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Writing Weaknesse
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Writing Weaknesse
Writing Weaknesses!
Before I begin, take note that when I say "weaknesses", I don't mean problems with your writing. I mean the cliches, the tropes, the scenarios and archetypes of characters that you're strangely partial to writing about. The kind of thing that may be silly and overdone but you just really really have to write it okay.
I have a lot of these. Here are some.
- Misunderstood villains. The power-hungry bad guy, jaded and cold, with an analytical brain like a machine that disregards away human emotions with a flick of a gloved hand. This guy also being a sad boy lost in his own head, trying to find fulfillment and happiness in the only way he knows how. So basically the Darkling. Or Kaz Brekker. AHHhhhHh. *swoons*
- Arguing. Oh man, this is a BIG one for me. Am I sadistic? Maybe. Do I love writing about my two main protagonists with fire in their eyes, spitting venom at each other, emotions keyed up to the max? Yes. Especially ones where it's all how selfish you are, don't you ever think about how your actions affect others, don't you ever stop to think that you're not the center of everything? So. Satisfying. Just thinking about it is making me all fluttery.
- Characters getting called out for selfishness/doing bad things. Yes. Gah, yes.
- Open-ended death. Like, a character gets dragged away by the villain and the protagonist knows that they're most likely dead but holds onto the hope that they might not be. When other writers do this, and inevitably have the character actually not be dead, I just sit there, like, "Pfft. Cowards," because you know what I like to do? Have them actually be dead. Lead the protagonist on this hopeless, grief-ridden wild goose chase, blocking out attempts to heal with their delusional denial. It's fantastic.
- Enemies to lovers relationships. It's inexplicably fun.
- Introspection/character analysis. I was writing a "novel" a while ago (which I abandoned after 20k) and had my friend read it. After about twenty minutes, they looked up. "There is literally no plot. Is this just a sixty-page character study?" And I said, "What? No!" Ya know, like a liar.
- Poetic descriptions. Every time my protagonist steps onto the streets of their city or enters a room or meets a new character, my brain goes, "aw yiss a cool thing! Time to write paragraphs detailing everything about this thing using confusing metaphors involving pumpkins until your readers want to die!"
- Crying. Oh my gosh I love making characters cry. They fall to their knees, legs unable to support the newfound weight that has come onto their shoulders. Wracking sobs burst from reluctant lungs, shattered, bloody pieces spill across their lips, leaving them vulnerable and open, the grass below them wet and dewy, stained by the fruits of heartbreak. ... Yup, I'm definitely a sadist. That was disturbingly enjoyable for me.
So, what are your "writing weaknesses"? What are those things that, when your friends read your writing, they put it down and sigh and go, "Oh my god, not again"? Or maybe this is just me and you all think I'm insane. Who knows?
submitted by Abigail, age Old enough, Inside my head
(June 19, 2018 - 4:45 pm)
(June 19, 2018 - 4:45 pm)
I absolutely have to put in loads and loads of detail. No escape. I must put you through the exact wispy sheen of a character's hair in the light of sunset, the types of plants growing on the riverbank, the quality of their voice as they lay out their thoughts.
I love a slow pace. I can't hurtle ahead with the plot, I don't know where it goes! I have to have reasons, and motives, and explanations for how, and long conversations about what to do next.
Apart from these, I'm not quite sure. I am not a prolific writer.
(June 21, 2018 - 4:19 pm)
I'm totally with you on the slow pace thing. I like reading slow books, I like writing slow novels... the same "20k character study" novel that I mentioned earlier was also entirely exposition. A lot of people got very bored.
(June 22, 2018 - 10:54 am)
Oh, and I have another one! I just ADORE having my stories end nicely, prettily, perfectly, with all the loose ends tied up in one big, pink bow. Everything neatly packed together... I'm getting rid of this by making some things I write more mysterious, but when I write/plan out a huge long story, I always have to have things fit together. For example, when I was about 9 or 10 years old, I wrote this story about these six kids (three girls, three boys) with two dragons (one girl, one boy). There was intense worldbuilding (with really, really stupid names like Stoneyville, Magical Mountains, The Village, Dragon Country...), but (surprise, surprise), the three girls ended up marrying the three boys, and the dragons got married. The epilogue was of them and their children... how nicely it all wrapped up (and how cliché, too!) That's just something I can't resist doing.
Also, overplanning certain parts! For example, I always plan a grand finale for the ending, and I obsess over the details! Does anyone else do this??
(June 21, 2018 - 8:07 pm)
I’m definitely in the introspection/character analysis category. Seriously. The main novella (not really a short story, too short for a novel) I’m working on and am hoping to get published is literally just backstory. Seriously.
I have this thing to get the MC to describe themselves. It’s brushing their hair out of their eyes. I start describing their hair, and then transition to the rest. I need to find a different way. (And not getting changed or looking in a mirror, please, that’s just cliche).
Open endings. You don’t know what’s going to happen, and I write standalones so you never will. The before mentioned novella ends with the characters about to be killed, but then they do one final act of defiance yaaay and it ends just as they decide to do it.
I also love ending books on sadness. Like the MC dies (or the eight MCs die, as in my novella) or the mission fails, or...
I also like leaving holes for people to fill in. One sentence is literally just “Flames.” But then the reader fills in what the heck happened, and it may be quite different from what I was thinking.
SAD PEOPLE WITH HORRIBLE BACKSTORIES. I LOVE THEM. THATS WHY I’M WRITING A BOOK ON THE BACKSTORIES OF SAD PEOPLE. THAT’S WHY QUINN IN MY BOOK IS MUTE. THAT’S WHY I OBSESS OVER ZUKO.THATS WHY I LIKE WINGS OF FIRE. I NEED MY DEPRESSED PEOPLE, ALRIGHT?
(June 21, 2018 - 11:06 pm)
Okay, I thought of an opposite thing: something that I absolutely cannot stand to write or read about (mostly reading).
Really, really embarrassing situations. The kind where there's a misunderstanding or something and you can FEEL the embarrassment for the sake of the character.
I hate that so much. It makes me want to scream and throw the book against the wall. That's why I literally cannot stand those middle school novels about some "endearingly awkward girl"— no. That is not endearingly awkward. That is highly painful.
(June 22, 2018 - 10:59 am)
Oh, I get that! That's why I can't watch most live-action comedy films. I feel SO embarassed for the character in the situation that I can't enjoy the apparent humor other people see in it. I know it's not real, but it's so intensely uncomfortable for me to read or watch scenes where a character is experiencing an embarrassing circumstance.
There's also the fact that these types of books often have to do with romance (usually of the futile, one sided kind), which is never my cup of tea. No, I do not care to read about you embarrassing yourself in front of your crush again. Good day to you.
(June 22, 2018 - 3:46 pm)
You all are making me want to get back into writing. Help.
(June 22, 2018 - 12:43 pm)
@Abigal, Cockleburr. YES. It's just s00oo0000o painful, and I literally groan when I read it. YES, WE GOT THAT YOU TOTALLY WANT TO IMPRESS YOUR CRUSH. YES, WE KNOW THAT YOU ARE TOTALLY GOING TO GET EMBARRASSED RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. DUDE, DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT ACTUAL LOVE IS ABOUT?! LIKE, YOU SHOULD ACTUALLY FEEL COMFORTABLE AROUND THEM. NOT. AWKWARD. GOT THAT? AND, LIKE, TO HAVE A STABLE RELATIONSHIP, ONE MUST ACTUALLY KNOW THE CHARACTER-CRUSH IN QUESTION.
However, if executed well, the classic "He loves this girl but she's a total jerk" can be really good, like in Stardust. Great movie, great book.
However... just... ugh, people. Uhg, ugh, and guh, and also hug. Because, no one seems to ever write about ACTUAL love. No, not that STUPID bit about 'true love' and how beauty 'fixes everything' and getting a makeover to impress a prince TOTALLY doesn't say quite about the prince in question. I mean, if you need a LITERAL magic makeover to get noticed by him, maybe he's not the best guy to go out with...?
I would love to actually read about an actual, stable relationship where they really love each other. Like, REAL ACTUAL, ACTUALLY-UNCONDITIONAL love. Well, to a reasonable extent. I mean, i would totally jump off a cliff to save my family's lives, but, uh, not to make them happy.
(I mean, if they're happy because I just jumped off a cliff, then, uh, I don't know why they even bother keeping me alive....)
(June 23, 2018 - 8:12 pm)
I enjoy writing novels where the main character DIES at the end. My favorite story I've ever come up with has... Lots... Of death. Let's see... One, two, three... Four... Five, six... I'm debating a seventh but then I'm just like GAH NO I CAN'T KILL HER... And then there's two more I forgot... plus villans it would be even more... Um yea.
(June 24, 2018 - 10:34 am)
Yes, there is something about killing off secondary characters that are actually important in the story. It somehow makes the threat in the book seem far more real, like the heroes failing to do something that YOU TOTALLY THOUGHT THEY WOULD DO. It somehow makes it seem more real, like, you become actually nervous that maybe their plan won't work, and that they'll fail, and in so doing you become more invested in the book. Also, if the stakes are... small-ish, like small enough so that it's possible that they actually won't succeed (I mean, does anyone EVER actually fear that the heroes will ACTUALLY fail to SAVE THE WORLD? It's just way too big of a set of stakes) but big enough so that it's.... important.
I hope I don't seem like I'm dominating this thread....
*Hides in closet*
(June 24, 2018 - 2:31 pm)
Oh, I think this a great idea!
- For some reason, I love having the two/three/four main characters in my stories be cousins. I'm really having to work on not having all my characters be cousins. I just feel like that's closer that friends, but argue less that siblings. Also, I love books that are about cousins.
- Strangely, I also like having my male characters show emotion by crying. I feel like today's description of "manly" is a brick wall that can handle anything, when in reality, men have emotions too. I'm a girl though, so I couldn't say for sure. I try not to make my male characters embarass themselves, though.
(June 24, 2018 - 5:24 pm)
Oh yeah, cousins are great. It's a super good way to have characters be connected even if they don't get along.
(June 24, 2018 - 8:00 pm)
- Oh, and making my main characters like things that I like. For example: writing, reading, singing, theater, Newsies, Tuck Everlasting.
(June 24, 2018 - 5:29 pm)
Oh my I have so many of these
First- Diversity. So, this is mainly in my later writing but I just HAVE to make at least one of my characters LGBTQ+. It’s a big topic for me. And the main female has to be epically awesome with no need for a guy.
Thats not really a bad thing though. My weakness for description however is. To hammer the point home, here’s one of my shorter paragraphs:
Long ebony black hair was brushed till every wave and knot had succumbed then twined into an orderly braid, with Reina’s pale fingers doing every movement automatically. A sapphire necklace was strung around her neck. She had picked it herself and was rather proud. It had a simple black ribbon, with fine silver framing the jewel that glittered beneath her collarbone. The dress flowed around her, a plain dark blue, like the water that was part of every shallow breath the young girl took.
Note that I said SHORTER.
And I just love strong emotions. If my characters aren’t quivering with rage and loathing when they’re near someone, if they can’t feel the suffocating tightness in their chest when they cry, if they don’t break into uncontrollable joy with their loved ones, then I have failed.
(June 25, 2018 - 10:01 am)
Also, I have a tendency to make up weird names. And ALL of my stories are focused on strong female characters. Not that I don't have dudes in the story at all... just that the main character is a girl. My fantasy novels usually include some amount of voilence. And I can't stand it if I don't describe the characters' appearances really well, because I have a perfect picture of them in my head, and I want my reader to visualize them the way I do... if that makes sense.
(June 25, 2018 - 10:14 am)