I have more trouble with beginnings than anything else. I can rewrite the beginning of a book ten times. I'm on the third rewrite of the beginning of the current WIP. I'm actually happy with it (unless my editor tells me otherwise). But I realized that chapter 2 was having a problem. I knew this because I was finding excuses to do other things — anything but look at this chapter!

Finally, as I forced myself to reread in order to get to where I'd left off, the solution hit me. Bear in mind I'd reread this stuff every day before slogging forward and getting stuck again. The solution doesn't always hit you the first time. Or the fiftieth. 🙂 Sometimes, you just have to wait for that aha moment to hit. You can't force it.

What was the problem? The heroine was too passive. Yes, Presents heroes are alpha males and they like to do a lot of commanding. But my heroine was accepting the commands just a little too easily. She was fighting inside, but she wasn't challenging the hero on the outside. Not cool. Once I realized how she needed to respond, the chapter started to fall together.

It could change again, but now I know my heroine needs to step up to the plate. That was the major problem.

How do you approach writing challenges? Do you have trouble with beginnings? Middles? Ends? Or something different? Let's discuss writing!