What are your strengths and weaknesses as a Writer?

[maxonennis]

I'll gladly join the ranks of the slow writers. In my case it's made worse through my brilliant idea of writing the first draft by hand. That feels far too much like work, and once I'm done with the draft I probably won't try that again. Ever. Unless the result should turn out to be a work of literary genius, of course.

I'd tried to write by hand before. It feels like five times the amount of work typing is to me. I will never try doing that again. Once was enough.

[Silk]

But Karl, I like your answers!

I usually write by hand, actually - the last week of NaNo was the first time I tried writing something directly on the computer screen.  It's good to know that I can resort to the screen when I need to get something done fast (erm, for me, at least) but I think I still prefer writing by hand...

[Karl]

Isac Asimov was a speed typist. Clive Barker is a hand writer. There is no right answer. Just whatever works best for the individual writer.

[Karl]

Weakness: Buying books I can't afford.

I decided I'd like a copy of Asimov's Annotated Paradise Lost . Anyone got $504.00 they can loan me for a used copy? Apparently they didn't print too many of these, and that's the cheapest price. How about taking up a collection for me?!?

[Flo_the_G]

Thereby just the act of typing becomes my first real revision of the text.

That's exactly the line of thought that led to me writing by hand. But like I said: work.
I guess I'll try typing the next novel, see how that goes, and then try to draw some clever conclusions.

[Silk]

I would agree with Karl about the book buying part, but he won't let me steal his answers anymore , so I guess I won't.

Yeah, I feel the same way about handwriting - I type my stuff out usually a chapter at a time, and that lets me do some basic line editing and spot any problems I didn't see while in the midst of actually writing it.

It's also easier to engage with paper and pencil, I find, which makes for snappier prose. It's also less easy to edit on paper (way too easy to do on a screen), nevermind other distractions like Teh Interwebs.

Plus, it's nice to do something that doesn't involve staring at a screen. I do way too much of that as it is

[Necroben]

I think a strength of mine is the ability to make believable characters.  While their accents may be horrible, I think I did a good job in making them all individuals.

Another is that I tend to use colloquialisms fairly well.

One thing that I'm struggling with though is multiple plot lines.  What they should be doing, how they should be doing it, and how it can all be tied together in a believable and concise manner.

Way too many clichés.  It’s something that just seems to pop up every so often.  I often back track to get rid of them, especially on the computer, but this at times leaves holes that you could drive through in the plot that have to be worked out.

[Hayley]

Wow... seems some people are much more open about their weaknesses, and don't praise themselves enough for their strengths...

So, to join in with that...

Strengths: I'm an ideas person sometimes. Like, I'll have an idea in my head, or an opening line, and then begin to work around that. So generally have about 4 ideas bobbing around in my mind to work with.

Weaknesses: I write the first chapter/scene/whatever, re-read it, hate it, and refuse to carry on. Basically "I suck and I'm a horrible writer". Another one is that I don't really think about what I'm writing... just write it. Same goes for talking in general, I guess.

Another weakness is structure... I write really short paragraphs... so they're almost like bullet points.

Oh, and I tell.... instead of show.

[Chaos]

Let's see... hmmm.

For me, my major weakness is character development. I have the most difficulty with grabbing a personality and making it seem perfectly real. I have a nasty tendency to tell what a character is like, rather than showing it. Characters are difficult on every level for me.

I know my strengths quite acutely, though. Plot is my biggest strength. These elements come to me early in the creative process, and though they often change during the evolution of a given story, I do have a knack for plot elements. Of course, since you haven't read my novel completely, maybe I just think I have a knack for plot and I really don't.

Another one of my strengths are my magic systems. They are extremely rule-based, and I apply rigor to them on as many levels as I can conceive. My magic systems are very developed in this manner. If I can't think of a solution to a particular problem, I will stress about it for a long while. When I figure out the answer, it is usually fantastic. Also, I always make sure that the plot and setting (and characters, too) are integrated with the magic system. Usually, the magic system precedes any other element.

My greatest weakness besides character development is revision-itis. I have never gotten past 30,000 words in my novel. Around that point, I realize that I've done some terrible error on some level (the most recent was character-related) and I needed to rewrite so I got the sequence of events correctly. I've never truly left what I considered the beginning.

[Flo_the_G]

"I suck and I'm a horrible writer"

Aren't we all?
You might want to try some outlining before you start writing (and I mean outlining scene by scene, beginning to end), and then forbid yourself to work on anything else till at least your first draft is done, no matter how horrible it seems to be. In my case it helped, I think.

[Hayley]

Outlining would probably be a good idea... I have the tendency to have an overview of where I want things to go... but then hate the first bit, and lose motivation to go back to the rest (let's see how long it takes before I take my name off the email submissions due to hating the stuff I'm writing lol).

But yeah, outlining and actually planning stuff instead of just diving right into it would probably be the best thing to do... Thanks

[Hayley]

Oh, and on another note------- I have trouble with keeping my 'point of view' character.

Admittedly, it's not something I understand very well yet... so any advice would be appreciated. You'll probably see what i mean after tomorrow's submission... heh.

[maxonennis]

Hayley, what I do when starting a new story is first write the first scene. I usually have an idea for a novel, but writing that first scene puts all the pieces into place in my head. I then stop and outline, and finally go back and finish the story.

[Hayley]

Yeah, can definitely see where you're coming from. Because generally, the first scene is sort of there in your head, but then if you don't write it down there and then, you forget it.... but if it's written, you can see where it's going to go next a bit easier?

.....Or something...

[Karl]

I usually have a first scene figured out and then a last scene, so at least I know where I'm headed. Much of the rest if figuring out how to get from one to the other. I'm sort of a discovery writer in reverse. I have the effect where I need to find the cause.

And if you have trouble with viewpoint, try to write a short story from just one person's perspective. Have everything that is heard, felt, smelled, etc. be from that one person's experience of a scene. The only dialogue is things that are said in the MC's presence. Keep all internal thoughts solely from that one person. After you complete this one story, start another that has two characters that you alternate between.

In my Spectre series, the first two scripts are from a single character's POV. It is only in the third story where I finally allowed myself a 'cut away' where a scene occurs occurs outside my MC's POV. I don't think I will every get to the point of having Robert Jordan numbers of characters with as many viewpoints.