Name your strengths and weaknesses as a writer

[HeyAll]

Strength:
-- new plots
-- dialogue

Weakness:
-- vocabulary not big enough (i use wordhippo often to find new words)
-- sex details are often weak (moreso in older stories, but it's better now)

 

[lovecraft68]

Good thread idea.

Strength
1-far and away my dialogue, I'm not much for narrative, I try to let my characters tell the story. I've had far too many people over the years tell me how well I do with it for me not to think its my strong suit
2-story telling, I feel I do a good job of drawing people into the story and the characters.

Weakness.
1-I tend to be wordy, but in the sense of I over complicate things. Give me the simplest idea and I'll turn it into 20k with conflict and back story and etc...I tout the KISS mantra, but struggle with it.

2-Grammar....much better than I was, but I still need work.

 

[ElectricBlue]

- Giving many readers credit for having greater reading comprehension skills than they actually do. I sometimes need to write to a lower grade level.

Why dumb down to the lowest common denominator? If they can't read me, they won't, but if I'm literate, why would I ever want to give that up?

I'm the reverse - I rely on readers having a degree of "clever" in their ability to read. Otherwise, my best sentences go to waste.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

The plot takes over!

Also I'm better at setting the scene and situation than actually describing the whole well, fucking and sucking.

Okay, gotcha. Though, you're probably being too hard on yourself. I bet if can set a scene, you can describe the intricate details involved in sexy shenanigans, too.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Okay, gotcha. Though, you're probably being too hard on yourself. I bet if can set a scene, you can describe the intricate details involved in sexy shenanigans, too.

There are only so many ways to describe sex before you enter "His pulsating rod of power slowly entered her moist love cavity" territory. At least for me.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

There are only so many ways to describe sex before you enter "His pulsating rod of power slowly entered her moist love cavity" territory. At least for me.

Lol. I hear you. There are only so many ways to describe it. Though, I keep trying to make it interesting, or at least fun.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

There are only so many ways to describe sex before you enter "His pulsating rod of power slowly entered her moist love cavity" territory. At least for me.

Just so you know, I struggle with writing decent (or indecent, as the case may be) sex scenes, too. What I often do is write around them, then go back and write whatever works with the characters and their situation.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

The longest sex scene I've written (crude draft) is an unspeakable lovecraftian sex horror scene. Grossed myself out with that one.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

The longest sex scene I've written (crude draft) is an unspeakable lovecraftian sex horror scene. Grossed myself out with that one.

I'd love to read it. Might help me to get inspired. I've got a sex scene to write for my latest story and I'm stalling, which is why I'm on here instead of writing!

 

[Comshaw]

Negative:
I keep getting plot in my porn.

Man you got to scrape that out of there! I'd advise watching a few hours of plotless porn to acclimate yourself to producing things like that. WHAM! BAM! There ya' go girly!

Comshaw

 

[YDB95]

Strengths:
1. People always tell me I'm great with dialogue, my characters actually sound like the way real people talk.
2. I've been told I'm good at body-positivity - my characters rarely if ever come across like porn stars, they sound like real people who are just as sexy and lovable as anyone.

Weaknesses:
1. Proofreading! Almost all my stories have at least one mistake I notice when it's too late, usually someone calling a character by another character's name.
2. Sometimes I think my sex scenes are a little too boilerplate. After a while, there is a sameness, especially if it's with the same two characters.

 

[Cali_Love]

Strengths:

+ I fall in love with my characters

+ I get personally involved with my stories

+ I write for me, and enjoy re-reading my own stupid shit



Weaknesses

- I fall in love with my characters

- I get personally involved with my stories

- I write for me, and enjoy re-reading my own stupid shit

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Now to complete the SWOT analysis, we need to identify the threats and opportunities.

 

[yowser]

O - Vast worldwide increase in number of orgasms

T - Distraction, Exhaustion, Lethargy due to above. GNP numbers plummet.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Strengths - people tell me I write good dialogue with convincing dialects, and create interesting convincing characters they want to know more about.

I'm fine on grammar and spelling and pretty good on proof-reading, though the odd error gets through.

Weaknesses - turning a pair of characters chatting away into an actual plot. Writing for Lit is easier in some ways as you go from them not having sex, some tension, then having sex, which is almost a plot, but making a long bunch of words into a story - that's where I often struggle.

Sometimes I'm inspired, other times I just take the output and poke it into some semblance of a beginning, middle and end.

 

[jsmiam]

A new topic. Yayyy!

Strengths.
- Easy going story telling.

Weaknesses, maybe.
- They’re all the same. But is that just me playing on my strengths, making my weakness an actual strength?

- improving steadily, but I’m sure I English teachers itchy red-pen fingers.

 

[Northstar4695]

Ha! I'm hesitant to say I have any particular strengths, but I like writing setting/scene descriptions. Fantasizing about travel or the outdoors is part of the allure of this hobby to me. I also get comments that people like my characters. I try to keep them realistic, more girl-next-door than pornstar.

I struggle with having my characters have interesting things to say to each other. I prefer for them to bond over something other than sex. Sometimes it's hard to come up with something. If I always use what I personally like, it will get old, but it also needs to be convincing.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I’m not the one to decide this. From reader response, I infer that weaknesses outweigh strengths.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I think my strengths include character-building and world-building.

Weaknesses? Excess humility, to start with.

OK, Weaknesses, Take Two - a tendency towards wordiness and unnecessary repetition. An ignorance of precise grammar at times.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Repetition helps people memorise, Repeating things will make people remember them. Say it over and over again and it will stick in their mind.

 

[LdyHoneybee]

+My first story here notwithstanding, I am good with character and dialogue.
+I can turn a phrase now and then.
+I am a good proofreader. The errors i do not catch are almost always keying errors rather than real, like' “the” instead of “they.”

-plot. What i write often does not have one. I am just “spending time with friends” and their humor, insecurities, and so on.
-I can be wordy.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Weaknesses
I'm wordy
I rely heavily, too heavily, on dialogue
I have too many stories going at a time so nothing ever gets finished
I try to be a perfectionist and I fail

Nope. Not accepted, not without your admitting to some of those obvious strengths.

‘Fess up!

 

[GinnyPPC]

Strengths: well, according to the feedback I've received, character development and writing cliffhangers to keep you wanting the next chapter.

Weaknesses: Getting distracted and not focusing on my writing... oh look, there's a squirrel out my window.

 

[TadOverdon]

I don't know whether it's a strength or weakness, but I find fantasy sex funny. Not so much in a broadly comedic way, my characters are just often a little arch in the act.

 

[vanmyers86]

Positives:
I'm good at dialogue
I engage all the senses
My characters are three-dimensional
Good grammar and spelling (but somehow, some error always manages to creep into anything I write)

Negatives:
Perfectionism
I am bad at writing characters if I can't get into their heads at some level
Lack of discipline to sit down and knock out a daily minimum of words
I allow my pesky full-time job to pull me away from writing fun stuff