Writing strengths and weaknesses?
- Thread starter Fruitbat
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Kaitie,
Bless your lil' heart for mentioning this. I'll add it to my "suck" list too. So, now it seems we all need a plot support group and a fighting scene support group.
(sigh)
See for me, people watching doesn't help my dialogue much at all. If I were to use a real conversation in a book, I think I would put my readers to sleep! Haha. (Too many uhhs and umms and slang and interruption and fluff)
But, I think if you are able to filter that and then put it into a story, you can definitely make it work.
What helped my dialogue the most was playwriting (and reading plays). It was my first "genre" before I switched over to fiction and being forced to get subtext across w/little or no action/stage direction can be tough! But, it forces you to dig deeper into dialogue, to find what is important enough to write and what you can put into summary.
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Strengths:
1. Dialogue. I had this perfect right from the beginning. I credit having spent most of my childhood reading good books and watching good movies. It gave me a natural feel for how to write dialogue (which is not at all how real people speak, btw. If you wrote that way it would sound horrible).
2. Characters. Everyone who has ever read my work has commented on how unique and entertaining the characters are.
3. World-building. I love creating new worlds and strange societies and making them work in a believable but totally different way.
Weaknesses:
1. Plotting. I hate plots. Really, they're evil. I can happily write for many thousands of words with no plot in sight, lol. Since I know I'll never come up with a great plot, I've learned to compensate by making the characters, writing, and world so involving that no-one notices my plot is weak.
2. Pacing. I have a really hard time telling. My natural inclination is to show everything, which screws up the pacing since telling is an essential part of writing. I've gotten better with this but it still takes conscious effort for me to make myself tell the parts which shouldn't be shown.
3. Grammar. Meh, that's what copy-editors are for, right?
1. Dialogue. I had this perfect right from the beginning. I credit having spent most of my childhood reading good books and watching good movies. It gave me a natural feel for how to write dialogue (which is not at all how real people speak, btw. If you wrote that way it would sound horrible).
2. Characters. Everyone who has ever read my work has commented on how unique and entertaining the characters are.
3. World-building. I love creating new worlds and strange societies and making them work in a believable but totally different way.
Weaknesses:
1. Plotting. I hate plots. Really, they're evil. I can happily write for many thousands of words with no plot in sight, lol. Since I know I'll never come up with a great plot, I've learned to compensate by making the characters, writing, and world so involving that no-one notices my plot is weak.
2. Pacing. I have a really hard time telling. My natural inclination is to show everything, which screws up the pacing since telling is an essential part of writing. I've gotten better with this but it still takes conscious effort for me to make myself tell the parts which shouldn't be shown.
3. Grammar. Meh, that's what copy-editors are for, right?
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Filtering is one of the things I try to focus on a LOT while I'm writing dialogue. The "uh", "um", and "weather talk", as I like to call it, gets to stay the heck out. Unless it's on purpose. Sometimes I'll write something like, "Uhm, what are you doing?" and that's totally intentional, because the "uhm" is getting across some of the voice.
Strengths: spelling, grammar and punctuation. An ability to be objective and learn from criticism, meaning I may be publishable one day.
Weaknesses: Many. Conversational dialogue is really hard for me, as I find conversation difficult (if I have to start it; I'm fine if someone else starts. When writing I have to be all people, so I always have to start. I dislike this). To date, no amount of people-watching has helped, more's the pity!
Weaknesses: Many. Conversational dialogue is really hard for me, as I find conversation difficult (if I have to start it; I'm fine if someone else starts. When writing I have to be all people, so I always have to start. I dislike this). To date, no amount of people-watching has helped, more's the pity!
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Strengths
Plot and character development. So far I've got great review for both in my writing.
Scheduling my writing sessions. If I've scheduled it, I'll definitely knuckle under and get it done.
Weaknesses
I have a tendency to drift if I'm in the character's head.
Sentence structure
I get lost on tangents, which makes it appear I'm rambling on in the writing.
I have a tough time getting the story going when I open to a new scene. It's often done in a very clumsy manner as I'm trying to figure out where I'm taking the scene.
Plot and character development. So far I've got great review for both in my writing.
Scheduling my writing sessions. If I've scheduled it, I'll definitely knuckle under and get it done.
Weaknesses
I have a tendency to drift if I'm in the character's head.
Sentence structure
I get lost on tangents, which makes it appear I'm rambling on in the writing.
I have a tough time getting the story going when I open to a new scene. It's often done in a very clumsy manner as I'm trying to figure out where I'm taking the scene.
Weakness: I am more purple than a Roman emperor and can use 2000 words when one would suffice. I am the anti-terse! I also have an annoying tendancy to write really complicated sentences with many, many clauses in them which later have to be broken down and sold for scrap (or rewritten into several shorter ones). And that last one is not even the worst example of that I have done. Oh, and I have tense lapses which I don't even notice - switching between past and present tense because I start in one, go away from the manuscript for a bit and then come back to it having forgotten which tense it was in...
Strengths: I have been told by several (including someone on this very forum but I shall name no names) that I can do good, strong world building. Mainly this is because I spent most of my life practising world building skills for other purposes...
Strengths: I have been told by several (including someone on this very forum but I shall name no names) that I can do good, strong world building. Mainly this is because I spent most of my life practising world building skills for other purposes...
The good thing about "over" writing is that you can always pare it down. And I find it easier to pare down than to fill out.
I tend to write longer sentences too, more complex sentences. Revision is usually more chopping of sentences and simplifying for me, but it's easier than fluffing things up and fleshing out. (At least for me.)
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Strengths:
Dialogue..everyone always comments on my dialogue-writing. Characters. Vignettes/micro-scenes
Weaknesses:
Plotting -_- I have such a hard time resolving plots on a satisfying way. Also a tendency to write long over-wrought sentences with entirely too many punctuation marks crammed into them. Just because I can use them doesn't mean I should...
Dialogue..everyone always comments on my dialogue-writing. Characters. Vignettes/micro-scenes
Weaknesses:
Plotting -_- I have such a hard time resolving plots on a satisfying way. Also a tendency to write long over-wrought sentences with entirely too many punctuation marks crammed into them. Just because I can use them doesn't mean I should...
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