As writers we all have areas we are weak in, and we are constantly striving to improve ourselves in those areas. For you what are those weak areas?
For me I have a problem with being detail heavy. I will write in to many details that should be left unsaid for the reader to assume. This slows down the passing of my story.
what can you improve one?
A little story I'm trying to write, named Two Halves
"jumping off a cliff only hurts if you forget how to fly" -Taj Mahal Badalandabad
Well, firstly, I can improve on actually finishing things. I need to work on being disciplined and not abandoning things half way through due to lack of motivation.
I feel like I also need to work on my ability to build suspense and hold tension. When I read over some of my writings, I sometimes find it to have irrelevant subplots and events that don't need to be there, such as interactions between characters that don't really have a purpose in the overall plot and that slow the story down.
My dialog could also be stronger. My problem in that area is both in writing conversations that go on for too long and losing the mood while I'm having them.
Other than that, I know that there are areas that I can improve, but I don't know what they are. I'm hoping to get feedback that will help me figure those out.
Dialogue is the first thing I can think of. I can't seem to get in good realistic conversations. I can really only get a few short snippets, and then the characters move on. I need to work on back and forth conversations and on how to make them engaging.
My ideas don't always translate to text as well as I want to. The result is not always what I had in mind. That's the biggest problem I have. Describing things is usually easy, and so is writing dialogue. Another problem is that sometimes I come up with a story, I know how it begins, I know how it ends... but parts of the 'middle' are missing or subplots/details are left unexplained.
I hear voices... and they don't like you
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The main thing I need to fix is my impatience. I start off fine with some ideas that I frankly, usually, feel are pretty brilliant (this is why I usually start writing a story), but I get bored easily and start to rush it near the end so I can hurry and share it with... well, you guys, before the day ends.
I've got some other problems, but I feel that they would be naturally fixed if I would just spend more time on my writing.
Well, my poetry is all very, hmm, how can I put this...I guess a lot of people would consider it to be quite emo.
I have trouble breaking out of this mould unless I'm asked to write about a particular subject, but this is because all the pieces I do off my own back are reprisentations of how I feel; I'm not going to write about puppies and sunshine unless the puppies are being punched to death in a pillow case and the suns falling from the sky; it's just not my style.
However, I'm aware people get sick of this shit, so, I guess i could at least try.
Also, some of my stuff sort of makes no sense to a lot of people, and I sometimes bite off more than i can chew.
The current norm of poetry is mostly emo. Doesn't matter. A person that has studied poetry will probably loath the generality though.
Failure should push you until success can pull you.
consistency with level of description and dialogue are my weaknesses. Descriptions can go from the mundane to the poetic depending on my mood. Also, getting the dialogue right for a character is important, and to have it consistent for a character is paramount.
Political Science: A haughty soap opera. Philosophy: A cold, mind-fucking bitch.
I love them both
"Manuscripts don't burn"- Mikhail Bulgakov
Procrastination and insomnia are my weaknesses. You'd find writing a poem hard to do once you only get 5 hours of sleep, have little inspiration to do so, and have several projects looming over your head. But...I think that most of my poems need a little more control in terms of rhyme. The syllables can seem off in a few points.
Ugh. I hate getting up at ludicrous time schedules for school.
I put the BS in BBS.
Midgame and editing. I can start a story like nobody's business. I'll blaze through the first3-6 chapters then hit a damn wall. I'll have the basic outline of where I want the story to go, and the ending already in my head, but I'll be clueless how to play the midgame. And beyond spelling/grammar and style editing, I just can't do it. I always assume a passage will have the effect I want it to, and often that's not the case. And boy oh boy do I hate letting people read drafts. I don't like practicing my horn in front of people, and I don't like having imperfect works of mine on display. I'm realizing that's a detrimental thing for my writing, but it's a hard habit to break.
Then again, what can't we improve on really?
Tis better to sit in silence and be presumed a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
At 4/16/10 11:22 PM, ProMotionProductions wrote:At 4/15/10 04:17 PM, InsertFunnyUserName wrote: Well, firstly, I can improve on actually finishing things. I need to work on being disciplined and not abandoning things half way through due to lack of motivation.so very this.
Feeling this one here...sigh.
Failure should push you until success can pull you.
At 4/16/10 06:51 AM, Ravariel wrote: Midgame and editing. I can start a story like nobody's business. I'll blaze through the first3-6 chapters then hit a damn wall. I'll have the basic outline of where I want the story to go, and the ending already in my head, but I'll be clueless how to play the midgame. And beyond spelling/grammar and style editing, I just can't do it.
If you're having that problem, then I recommend putting the outline of your story on paper/a word document instead of just having it in your head. Plan out every event and every chapter before you start to write so that you don't hit that wall of "where do I go now?". From there, all you have to do is make it pretty.
This is a problem that I run into often as well.
Then again, what can't we improve on really?
Amen.
At 4/16/10 11:22 PM, ProMotionProductions wrote:At 4/15/10 04:17 PM, InsertFunnyUserName wrote: Well, firstly, I can improve on actually finishing things. I need to work on being disciplined and not abandoning things half way through due to lack of motivation.so very this.
I think we all have this problem as writers. I certainly know I do.
Another thing I could improve on is repeating words. For instance, I might use the word "glistening" in one sentence to describe a shiny object, and than us it again to describe the same object a couple sentences later.
Thanks aplenty to Phobotech for the great user icon.
I have a similar problem to what a number of other people mentioned, I have trouble sticking to projects. Not because I become bored with them, but because I'll come up with another great idea, and then another, and another, even as I'm writing the first one.
At some point, all those great ideas convince me to stop the project that I'm on and start one of those other ones, and the process begins again.
"Sit down and shut up and do as I say" -- Zeus
