What type of writing quirks do you guys have?

[Ian_Snow]

I have a bizarre number of climactic basketball scenes for someone who doesn't really care about the sport all that much beyond a pickup game here and there.

 

[nice90sguy]

I used nest parentheses (sometimes (but not always))

 

[TheLobster]

I used nest parentheses (sometimes (but not always))

I heard there are specialists who can treat such lisp.

 

[MrPixel]

Second, a reader pointed out that “coffee is love.” Every time coffee is served in one of my stories, it indicates at LEAST close friendship and usually love between the characters.

Huh. Caught me. I do that, too. [Strokes his chin.]

I write poly situations. In a coming-soon installment of one series, coffee is so important that they go in together to design and own a coffee shop, "Cheekies", where the baristas wear very short skirts, sans culottes. In another series, gathering around the kitchen table either for breakfast or post-party afterglow always has a pot going, with lots of teasing as one of the (naked) characters pours for everyone. One FMC has to have her tea, though.

 

[AG31]

That's a good point about the coffee.

OtterlyMindBlowing might not see this if you don't quote them or mention them with a @.

 

[bashfull]

I usually need a "muse", which I have not had in quite some time.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I often use exact locations. For example, for Esther Smith's Confessions I found the now gone (1994) house at 5135 Kensington Avenue in St. Louis.

Kensington Avenue

It doesn't look anything like the wooden structure that MGM built on the back lot at Culver City, CA.

Culver City house

 

[gunhilltrain]

I usually need a "muse", which I have not had in quite some time.

Your "muse" is actually a part of your own psyche. How do you tap into it? That's a big topic in itself.

 

[Abbafan]

My quirk is that i delete everything I write instead of submitting it. I've only gotten as far as copying a story onto the submission page, but I don't push the button.

 

[RetroFan]

If using a specific date in the past, the day has to be the same day on which the actual date fell.

For example I wrote two different Halloween stories where the main action takes place on 31st October, one (Cindy's Close Encounter) in 1959 and the other (Bloody Halloween First Time) in 1999. Halloween night in these two years fell on Saturday and Sunday respectively, so I had to set my stories on those days, I just can't lake liberties and use a different day. Another example was a Christmas story I wrote in 2018 called 'The Unsuitable Girlfriends'. It had a contemporary setting, but in 2018 December 25th was on a Tuesday. I really needed Christmas to fall as part of a long weekend to make the plot work, so simply moved the story back a year so it was 2017, when Christmas Day fell on a Monday. Same thing with Easter, which fell very late in April 1962, the same year 'The Lost Hours With Annabelle' was set. Easter had to be the same dates as it really was back in '62.

While there aren't that many movies etc. that use an Easter setting as part of their plot (I'm never sure why on that one) I don't think even Blumhouse or Lifetime worry about such details with their respective Halloween and Christmas movies.

 

[gunhilltrain]

My quirk is that i delete everything I write instead of submitting it. I've only gotten as far as copying a story onto the submission page, but I don't push the button.

View attachment 2358830

If I waited until I had a masterpiece, I'd never push the button either. Not everything I've got here (127 submissions) is great, but so what? I'd never learn anything if I didn't put it out there to be read. Sometimes even my critics are right.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I used nest parentheses (sometimes (but not always))

Shouldn't it use brackets? (sometimes [but not always])?

 

[Whanmore]

I'm always describing my female characters' Hair and eyes. I sometimes have to tone it down and describe the rest of her on my edits. I also forget to describe the men because .. u know.. guys are ugly lol

 

[shabuindy]

I haven't written much fiction. But in both fiction, non-fiction and in text conversations, I absolutely adore alliteration.

My mania drives deeply within my mind.

Usually I'll sprinkle this into stories trying not to be too twee. But it makes me smile and delivers a small drop of dopamine to my process. (I just smiled)

Using pronouns over names to the point that I have to parse my own writing to make sure the subject is clear.

I've avoided writing dialog and would rather make it a part of the narrative. He said he wanted to spank me instead of "I want to spank you.". I think that is caused in part by my lack of confidence.

I anticipate feedback and make edits to answer unasked questions.

In the four stories I've posted so far, I don't stray too far from limiting descriptions to physical attributes. I've been trying to create vague shapes to allow the reader to imprint themselves on the character of their choice. My hope is that readers can easily place themselves into the narrative because that is what I do when I masturbate to porn.

My current pending story is very close to actual events in my life, and I'll be doing a more thorough job of character work, though I couldn't call it creating a character. It has been more like tracing a character since I'm presenting altered versions of actual folks.

 

[SissyBrandi19]

I noticed this about my writing about a year ago: When I'm struggling to figure out a scene, I will, without realizing it, put my characters in hallways. Either that or I have them sit down to dinner. You'd think I was a writing for a food magazine or creating a cookbook. Why are my characters always so hungry? Who eats that much?

Do you guys have any fun or weird ones you'd like to share?

I inevitably find myself writing a humor piece. Look, sue me, ok? I grew up small, with glasses and kind of a dork. That made me a target so I had two choices: Commit...minor...genocide, OR...develop a rapier (NOT anything even related to smexual asmault - it means....sharp) wit! And because I'm a LOSER...my goal of Rapier Wit was abandoned midway.

Making me a what, people?....

P.S. Humor is often a good approach but not ALWAYS. I learned this the same way I learn everything - decision-making that is best described as "calamitous". Note to Self: When crafting a proper response to criminal charges, it should be top-of-mind that judges are SUPER...I mean SUPER...picky on that "Your Honor" designation. I cannot stress this point enough!

 

[karina_jayde]

I constantly reiterate eye colors. Maybe it's an amateurish way of reinforcing the distinctions between characters (especially in my harem stories). But I'm also incredibly turned on by eye contact, so obsession over gaze and eyes is part of that.

I also use way too many animal metaphors, particularly with wolves and prey. That's very generic (but fitting, I guess, when the characters are basically fantasy barbarians) but I really need to reign that in.

 

[SimonDoom]

I feel like that's a consequence of the online community way of writing. Everyone writes the same online to show emphasis and pauses. If you browse reddit too much you'll start writing like that...alot.

Or maybe the influence of James T. Kirk sound alike threads.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I have combined ADHD, and I can be easily distracted by anything. My solution for this is treating writing with the same principle as High Intensity Interval Training, where I put a timer for 10 minutes and do a sprint. Sometimes I can keep going up until 90 minutes, or even 120 minutes, but most of the times when I go beyond the 10-minute threshold I stop between 20 and 30 minutes. Timers are not enough for me though, so that's when I body double online. I usually do it by putting a live performance of a DJ and keep it on a side window if I'm working on the computer, or have the video running full screen if I'm writing on my phone, or on paper. Miss Monique's sets do help me to focus. I actually trained myself to go work as soon as I put one of her videos.

There's also a quirk that I noticed yesterday when I was writing on my phone. Currently, I'm past the 15K mark of that project. but I noticed that I tend to go onto tangents in the middle of sex scenes. It is most obvious in first drafts. That's the hyperactivity, I suppose.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Very rarely can I write a scene all in one go. I'll write a sentence or maybe a paragraph and then I'll have to get up and pace to turn around and around in my head how the next one should go.

 

[SerenaSteeleMonroe]

I'm new here, but when I write it will always be interracial, more often than not, black and white. It will involve the BNWO fetish that the left-leaning males with tons of white guilt enjoy. I am working on one set in a not to distant future, with encampments of whites or blacks, after a breakdown in government and attempted takeover by white supremist. I envision it after a worldwide race war has reduced us survivalist fighting to survive. This will be a series of stories set in this universe. It's pure fantasy, complete with cults and clicks. I haven't settled on a name, still working out the backstory. I like BDSM, Femal Led Relationship, Dominance and Submission.

 

[WordsIntheWyld]

I'll give my top two:

I love using the em dash—it’s bold, decisive, and dramatic—where the ellipsis… well, it just trails off, hesitant and unsure.

Starting sentences with conjunctions. But you might have noticed.

And that's all I want to list at this time.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm new here, but when I write it will always be interracial, more often than not, black and white. It will involve the BNWO fetish that the left-leaning males with tons of white guilt enjoy. I am working on one set in a not to distant future, with encampments of whites or blacks, after a breakdown in government and attempted takeover by white supremist. I envision it after a worldwide race war has reduced us survivalist fighting to survive. This will be a series of stories set in this universe. It's pure fantasy, complete with cults and clicks. I haven't settled on a name, still working out the backstory. I like BDSM, Femal Led Relationship, Dominance and Submission.

Be careful with this. As I mentioned in the other thread, that probably won't fly on Lit. Overt political or religious content will get stories rejected, and this scenario is hardly subtle.

 

[SerenaSteeleMonroe]

It's a fantasy world; I've read such stories here. No parties are named, and no actual people are used. So, I don't see the problem. What about a worldwide race war screams, "yeah, that's real and you'll get the shit kicked out of her for saying it?" It's called fiction. I'm sure you know the difference between what's happening and a dystopian future that isn't real. I'm also pretty sure (since the religion isn't a real one either), I'll be safe.

Be careful with this. As I mentioned in the other thread, that probably won't fly on Lit. Overt political or religious content will get stories rejected, and this scenario is hardly subtle.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I sometimes like to randomly pick a story I've written and read it, just to see how it holds up. And doing so, I've noticed more than a few quirks.

- When my characters want to fuck, they are always described as "wasting no time" doing something. I've got to work on that, lol.
- I use WAY TOO MANY EM DASHES - like constantly - and I should probably just make new sentences rather than do that.
- It's amazing how many times my character's tongues are "dancing" in each other's mouths. It's a veritable ballroom of tongue dancing in my stories.

I need to find a new way to describe good kisses, lol.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's a fantasy world; I've read such stories here. No parties are named, and no actual people are used. So, I don't see the problem. What about a worldwide race war screams, "yeah, that's real and you'll get the shit kicked out of her for saying it?" It's called fiction. I'm sure you know the difference between what's happening and a dystopian future that isn't real. I'm also pretty sure (since the religion isn't a real one either), I'll be safe.

All I'm saying is, be careful. We've had several writers saying their stories were pushed back when they thought they'd be okay, more so in recent years. Sure, you'll find older dystopian stories, but there have been some writers with not much subtlety, pushing an overt agenda. Laurel pushes back.