What are your strengths and weaknesses? Are you improving?

Cool thread suggestion.

I've realized that writing is a lot like, say, sports. It's all in the mental fortitude.
If I am writing a piece for fun, or for a submission, I can fly through it and drown out distractions. However, I have a WIP that a publisher is expecting, and this has knocked me sideways. I've realized I'm agonizing over it, because I know it has a solid destination and the pressure is ON. I didn't use to feel like this (in other lives of reporting & editing), so I know I have to get my brain back in the game.
I find I'm learning about the craft of writing everyday. Can't say I've had any major epiphanies.

Nateskate said:

Do you feel like you are stagnant?

I simply won't allow it! It's the death of my growth as a writer. Never, ever will I allow myself to think I've mastered the craft!


Do you feel like you are on top of your game; you've peaked, and can't get any better, or at least not substantially so?

Every time I win another writing contest, tick off another publishing credit, I seek out the most contrary opinions of my writing that I can possibly find. I thrive on the contrary! Right now, after coming off of a banner year of contest wins, I'm sinking into my first novel, and what do I go and do . . . I sign up for a novel workshop with an instructor who absolutely HATES my writing style. Why would I do such a crazy thing? Because I know she will whip me into shape, to help me define, justify, clarify etc. etc. what it is that I want to communicate, and how I want to communicate it. I'm four weeks into the workshop, and it's brutal. But I know I will survive and be a better writer, not in spite of the instructors negative opinion of my style, but as a result of her scrutiny.

Or do you feel like you keep improving.

If so, how much?

I'm at the point now that even with the work that I have had success in publishing, I find myself identifying ways I could have improved on it! Though, unsettling at times, I find that it is a very good thing for a writer to constantly be raising their own personal "bar of excellance", never settling for just getting something published.

What are you good at?

I'm good at coming up with interesting premises--themes. It's that freshness of ideas that I know helps to keep me rising to the top of slush piles, be it a contest or regular submission pile.


Where do you feel you need improvement?

Grammar, spelling and punctuation--it just doesn't stick with me. I'm never farther than an arms length away from a dictionary and style book when I write. And even then, I miss far too many of my mispelled, misplaced modifiers etc. etc.

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I've only been a member of the AW forum for a little over a month, and this is the BEST thread premise I have read to date.

I can't express enough how important it is for writers, as Maestrowork said to me (in his role as a forum moderator) concerning a touchy situation with a writer that was not open to criticism, "Writers need to grow a thick skin!" In my way of viewing things, it's the contrary opinions that will make a writer, not the idol praise of simply hearing someone tell you that "They liked it!"

If a writer can't step back and take an honest inventory of their work every now and then, it is their work that will suffer, their writing related goals and dreams that will never be realized. IMHO, the more a writer craves contrary opinions of their work, the more they will thrive!

No change recently. My strengths remain mechanics and humor. My weakness remains not having a story I feel like telling.

I'm still improving. I expect that to be the case until they nail my coffin shut.

Recently, I compared the first draft of my finished novel to the final version, and was surprised at how much I'd improved (I also couldn't believe there was a time when I thought the first draft was decent). When writing my WIP, I'm automatically applying the lessons I learned from the first. In other words, the draft I'm writing now is much better than it would have been if I hadn't written the first novel. I'm positive I'll learn more lessons as I continue to write.

My strength is, and always has been, dialog. I've always been interested in the ways people communicate, and have studied it extensively, so it comes through in my writing. Have I improved? HECK YEAH. I continue to improve all the time, but I think my progress has slowed. Probably because I sucked far worse two-three years ago than I do now. I hope I never reach a point where I think I've 'mastered' the craft -- everyone can improve somehow. I think I need the most improvement in setting scenes and in writing narrative so that it's not dry. I feel like my plotting and sense of conflict has come a long way, and I'm constantly working to improve those areas.

The next Big Thing I hope to learn is how to inject emotion into my writing. I'm not talking about melodrama, but honest strike-a-chord-with-the-reader emotion. Defining that is step #1.

Nateskate said:

Do you feel like you are stagnant?

Do you feel like you are on top of your game; you've peaked, and can't get any better, or at least not substantially so?

Or do you feel like you keep improving. If so, how much. What are you good at? Where do you feel you need improvement?

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Good questions. It's always good to consider how you are making out along the road.

"Do you feel like you are stagnant?"

As a novelist...YES. In the course of the past two years I have started no fewer than 3 novels. I have finished one...but not to the point where it is ready to send out. I just start really fast out of the gate and then lose the passion for the thing I am writing. So, in that regard, I feel like I am stagnating.

"Do you feel like you are on top of your game; you've peaked, and can't get any better, or at least not substantially so?"

I feel like I will never be on top of my game. I hope I haven't peaked. I feel there is so much room for improvement that the ceiling is nowhere in sight. As a poet...and I add here that I am a very reluctant poet...I am doing fantastic. I have several poems coming out in the next few months in various journals. As a writer of novel length fiction...I need lots of help. I take courses when I can. I read everything I can get my hands on. But I just can't seem to find the formula I need for this length.

"Or do you feel like you keep improving. If so, how much. What are you good at? Where do you feel you need improvement?"

I do feel like I am continually improving. I think I am really open to advice and take it whenever it is given. I'm really good with grammar and language. I think my dialogue works great. I need lots of improvement at moving from scene to scene. I tend to have characters walking a lot...moving into the next scene. Whereas a clean cut from one scene to the next is something I only think about in the editing process. I have these long drawn out "GETTING THERE" scenes that I need to remove from my writing all the time. I also need improvement on structuring my fiction prior to writing it. I never think things through, just type out the story in one fell swoop. I am constantly feeling surprised by events as the story comes up to them...as if I am reading it rather than writing it. I guess that's a control issue, and I feel like I don't have control when I'm writing fiction.

Great questions. Thanks!

Strengths: I used to say I was good at characterization; see below. I still think I'm good at characters who are passionate. I think that I am good at dialogue and at putting characters in insoluble moral dilemnas (mwahah). Faaairly good at plot.

Weaknesses: Just recently I discovered that I'm actually bad at characterization. My characters are passionate, but they're not REALLY real. Real in the way that Lord Peter Wimsey is, with a sharp sense of wit and aspects of personality that have nothing to do with the plot. I am bad at descriptive prose, telling details, and pacing.

Sometimes I think improving is in large part a matter of realizing anew every few months that I'm a bad writer in ways I didn't even know about.
So I am improving. I hope. But it doesn't feel that way very often.

I feel I've grown as a writer in the last two years as well. My answers to your questions are listed below:

1. Do you feel like you are stagnant?

I felt stagnant about six months ago. I don't feel stagnant any more, and there's a simple reason for that.

I had been given the advice early on to 'Join a Writer's Group.' I never had, because I was at one time of the opinion that I could do everything myself. About two months ago, I joined this particular online writing community. I am glad I did, because not only was I able to get some stuff off my chest about my publisher, but also because I now have access to the advice and experience of literally more than a thousand different writers on my desktop. All I have to do is go online, log on to AW, and read. (And trust me, I do a lot of reading on this site.)

Because of this, I now feel like I'm learning again, and my writing is becoming better. I've even submitted not only a book manuscript to a major house, but also a short story to an e-zine.


2. Do you feel like you are on top of your game; you've peaked, and can't get any better, or at least not substantially so?


Have I peaked? No, I don't believe so. I've been writing for roughly 22 years, but I've only attempted to be published since about 1998. I've been published (If you can call it that) once since then, and that by a very disreputable company that I personally consider a scam.

Am I at the top of my game? Though I feel like I may be, I know deep down I'm not. Again, though I've been writing for over two decades, I've only been at the business of writing for a relatively short period of time. I think in the next few years I may see myself to a grander place in life, but not yet.


3. Or do you feel like you keep improving. If so, how much. What are you good at? Where do you feel you need improvement?


I definitely feel like I'm constantly improving, but nowadays I feel as though, because I belong to this writers' community, my writing is improving at an exponential rate as compared to before. My Dad used to tell me I could be a good writer if I put my mind to it; he's one of the reasons I took up the writing craft -- that and the fact I love it so much. I've been steadily improving for decades, but only recently have I learned to improve in the sense of accepting criticism and also in the sense of BIC, which Uncle Jim mentions often all through these forums.

Another thing I've improved upon tremendously is taking time almost every day to sit down and write something new. It's a bit sporadic right now, but it is becoming more of a discipline for me and is beginning to show a pattern. It's a habit I look forward to keeping, although it isn't two hours like Mr. Macdonald recommends, but rather roughly fifteen to twenty minutes a day.

Really, the one improvement I can see that I desperately need to make is that of my patience with my works. I've never been a patient man, and even with works that have taken me seventeen years at a clip to finish, I'm always rushing to get the job done. I literally have to pace myself so I don't end up cutting my manuscripts too short these days.


Anyway, that's where I stand with my writing. It is definitely improving, but to say I'm at the top of my game would be premature at this particular time.

I think the biggest change for me in two years has been the way I look at the craft of writing, my attitude toward it. It is really now just beginning to sink in how much true work is involved. I have the talent, but it is like any other artistic talent, unless I have discipline and continually practice, I cannot become a professional.

Great thread! My writing is improving, and I hope it will continue to improve and evolve for as long as I live (cuz that's how long I plan to keep writing).

My strengths are humour, voice, dialogue, the ability to see a variety of viewpoints, and technical things like spelling and grammar. I'm great with story structure when I'm helping other people, but I often struggle with my own.

On the flip side, the list is longer: I overwrite. Even when I think I've cut something down as far as I can and - as the expression goes - killed my favourite children, my pieces are still usually twice as long as they should be. I also have a nasty habit of authorial intrusion, particularly when I'm writing essays. I want to make sure the reader feels exactly what I want them to feel, so I find more and more manipulative ways to ensure they will feel X. It's reached the point where I'm so sneaky about it that I don't usually realize it until someone points it out. I'm terrified of being misunderstood, which also happens to be a major personal anxiety. (I have a theory that our weaknesses as writers reflect our personal insecurities)

My discipline is erratic. When I have a deadline, when I'm working on a project that really excites me, or when I feel inspired, I'm golden. Otherwise, I'll spend hours worrying about getting the next job but not taking steps to get the next job, if that makes sense.

I have extremely thin skin; sometimes I wonder if I'm not missing a few of those seven layers we were taught about in grade school. I'm learning that the only way to develop a thick skin is by getting used to criticism and not taking it personally. I take everything personally.

A few years ago, I couldn't write in the third person. I'd only written personal essays and sketch comedy (in script format), and when I started to write stories, it was as though I was back in high school - no, wait... I was a better writer in high school. That fear paralyzed me for a long time. I believed I simply could not write fiction.

The Idol contest is teaching me things I never realized I could do - like short stories and (the biggest and coolest surprise) writing a twist.

Oh, and I'm hopeless at networking. I don't like going to parties and schmoozing; I pretty much suck at the whole self-promotion thing. This is the only area in which I have no idea how to improve. I tell myself to go to a certain number of cocktail parties or readings or events, because I never know who I might meet, but I make every excuse to avoid social functions. I really, really need to learn how to be more assertive, if not outright aggressive, on my own behalf. And the minute I can afford it, I'm hiring a publicist so I don't have to worry about this stuff.

One thing's for sure: aside from the amount of time I spend on here just playing and having fun, AW and the advice I've gotten here has helped me get *much* more organized and motivated; I treat myself like a professional now. Even though I've been making a living as a writer for the better part of ten years, I think I've been holding myself back by hesitating to submit to larger markets.

Whew - more than you ever wanted to know, eh? (Told you I overwrite )

great topic

Dialogue has become my strength with humor right behind it. I think I've nailed those two. But two glaring problems are the final act (always seem to screw up the ending after being very happy with everything leading up to it, even though I usually know what the ending will be before I start the damn novel!), as well as sometimes differentiating characters; ie I'm pretty good at characterizations but always manage to have at least a couple characters that act, think, or speak too similarly and it becomes difficult to differentiate between them. Getting better at it, but still needs work.

Also discovered the world of "rhythm", thanks to an article in WD by Nancy Kress a couple years back. Actually concentrating on the rhythm of sentences and paragraphs has made my writing a whole lot juicier and less bland. She is phenomenal, BTW, for those of you who have never read an article of hers.

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while and thought I would chime in here. Interesting thread and responses.

I hope my writing is improving, and for the most part I think it is, but sometimes I get a sinking feeling when I go back and re-read bits from my first draft (I'm working on final revisions of a YA fantasy novel) and think my first draft reads BETTER than my final. Ugh. I feel like giving up, but I'm terribly down on myself and my writing most of the time, so I think that's just me panicking.

My strengths I believe are pacing (although where the pacing is off it seems too fast) and balancing elements like description, dialogue, and reflection. My weaknesses are dialogue itself and perhaps characterization. My writing seems competent for the most part (and receives that feedback from my critique group) but to me it lacks the air of authority that my favorite published books seem to have. I can't quite put my finger on it.

My greatest weakness is the self-doubt I have to fight every time I sit down to write. I love writing, but it seems like I have to wrestle myself to the computer then expend lots of energy keeping myself there.

Calico

P.S. This is my first post. I hope I haven't messed anything up mechanically. Oops, there's that self-doubt again! :Smack:

I feel like I'm improving in every area. Recently I've been focusing specifically on POV (I had head hopping syndrome something bad), word choice (mainly killing the adverbs), and context. I have a hard time with context, because I have no problem with providing the dialogue and asking the reader to provide the rest. Until somebody pointed out this was a problem, I didn't give it a second though. Now my second drafts consist pretty much completely of adverb-removal and context-adding.

I think my greatest strength is finishing things. (Second greatest is starting them.)

Greatest weakness... probably spending too much time on Internet message boards.

My greatest weakness is inarguably plot. In the last 4 years I've worked through pretty much every available book on the subject. Every once in a while I find something that gives me an insight, but it's never enough of an insight to improve me to a passable plotter. So in this area I suppose I'm stagnant. (Although my internal scene structuring has gotten tighter.)

My strength... well, it depends who you ask. I've had people tell me they love my 'voice' but my characters and their psychology are unrealistic, but I've had other people tell me they're madly in love with one of my characters. I've had people tell me my worldbuilding resembles Frankenstein and they hate it, and other people tell me my worldbuilding is a fascinating sociological construction with cool genetics/magic/technology/whatever, and more importantly a great place to escape the real world. So, I don't know, lol. I would say I'm pretty good at everything except plot, but that there's plenty of room for improvement too. I've probably improved a bit in each of these areas over the past few years, but I haven't actively been studying them or trying to improve myself in any area except plot, so no real dramatic improvement.

The area I think I've improved at most is POV, not because I was trying to but just because my recent projects have all needed different approaches to POV to best develop them.

In conclusion, I'm very afraid that if I cannot make a breakthrough with understanding plotting I will never succeed at becoming a professional writer, no matter how much I improve in other areas.

Thank goodness I think I'm always improving. What kind of life is that if I'm not? I'm always learning new things and applying what I learn. I love it.

I think my strength is characterization and dialogue. Someone once told me: "You made me lust for this woman with only a few words and sentences..." I found that a great compliment.

My weakness is probably pace. Sometimes my story is too slow or the pacing is not right, and I don't know how to fix it. I always start my book too slowly, and it takes a few rewrites to fix that. I always have false starts. But once I get the story going, the ending is usually pretty strong. I am okay with plotting. I try not to be predictable.

Strengths: Dialogue - humour - adverbs. And sentence fragments.

Weaknesses: Punctuation and getting sidetracked.

wurdwise said:

I think the biggest change for me in two years has been the way I look at the craft of writing, my attitude toward it. It is really now just beginning to sink in how much true work is involved. I have the talent, but it is like any other artistic talent, unless I have discipline and continually practice, I cannot become a professional.

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I am putting this on my computer monitor:

I have the talent. With discipline and continuous practice, I will become a professional.

I think it would make a great AW banner at the top of the page. (With appropriate punctuation.)

Great question, Nate. Hi all. I definitely think I've improved with my writing. I've had short stories accepted which before were always rejected and even since being here my greeting card acceptance rate has increased. We learn from reading what the pros on AW have to say! And you know who you are.

Hugs, Susie