When writing, you know you are in trouble when...

[Bones]

I just started reading the first book of a new series and I already have a list of at least five elements in the world building that are strikingly similar to elements in the story I've been writing. It's truly bizarre. I'm at the point where I just start laughing when a new one crops up. 

[Aminar]

Gotta love when you look at everything you've come up with and smack yourself because between when you made them and now you've come across someone doing something incredibly similar.  My biggest problem.  Brandon Sanderson.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Closest I've had to that happening was Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son, which is a DC universe Elseworld in which Superman lands in the Ukraine in 1939, is brought up as Stalin's heir and a sincere believer in truth, justice and the Soviet way, and takes over the world in a genuinely benevolent dictatorship which works because he has superhuman intelligence and superhuman benevolence.  The pitch I'd been planning had Superman's arrival on Earth be the Tunguska explosion, and was going to be framed by an aging Bruce Wayne sending Lois Lane to interview the Superman, but other than that was very similar, and is now totally pointless.  Which is annoying because while most of Red Son is much better than anything I could come up with, there are elements of the end that do not quite work for me in ways that are annoying to me.

[Frogge]

Quantus, Thanks for answering my question (back on page 2).

Saw a Garrison Keillor  "Prairie Home Companion" Summer Love concert last week & was blown away by his mastery of timing and pacing and lyrical imagery.  He did a couple of erotic bits that delighted me away without ever saying anything explicit.  Made me want to get back to writing, which I haven't done much of the past two years.

Must get the house organized first.  Am actually beginning to make notable progress in a few spots.

[Enjorous]

...when a side project becomes more interesting to you then the main project it was supposed to supplement, despite having next to no conflict.

[Quantus]

...when a side project becomes more interesting to you then the main project it was supposed to supplement, despite having next to no conflict.

Eh, my latest project, whatever it is, is usually the most fun, no matter how much has gone into it or what the last project was...  Is that a bad sign?

[cenwolfgirl]

you know when your intruble when you start in one tense (the first person)
and end up in a compleatly diffrent one about halth way though (therd person)
or am i the only one who has that problem?

[meg_evonne]

you know when your intruble when you start in one tense (the first person)
and end up in a compleatly diffrent one about halth way though (therd person)
or am i the only one who has that problem?

Thankfully, it never happens these days, but yes it is a common problem. Perhaps it's more a matter that your mind hasn't decided which POV (and also verb tense) choice to use. In that case, it isn't a problem, they are a wonderful subconscious suggestion that you should consider carefully. Still, it is frustrating as H***, isn't it? I took a class with an editor at Philomel who made that comment to me one time. Once she made it? Things just clicked. My subconscious was more on the money than I was!

[belial.1980]

You could be in trouble when you're not really sure who the main antagonist is. (So many to choose from). Another bad sign: you've spent the better part of two months brainstorming an outline, only to discover that it's just not going to work after writing 15 pages of actual prose. 

On a high note, as I write this post, I find myself subconsciously answering a lot of the lingering questions in my mind. So, the story's not a complete wash. I just need to weed through the peripherals and find its center.

you know when your intruble when you start in one tense (the first person)
and end up in a compleatly diffrent one about halth way though (therd person)
or am i the only one who has that problem?

I tend to write in the present tense when I'm scrawling down the first version of a scene. I often do this for a half page or so to jump start the scene and try to feel out if it's really worth pursuing.

As far as first vs. third person goes...You might try presenting some first person voice narration as journal entries (or blogs, case files, etc.) in a story that's told from the 3rd person POV. I'd recommend being judicious with it, but I've seen it done before in published novels. It can add an interesting dynamic to a story as the first person is usually more intimate.

[cenwolfgirl]

Thanks for all yo help with my tens problem
its hopuly will stop me from changing tenses halth way though  !

[LizW65]

...a minor character suddenly becomes more interesting than the protagonist and tries to take over.

[Figging Mint]

^ I call that "fun".

[meg_evonne]

...a minor character suddenly becomes more interesting than the protagonist and tries to take over.

Gotta love it. OTOH, I didn't write a word two weekends ago, but I WROTE the most incredible full bodied  minor character into a inter-related key element. Word count ain't everything, and sometimes, I think it is one of the minor functions of effective story telling.

[MClark]

When an idea you hoped would be a 5000 word short story is now at 10000 words, and your critique group tells you "you're telling a lot. You need to expand this whole chapter into two or three and show more."

[Silent Death]

... you can't write the first chapter. AAAGHHH! It's so frustrating! I've got my outline written, but i can't write the first freakin' chapter! Not even the first page! AGGGGGGGGH!