Strengths and Weaknesses?

So what do you think are you strong points and weak points with writing? Are you working on correcting those weaknesses, or are you just working your way around those spots? Why do you think those are your strengths and weaknesses?

I think that I'm great with dialogue, but not so great with description. It's something that I've been trying to get better on, but finding the right words, showing v telling, and getting the right picture in the readers' head is hard. I realized this when the first thing anyone ever said about my writing was, "The dialogue is good, but the description sucks". In fact, I plan on taking a creative writers' class next quarter just so I can improve on it. I don't really try to avoid describing while writing because I really can't. It's kind of necessary. :P

My strength is my characters. I've been told before that my characters are interesting (even without much context for the story) and that I can get into their head really well.

I'm another one with a problem writing description. I'm so interested in exploring the characters' thoughts or feelings, or getting them from plot point to plot point, that I describe nothing. It's something that I hope to improve in editing over the first drafts.

I'd say my strength is actually in description. I love creating scenes in my head and then putting them onto paper (or pixels I guess).

My weakness would definitely be dialogue. I don't really know why, but I find that when I write dialogue for characters they come off sounding robotic. I'm especially bad with dialogue for female characters, which is why my story is likely to not feature too many of those.

My strength is being able to word things to the point of it being easy to.. visualize? My weakness is not being able to rhyme, but I mostly do free-verse poetry, so. Most aren't a fan of free verse sadly.

People have said I have a knack for writing comedy, so I'll take their word for it. =p Dialogue is one of my strengths too, I feel. I can imagine how people will say things. But on the flip side, I tend to get too dialogue heavy at times, I think, and focus on it more than description. I guess it is a double edged sword.

I also tend to go for run-on sentences every now and again. Something I gotta work on I suppose.

My strength is easily description. I've developed a knack for writing full-blown descriptions for characters, creatures, and settings right off the top of my head without much fluster. I like to lay things on really thickly too so the image sticks in your head.

My weakness, however, is that I have a tendency to write really long passages of dialogue. I'm actually in the middle of revising my next chapter for Dark Nostalgia: Feral Twilight, and one character just explains things to my main character for fifteen to twenty paragraphs. Personally, I think it's funny because he's making all these hilarious gestures while he talks, but I think some people may get bored, so I'm trying to skim it down. Alas, this is a recurrent issue in my other fanfics too (i.e. lengthy and possibly unnecessary dialogue).

damientheomen3 said:

I'd say my strength is actually in description. I love creating scenes in my head and then putting them onto paper (or pixels I guess).

My weakness would definitely be dialogue. I don't really know why, but I find that when I write dialogue for characters they come off sounding robotic. I'm especially bad with dialogue for female characters, which is why my story is likely to not feature too many of those.

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We're like opposites! :P

I just seem to struggle with finding the right words when describing certain scenes. There's even been a scene stuck in my head despite the fact I've written it months ago. It haunts my dreams because I felt so crappy about how I described it. XD

Sounds like we should all get together and collab on a huge communal fanfic. We'd balance each other's skills and weaknesses well. :P

damientheomen3 said:

Sounds like we should all get together and collab on a huge communal fanfic. We'd balance each other's skills and weaknesses well. :P

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I'm pretty sure we would do nothing but argue and fight over who the main character hooks up with and other minor details. XD

I ship Slayer and Damien.

ProjectMisfit said:

I ship Slayer and Damien.

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Well... I have a feeling I should have seen this coming.

Speaking of shipping, I don't think I have ever tried something like that. I'm not big on the whole romance side of writing. I just don't know how I would convey the emotions. I guess that's one element I'm lacking in my writing, emotions. They're just so, uggh... That's the best description I've got. XD

I'm all right at dialogue and description, I think (though there is always room for improvement), but I have problems keeping the structure of a story tight when I post it chapter by chapter; I have a feeling that things begin to unravel a little unless I can keep going back to it and reknotting the loose threads. I'm also never really satisfied with my prose, which could be a lot smoother if I could force myself to spend more time on each sentence, and my ability to build new worlds leaves quite a bit to be desired; I keep finding that I haven't fully considered the ramifications of including a certain thing (or something similar) that means I'm continually scrambling to retrofit bits of my stories' universes back into place and hoping that no one notices. Needless to say, that's not exactly good practice.

I'm not sure I believe in my characters, either. I have a sneaking suspicion that most of them are the same person wearing different masks, and that's something I'm keen to avoid in future.

Cutlerine said:

I'm all right at dialogue and description, I think (though there is always room for improvement), but I have problems keeping the structure of a story tight when I post it chapter by chapter; I have a feeling that things begin to unravel a little unless I can keep going back to it and reknotting the loose threads.

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I'm starting to feel this. I'm definitely going to keep going, but I've kind of lost my sense of exactly where I'm going. My only hope now is hopefully an ending comes into view somewhere. Sometimes I wish I could go back and change a few things in the beginning, but then I realize that I can't do that without writing a completely different story. I guess I need to work on my planning ahead and sticking with an idea strategies. All my plans for my stories end up falling apart.

On a story-wide level I'd say my main weakness is dedication/attention. I tend to be the sort that has so many ideas it's hard to resist flicking between them and by the time I have an idea fleshed out enough to write it, I've often drifted away from the idea a bit. That's why despite how much I like reading fanfiction and would love to write one, my writing tends to be more short stories (Which are quick to finish.) and forum roleplaying (Which has the added social aspect to keep me drawn in.) One of these days I hope to actually get some of these ideas in my head typed up. Maybe I should have a go at writing fanfiction oneshots/short fics, try working my way up to longer things.

In the actual writing I feel that writing Dialogue is one of my worst points, I tend to struggle writing a natural feeling conversation between multiple people. I also tend to get a bit too into my worldbuilding and forget that the reader might not be quite as interested in all the little details of how the world works as I am.

My main strength is plot as I'm able to tie together several scenes together that makes sense. I have several people comment on that. My main weakness probably description as I tend to want the actions to go quickly, not slowing down.

Speaking of shipping, I don't think I have ever tried something like that. I'm not big on the whole romance side of writing. I just don't know how I would convey the emotions. I guess that's one element I'm lacking in my writing, emotions. They're just so, uggh... That's the best description I've got. XD

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I wrote several shipping fics for a different fandom and yeah emotions can be tough to convey, haha. Even harder when you want to have the canon characters be in character. The pairing I write for the fans tend to go for angst fic, but I often wrote them in fluff scenarios. XD

I think the best thing about my writing is interesting characters, and keeping them true to themselves - whether that means them being a constant or gradually adapting and changing. I'm not too bad at balancing description with dialogue, either.

I think my biggest flaw when writing is motivation and drive. I'm easily swayed towards new ideas and get bogged down until I give up one project and start another. I also find writing long sequences quite daunting - the amount of times I have tried NaNoWriMo and fallen before a chapter could be completed... :(

Bay Alexison said:

My main weakness probably description as I tend to want the actions to go quickly, not slowing down.

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I think this is where I have trouble too. I'm working on slowing down the scenes and really taking my time with sections that I want to emphasize every detail, but it's going to be difficult.

Magic Fox said:

I think my biggest flaw when writing is motivation and drive. I'm easily swayed towards new ideas and get bogged down until I give up one project and start another. I also find writing long sequences quite daunting - the amount of times I have tried NaNoWriMo and fallen before a chapter could be completed...

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I struggle with motivation so much. I've tried writing two other books and each one has been stopped after the second chapter. I just lose interest way too easily. I guess I've never weighed the amount of effort it would take with my interest level before because I immediately started off with novel writing. No short stories, no poems, just novels. I think once I complete my current idea, I'm going to take a break with some short stories and work with building up my writing skills with those.

Magic Fox said:

I think my biggest flaw when writing is motivation and drive. I'm easily swayed towards new ideas and get bogged down until I give up one project and start another. I also find writing long sequences quite daunting - the amount of times I have tried NaNoWriMo and fallen before a chapter could be completed... :(

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Slayr231 said:

I struggle with motivation so much. I've tried writing two other books and each one has been stopped after the second chapter. I just lose interest way too easily. I guess I've never weighed the amount of effort it would take with my interest level before because I immediately started off with novel writing. No short stories, no poems, just novels. I think once I complete my current idea, I'm going to take a break with some short stories and work with building up my writing skills with those.

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In comparison to these posts, my strength lies in being able to stick with a story for years. One of the fics I'm working on now is one that I started back in 2002, and I'm still working on it to this day. (It's a rewrite of the version from 2002, but the plot and characters are the same. The writing style is just different.) Just like I'm hoping to finish this month a story I've been working on since 2009. It's like I think of a story and it never goes away until I'm satisfied with how it ends. If it ever ends.