F is for Fiction. Fiction is probably what I am best at, though my problem has always been short fiction and novellas. No matter how short I intend a piece to be, it simply grows from underneath me. Every “short fiction” piece I ever started on my own has grown to hundreds of pages. My longest, and only completed, fiction piece is a novel called “Finding Eden” that I’d like to publish one day. It started as a dream, and I had intended for it to be short, probably novella length, under 100 pages. After my first few rounds of editing after its completion, it’s a burgeoning 1,000 pages. I’m sure that there is more I could trim out, but the task seems daunting.
On the other hand, I can write short pieces that are either a couple of paragraphs or a few pages with ease. Anything that needs to be wrapped up in 4-6 pages, forget about it. 100 or else? Not likely.
For me, it always seems like the characters hijack my story before I can even blink an eye. The characters complicate themselves and each other, and in turn, the story. It’s never the plot that gets carried away (most of my stories tend to be mostly internal journeys as opposed to external ones).
What is your biggest writing obstacle? Do you have more trouble keeping a story short or making it long enough? I’d like to know.
Amanda McKee 
Stopping ny on day 7 of the #challenge looking for fellow writers. Hope you make new blogging friends. If you have time or interest, I am writing about gardens and related topics this month. come visit.
LOL I have had that problem. I am long winded, that’s the whole problem.
Exactly! That’s what it is. I know that, especially in my first drafts, I am overly verbose. I’ll just keep on going, and going, and going. Kinda like the energizer bunny, but for writing, haha!
Thanks for the post. I think writing too much is good. It’s easier to cut away than to create more. I think the story itself dictates the length of the final manuscript. I mostly tend towards writing long stories or novellas when the story is about unrequited love, but other themes such as family sagas have a natural novel-length feel to them.
I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that I think back to having to write academic papers, oh boy. Having to come up with more content can be hard if you feel like you’ve said everything you had to say. Trimming down is probably easier. Thanks for your input 🙂
Never wrote a novel and doubt I ever will. I am a 500 words or less–usually less kinda writer. 1,000 is beyond imagining.
Length isn’t so much my problem as genre. I can write short stories, novels or novellas depending on the story at hand. Sometimes a story just doesn’t have enough going on to be a full length novel. Sometimes it has so much happening that it has to be longer in order to have time to breathe it gets a lot longer and develops into chapters. It all just depends on the story for me.
Lyle S Tanner
“Length isn’t so much my problem as genre” – What do you mean? Do you mean you have a harder time writing for a genre or defining something you wrote as a certain genre?
I think that is what makes you a writer, LOL!
Liz http://www.lizbrownleepoet.com
1,000 pages – amazing. I tend to be spare in my words unless I am struggling with a scene. Then I overwrite it. I just start cramming details and dialogue onto the page to fill the metaphoric blankness of the page. My writing group can usually spot the problem at 50 paces. Good luck with getting your novel published.
Just popped in from the A to Z I have given your blog a shout out from my letter I today, keep blogging. http://rosieamber.wordpress.com/
Just stopping by to say “Hi” from the A-Z list and wish you good luck with the rest of the challenge 🙂
I am EXACTLY the same lol x
Hey! Did you stop at F? *sad face* It’s okay, I suppose.
I’m right there with you. I have about 30 projects just waiting for “one day” because I decided I really had to focus on just one at time. There’s just so much story that could be told, eh?
True Heroes A to Z
I’m with you there. I can write novels and I can write shorts, but than in between novella thing escapes me every time I try. It seems once an idea passes the short story phase, it just wants to run wild.
Having enough hours in the day to write. Hope you get that novel edited and published.
Moondustwriter
Setting has always been one of my obstacles. I don’t know if I’ll ever become good at that. I think I take a film approach to it…I assume it’s like a movie and the reader can see what I’m seeing in my head!
Visiting you from the A to Z challenge sign-up page. Great to meet you!
Stephanie Faris, author
30 Days of No Gossip
http://stephie5741.blogspot.com
Brevity is not my long suit either. My editor asked how many chapters I expect my newest novel to be when completed. Hard to say. I never thought my last one would go 78 chapters, but it did. One thing that helped me learn to cut in short stories was entering writing contests with a strict word limit. I learned to go over it & over it again, finding & cutting those unnecessary words. Good luck.
Kathy @ Swagger Writers
This is the only A to Z post I see. Do you plan to do anymore? We are culling the list of inactive links on the list. If you’re at least making an effort we can leave you on.
Hope to hear from you.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
I meant to, but unfortunately I was not capable. I do want to do more “A-Z stuff, but it won’t be on the schedule that was intended for April :(.
The AZ list stays up all year and there is a post challenge event that lasts until the end of the year where participants continue to go through the list. If you say you’re going to keep trying to post A to Z then I’ll let them know that they shouldn’t remove you. It would help if you state your intent on the blog. We’ve had past participants who have finished way late, but they finished
If you plan to keep blogging just adapt each post for the next letter you’re due for.
Thanks
Lee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
I can relate… my short stories are called novels. I work harder to write a shorter prose.
Brenda Williamson
http://www.AnEclecticAuthor.blogspot.com