Tuesday, August 2, 2011

What Is Your Greatest Writing Obstacle?

Mine is naming things. I can hash out words all day, but if I have to give it a name, I'm at a loss. I wind up googling for ideas, searching wikipedia for appropriate references, researching all manner of things until something finally 'feels' right. I've finished my WIP and want to work on the query letter, but it HAS NO NAME. I had a name for it in the beginning, but it doesn't fit anymore. Plus it turned out to be the title of a cookbook already published.

Granted, this is nothing compared to the anxiety of naming my girls.

I know what we name them isn't important in the end. If a publisher picks it up, they usually change the title to something they think will work. But I can't just call it 'Beans and Rice' and be done. I can't send it out into the world like a nameless orphan begging for scraps on the corner. I over-think it, I know I do, but it's the one thing I'm anal about. The name HAS to fit.

What about you? What part is the hardest for you?

20 comments:

Sarah said...

I struggle with names as well. Character names, especially. I've changed the ones in my current WIP at least three times a piece. And, the darn thing still has no title.

I struggle with writing action scenes, too. It takes a lot of time and work for them to seem even remotely exciting. :/

Christi Goddard said...

Oh, yeah. I hate action scenes. I avoid them if at all possible.

Jemi Fraser said...

I find titles either pop into my mind and they're fabulous ... or I have to descend to the depths of hell to find one.

I think the hardest part for me is rewriting - I hate having to fix those gaping plot holes!

Christi Goddard said...

Jemi - What's weird is this one's plot came from the original title that popped into my head. But it took on a life of its own and I had to rename it. All solved now, though. IT HAS A NAME!! Only took about six hours of intense concentration to come up with two words ;-)

vic caswell said...

whoo hoo!!!!
now push that baby out into the querying world! :)

Emily White said...

Naming stuff is HARD. Although, what I find hardest in writing is the ending. I suck at endings (at least, the first go around).

Christi Goddard said...

Emily - I went to bed one night and thought 'oh, crap. how do I end this mess? (that my character was stuck in, not the book ;-) ) and when I woke up the next morning, I had an epiphany and wrote the entire end of the book that day. Then I sat there with my edited MS and query letter and NO NAME. I felt quite pathetic.

A.T. Post said...

Starting is my biggest problem. Beginnings are first-class sons-a-guns. Back story, characterization, scene-setting...it makes me go limp.

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