Your Flaw(s) as a Writer

I think I might have that problem as well.

The problem is, I can never just invent the one character. For example, I wanted a student character in my main fantasy setting, so I created Bousthan. But then I needed to create friends for her, and then I thought some of those friends needed boyfriends, who in turn needed friends...

I have a similar problem with characters Bobby, combined with an impulsive need to world build.

This is not say, of course, that I'm a bad writer, I'm not, but I do understand that I'm not perfect.

Did I mention I have a problem with overuse of parenthesis?

...Even if I did, I ought to mention it again, because it's the thing I have the hardest time avoiding.

I do too.

I try to restrict it to technical/non-fiction writing, but it still creeps in my prose fiction occasionally.

Oh, here's a REALLY bad one of mine.

Once I get into the groove, I forget to add descriptions. Everything becomes dialogue and simple actions so I can GET THERE GET THERE GET THERE WHOOO.

I wouldn't mind swapping. I get bogged down with the details so much that I take forever to get anywhere.

Ehhh. I'll keep it. After all, scripts make it REALLY easy to go back and add in all the extra details I blindly walked past initially.

WAY too stereotypical characters. Expies: the cute boy who's about 12, the resistance fighter who's in late teens or twenties and the coward or posh boy. At least two tend to be brothers. Inability to write women despite being one. Yeah I know that's weird but somehow all my women end up pregnant (I've never been pregnant) and very stereotypical. Obsession with tabboo subject matter. And then just the general assumption that Viewers Are Geniuses especially in my poetry including some that's been published.

i cant write.

either because im too lazy or because im just not capable

or both.

eitherway the result is the same: nothing ever gets done

Hate to break it to you, but if that's 100% true you're not a writer.

I know it isn't 100% true, obviously, but my point is you're only a writer if you write.

edited 29th Aug '11 7:27:29 PM by deathjavu

My main problem is that I'm afraid to try new things, because I know they won't turn out as well as I want them to. This usually either leads to procrastination or semi-intentional half assing, which keeps me from growing as a writer as much as I could.

The problems that cause this under-confidence include: Difficulty writing realistic dialogue, difficulty coming up with ideas, general laziness, not being able to properly build a up to a climax, being overly concerned with originality, and a tendency to base works around some clever joke, deconstruction, or twist ending, so they end up like a crappy Twilight Zone episode.

I'm not much of a reader, so one of the main complaints I've gotten is how I switch POV's to quick. When I started writing my first problem was switching between present and past tenses. Then it became commas: in writing dialogue I wouldn't bother writing commas at all.

One of my friends said that you don't need to read a lot to be a good writer, using Hemmingway as an example, but take that with a grain of salt as he's a bio major and scoffs at literature outside of espionage thrillers. But I wonder: is regular reading really all that necessary to be a writer? I seldom read books and would rather read articles or comics.

edited 29th Aug '11 9:24:48 PM by EnglishMajor

I heard that as long as you read something, fiction or non-fiction, you're writing will be strengthen. For example, some non-fiction can be really informative for your work, or have a great style.

Oh, and comics help with the story-telling part of writing.

edited 29th Aug '11 9:27:35 PM by chihuahua0

I use the fast-typing techniques professionals are taught and shit, but my brain still works faster than my fingers. Occasionally a word will be left out. I have to read over my work and check it. There are also times where the wording is slightly awkward, but I go back and fix it.

Also there are times where I have to be careful what is driving my work. I can't tell you the number of times I've started writing something, then realized it sounded too much like something else and had to stop. Also I can lose motivation if one of my stories doesn't get me good enough.

edited 29th Aug '11 9:38:47 PM by MechaJesus

I worry that my story structure is repetitive. It kind of goes like this:

That's a gross overgeneralization, but that's kind of my story structure.

The bottom line is that only certain themes hold my attention enough I care to write about them. If they don't hold yours, well, oops.

edited 31st Aug '11 6:24:43 PM by Night

Another one: I realized that I can be very, VERY, gender biased.

I have compression issues. My chapters are long and get across what I wanted, but not in the way I imagined and without enough detail. And yet, I have a full length chapter. I end up having to break up and streamline a lot of my stuff before adding all the detail back in to fill in the fluff void...

I have the opposite problem: filling out the narrative. I'm still working on that.

Too often I'll come up with a plot, and then makes excuses for the characters to follow that plot instead of having them do what would be in-character.

edited 2nd Sep '11 9:15:33 PM by RTaco

I can do realism or highly stylized pieces with relative ease. Anything that is in between is very difficult for me, especially when it comes to dialogue. I also have a problem conceptualizing my narration within the story - who is the narrator, who are they speaking or writing to, why, and how knowledgeable and candid are they likely to be? Unreliable narration is something I enjoy dealing with, but I'm always halted by the questioning of in what possible circumstance in their life could they be telling this fucking story.

difficulty with flow, I have quite low self esteem in regards to my writing.

• I'm too much of a perfectionist.
• I'm not good at describing details.
• I have a tendency to procrastinate.

• I procrastinate way too much.
• Not good with descriptions.
• Not good with dialogue that "flows" together.

Me Too!