Your biggest writing weakness?

[AchtungNight]

The distractions of life. Crying kitty, message boards demanding my attention, news media distracting me, etc.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Your biggest writing weakness?​

Using recherché, recondite, abstruse and arcane vocabulary.

Sadly, it’s generally not as intentional as the above. I guess I just know a bunch of fancy words and am bad at editing them out.

Em

 

[Rob_Royale]

Probably my inexperience. Thirteen stories now over ten months and none that I'm ashamed of, but I feel like I'm still finding my footing. I'm finally getting over the need for good ratings and comments, and just writing what seems interesting to me.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Using recherché, recondite, abstruse and arcane vocabulary.

Sadly, it’s generally not as intentional as the above. I guess I just know a bunch of fancy words and am bad at editing them out.

Em

Oh and a few more:

• An addiction to pop culture references
• Gratuitous fourth wall breaking - or at least winking at the reader (which can pull people out of the story)
• Handling more than three main characters / giving supporting characters motivation / back stories

Em

 

[Voboy]

• Handling more than three main characters / giving supporting characters motivation / back stories

Em

I don't see this as a weakness. I know a lot of people do, but I don't.

Sometimes, your background people are more interesting than your foreground people. And you'd never find that out if you didn't let them spread their wings a bit.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Using recherché, recondite, abstruse and arcane vocabulary.

Sadly, it’s generally not as intentional as the above. I guess I just know a bunch of fancy words and am bad at editing them out.

Em

Why edit (dumb it) down to the lowest common denominator? Consider it educational.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Why edit (dumb it) down to the lowest common denominator? Consider it educational.

I think it comes across as me showing off, whereas I just write (and often talk) like that.

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

I think it comes across as me showing off, whereas I just write (and often talk) like that.

Em

Don't begrudge your own intelligence, is all I can say. You write using the words you know, surely?

 

[PrincessArianrhod]

Biggest writing weakness....? Difficult to narrow it down to one thing.

I hesitate too long on sex scenes, sometimes skipping them to try and work it out later but by that time have to re-read everything preceding to try and get the mood. I cannot write sex scenes at all if I'm not in the mood.

I often don't give the reader enough credit for understanding and waltz gleefully into over-explanation.

I have a penchant for flowery expression that can lead to way too much word repetition and makes editing a pita.

I take too long, which is nod at a general weakness in just about every area of my life, including cooking dinner.

I'm over emotional and a hopeless romantic; I get so caught up in the emotions and dispositions of my characters sometimes that I can't move the story forward.

I'm an impatient editor and each re-read, even after submission, yields yet another word omission or substitution that spell and grammar check didn't see.

That should do it.

 

[BobbyLaker]

Biggest writing weakness....? Difficult to narrow it down to one thing.

I hesitate too long on sex scenes, sometimes skipping them to try and work it out later but by that time have to re-read everything preceding to try and get the mood. I cannot write sex scenes at all if I'm not in the mood.

I often don't give the reader enough credit for understanding and waltz gleefully into over-explanation.

I have a penchant for flowery expression that can lead to way too much word repetition and makes editing a pita.

I take too long, which is nod at a general weakness in just about every area of my life, including cooking dinner.

I'm over emotional and a hopeless romantic; I get so caught up in the emotions and dispositions of my characters sometimes that I can't move the story forward.

I'm an impatient editor and each re-read, even after submission, yields yet another word omission or substitution that spell and grammar check didn't see.

That should do it.

Apart from being something of a dab-hand around the kitchen; I can relate to pretty much all of this @PrincessArianrhod
I'm new to this but it's feeling just a little better with each text I write.
Editing a recent 30k word story wasn't the most fulfilling of exercises and I know for sure, that there's still one or two gremlins in there.
Enjoying the new hobby though and it's keeping me out of mischief!

 

[PrincessArianrhod]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fair cook; it just always seems to take 2-5 times longer to make anything than it should. It feels like a time-warp to be honest. I finally, proudly produce my gourmet meal only to serve it to a family who have long since passed from hunger, the pain of their slow death etched into the wood of the table...

 

[BobbyLaker]

... a family who have long since passed from hunger, the pain of their slow death etched into the wood of the table...

You just have to drop this line into a story

 

[Bisexguy70]

Punkuation, and speling
Other then that i dont write very well but have some pretty good erotic story telling ideas. I think its a fine line between describing the scenes details and leaving the rest for the imagination. I picture the poses and sexual act but its hard for me to put those ideas in words. My first story was rejected(possibly because of the above mentioned issues) and I'm scared to to be rejected again. However i wouldn’t mind collaborating with some authors. I did this once with @BrendaD and im forever grateful of the hot story we created.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

This has been me the last year. I write the intro the characters, build the conflict tell the story and do it fast and with a great flow. I get to the sex and its like...oh, this again.

I guess there are infinite variations in story and characters, but only so many ways to have sex and to describe said sex being had

That's kinda one reason I took a sabatical from writing here in '19. Not that writing sex scenes is hard, but it was just getting repetitive, boring to the point where it looked like I was forcing them in there, trying to figure out how it was going down. Most of my fanfics don't even have sex scenes and the ones that do, turned out decent and seemed fresh.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Probably my inexperience. Thirteen stories now over ten months and none that I'm ashamed of, but I feel like I'm still finding my footing. I'm finally getting over the need for good ratings and comments, and just writing what seems interesting to me.

Keep writing, you'll get it. I'm not ashamed of anything I've written, even if I don't like something. When you never get it, you'll never miss it- you should see how some of them go on about "it was almost a red h, because reasons", or "I'm too great for a 3.XX rating, this is going to ruin me, I'm going to lose my home." Pfft.

 

[Devinter]

Starting too many stories at the same time, resulting in fewer actually getting finished.

Or, in some cases, I do finish a story but didn't love the way it turned out, and lack the motivation to improve it - so instead it just ends up never seeing the light of day.

I wish I had a willing guinea pig that would just read through it all and let me know if any of them is close to being worthy of a quick improvement, so they could get published. I'm sure there's at least a few that's actually half-decent.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Don't begrudge your own intelligence, is all I can say. You write using the words you know, surely?

Yeah - just don’t want to seem a smart-ass.

Em

 

[SimonDoom]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fair cook; it just always seems to take 2-5 times longer to make anything than it should. It feels like a time-warp to be honest. I finally, proudly produce my gourmet meal only to serve it to a family who have long since passed from hunger, the pain of their slow death etched into the wood of the table...

I can relate to this. I like to cook but it takes at least twice as long and I make at least twice the mess as expected. I cook too many appetizers so people don't have enough room for the main course.

I suppose I could try to work that into an analogy to my writing but I'm too lazy to give it a go right now.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Oh and a few more:

• An addiction to pop culture references
• Gratuitous fourth wall breaking - or at least winking at the reader (which can pull people out of the story)
• Handling more than three main characters / giving supporting characters motivation / back stories

Em

Oh and sometimes I’m more in love with wordplay than the actual story.

Em

 

[32aa]

So let me ask, with all the stories you have written and published, do you get invested in your characters? I mean at a deep level? Do you try to feel what they are going through?

The answer is a big "Yes".

All but two of my stories have been in the Romance category. In each of them, there are scenes, that to this day, still bring the same level of emotion as the day that I originally wrote it. It has always been a goal to get so invested in the characters that the reader is drawn into the interaction and emotions between the characters.

I think the story that I really immersed myself into was "You're not a serial rapist".

I often ask myself, "Did my brain really come up with that? And did I really write that?"

 

[32aa]

Trying to get past the overuse of “I did” this or that. A phrase I see a lot in stories. I kind of drives me nuts… the repeated use of “I did” this or that.

Like:

I spread her legs and settled down between them. I kissed her naval then along the insides of her thighs, enjoying her squirming a little at my touch. I licked her pussy lips lightly, feeling the heat of her arousal on my face. I used my thumb and flicked her clit, and she sucked in her breath sharply. I looked at her and grinned, then licked up her slit long and slow this time.

Instead:

Gently spreading her legs and settling down between them my tongue probed her naval then along the insides of her thighs, enjoying her squirming at the light touch. Licking her pussy lips gently, feeling the heat of her arousal on my face my thumb flicked her clit. She sucked in her breath sharply. With a quick look, her grin told me to keep going, as the tip of my tongue slid up her open slit long and slow this time.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I can relate to this. I like to cook but it takes at least twice as long and I make at least twice the mess as expected. I cook too many appetizers so people don't have enough room for the main course.

I suppose I could try to work that into an analogy to my writing but I'm too lazy to give it a go right now.

Pretzel logic, huh?

I'm.convinced you do this deliberately, giving me material to work with .

 

[mirafrida]

I am not fast, but i don't view that as a weakness. It'd be nice to churn stories out more quickly, but i simply care more about ending up with something i really feel pleased with.

I agree with what Euphony said about over-attention to plausibility in certain regards (not that my stories are actually plausible). I respect writers who just lean in and work the kink without so much scruple. (At least when it works - but what makes it work...?)

Mostly I'd like to be more creative. I guess I'm one of Tilan's 'narcissist' non-creators (me and Hitler). I admire free thinkers, and I'd like to have both a wider repertoire of plot and character, and more artistic and evocative prose. (But again, only in the particular vein of unconstrained creativity that i myself would enjoy consuming. I tried hard to get into Joyce's Ulysses, for eaxmple, and just couldn't do it... )

Anyway, stuff to work on. But at the end of the day, I'll still be me, so I'd better be willing to live with that.

 

[Britva415]

I love semicolons; I use them all the time. I'm surprised you didn't substitute the period in the above with one; it would've worked perfectly.

They're best used when it wouldn't otherwise be clear that the following idea was actually related to the previous one.

Most of the time that's obvious and the semicolon is superfluous.

 

[Britva415]

What's your biggest writing weakness?

Me? Long sentences.

Semicolons don't help with that at all, though it's not my glyph of choice - the dash tends to be, or else just the plain old good old word "and."