TheCrisisNight-]

On the topic of motivations: there is literally never a ‘good enough’ reason for a character to do an evil thing. A theme that features heavily in my own writing is family dysfunction, and my *goodness* this is one messy fictional family. Sometimes I look at it and go ‘well that’s irrational. Is it realistic?’ And then I realize I’ve seen real life examples of dysfunctional families in which they do irrational things for *way* worse reasons than my fictional dysfunctional family. If it’s a bad thing - Murder, abuse, unhealthy coping mechanisms… real people will do it for the dumbest reasons ever.

My personal weakness in writing is fight scenes by the way. Spent a whole week on one that was like… 3-5 paragraphs max. X, p

[artificr_]

The actual writing part. I'll have the entire damn story in my head and then i got to write it down and... i can't. 😭

[analyticaltomato]

Smut is the hardest thing for me, not because I feel embarrassed or anything, but because describing actions either involves repeating the same verbs and nouns over and over again because believe it or not, there is only a certain number of ways human beings can do the deed, or extremely cringy metaphors to circumvent the repetition problem.
I try to think about good explicit fics I’ve read and think about what I like about them, but their style is either more focused on plot, therefore not giving me that much to learn, or very, very unique and personal to them to the point that trying to use them as inspiration just feels like plagiarising.

[lindapenttinen]

To keep characters in-character in a fanfic where they are a couple when there are no other fanfics like that so no guides for such situations other than canon material where characters' haven't met outside of battle situations.

And actually writing the fanfic when you know what to write and how but fingers just froze on keyboard

[maxiguess]

I am GREAT with slice of life stuff. The in between moments, the soft tender stuff, the conflicts in between canon episodes or chapters, downtime, things like that. But I cannot write an actual plot to save my life, and sure I have IDEAS for the plot but I always get burnt out when I write because I just wanna get back to the slice of life stuff 😭😭

[dove_deceased]

descriptions of literally anything. they all keep giving SCP interaction log vibes they’re so blunt and sad 😭

[RelativelyBest]

*Food:* I don't really care about food and cooking and know very, very little about it. This is a problem because I know eating is important to people who aren't me.
*Time:* Keeping track of what time of day it is and having time progress in a natural way for my characters.
*The middle part of the story:* I'm great at beginnings and great at endings but things tend to start falling apart in the middle.

Other than that, I think I'm pretty decent at most of it.

[arrow_of_ravenclaw]

Coming up with the title and summary. Usually after I write the first hundred words, the rest comes a little easier