Writing difficult and/or technical bits

I came to a part in my novel recently that was hard to write. Very hard to write. Once I slogged through it, it was also hard to read. Also, it was inconsistent. And the details were all wrong.

Any part of a novel that is hard to write is also easy to screw up. This goes for all writing. The hard parts are where you need to stop. Stop, think, all that good stuff. Rewrite. There's a lot of rewriting in good work; if you don't have to rewrite it, it may not be that good.

Everybody hates rewriting. It's even worse trying to get technical details straight, or trying to put together believable scenes.

But completely essential.

Some tips.

It's never really done, but at some point you're just spinning your wheels. Move on, and come back only when you have an idea of how it could be better.

Research it. Find somebody else to talk about it with. When in doubt, just plain remove it.

Get away from your computer screen and think about this. I like to sketch, a lot. I like to put pencil to paper and see my character, and imagine what's going on. You need to somehow get this in your mind's eye. Imagine it's a movie; anything! Just imagine how it must go. The right way for it to go.