Your biggest writing weakness?

[nice90sguy]

Mine, I think, is that I keep redrafting the story while I'm writing it.

It ends up taking me a really long time to finish a story, because I keep going back and re-reading it before it's done, and then I add a "cool" scene, or inject a new character, or remove one, which has a domino effect of breaking everything.

What's your biggest writing weakness?

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I'm the same. I'm working on a story for the Valentine's Day contest, and I go back to the beginning and revise it so often, that I barely write anything new.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Hmm, I don't think re-reading/re-drafting is a weakness! I'd bet anything worth reading has been redrafted multiple times. I'm probably a bit too slapdash, if anything.

This.

I can certainly tell the difference when someone doesn't revisit their writing enough before posting it.

I suppose my weakness is the one that I am trying to overcome, which is staying in my comfort zone with respect to what I write about.

 

[lovecraft68]

Self indulgent, which leads to my stories being longer than they need to be. I tend to meander while describing a characters background, putting in some things that most likely the reader doesn't need to know. When I edit I'll think that I could lose that part, then I just say, why? Who cares if its a little longer? I enjoy little details that make people real, and the readers often do as well....but I do think I interfere with the flow at times.

The other thing is the lead in to sex scenes, I tend to build the conflict which is fine, but when the time comes and the characters are close and you think okay there they go...I have one of them hesitate once more, or something happens to stall them. Sometimes I do this to where in my own mind I'm like FFS let's go. But again I tend to not edit out more than a few words here and there and leave it intact.

I have had some complaints about being to wordy, but when I did a couple of shorter pieces that were more stroky and to the point I received a lot of comments that they preferred my usual style.

That's when it hit me that sometimes even if something isn't 'proper writing' people enjoy it and you can build a base here and in the market by consistently following your own method

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Hmm, language, as I am writing in a non-native language. Unsteady motivation also. I can go from insanely enthusiastic: who needs food and rest - I can't stop working on a story; to a meh, maybe I will write a few lines in a week or so. And anywhere in between.

 

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

Excessive use of ellipsis...

 

[lc69hunter]

Even though in many cases I have been there and done that, and can see it in my head, I can not write a sex scene to save my life. I have probably 10-15 stories half written that I can't finish because of that

 

[SimonDoom]

Procrastination. Not only does it delay my ability to complete stories, but it takes a toll on the continuity in my stories. If I delay a week or more in writing, then when I come back to the story the narrative thread is no longer fresh, and I may even have forgotten things that I wrote before. When I've done my best writing, it's usually because I've taken whatever creative inspiration I have and pushed as hard as I can to keep writing to complete the idea or the scene.

 

[nice90sguy]

Hmm, I don't think re-reading/re-drafting is a weakness! I'd bet anything worth reading has been redrafted multiple times. I'm probably a bit too slapdash, if anything.

Yeah, but my problem is redrafting like every time I write two new paragraphs. It's the literary equivalent of a stammer, almost. I end up never getting the words out!

 

[WyreBendr0417]

I don't see rewriting and redrafting a story as a weakness. If anything it's a strength. You want your story to be the best it possibly can be so you work at it. I often find myself struggling for a new direction in a story so I spend the time I'm unable to continue writing to refine what I've already put down.

One of my weaknesses I hate the most is being a crappy typist. I could probably get stories published much sooner if I wasn't spending so much time backspacing and retyping. My biggest weakness, I think, is that I get caught in a particular zone, or certain way of writing, and forget to look outside the box.

 

[NoJo]

I can not write a sex scene to save my life.

Me neither. I'm tempted to just write [SEX SCENE HERE], and move onto the interesting stuff.

Actually, reading the posts here, I think I suffer from pretty much everything everyone else has mentioned too... Including the dreaded ellipsis...

 

[Phantom300]

Echoing the "sex scenes are hard to write" sentiments. I find myself repeating words and descriptors. There are only so many ways to say cock, dick, pussy, ass, etc... before you get into the ridiculous. Quivering love pudding and purple headed gladiator just doesnt do it for me.

My real weakness is I get this scene or idea in my head. I get there, but closing it out and ending the story is tough. I feel like I ramble on afterwards too long when the main storyline has concluded.

 

[visioneer]

A near-irresistible urge to rewrite/revise top to bottom every time I open a story -- perfect becomes the enemy of good enough.

Plus, I insist that my stories are stories with endings, rather than just scenes that end after everybody comes.

 

[Dearelliot]

Regarding re reading and re drafting, I often do that, and sometimes go back and read the original, and change it all back to the way it was.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Not planning ahead. I have three stories stuck half-finished that I like parts of what I’ve gone, but either the themes aren’t meshing either the characters, or I just didn’t think far enough ahead about what I wanted to say to make it coherent.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm tempted to just write [SEX SCENE HERE], and move onto the interesting stuff.

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

 

[Duleigh]

I'm tempted to just write [SEX SCENE HERE], and move onto the interesting stuff.

I actually do something similar to that, then as the mood strikes or an idea pops in to mind I'll go back and add to the sexy part. That's why my editing takes so long, I'm terrified that I'll have forgotten a sex scene and start reviewing all over again to make sure I didn't miss something. Sometimes clicking the submit button is terrifying

 

[elizaloo]

I, too, have several of the difficulties previously mentioned. I LOVE to use ellipsis - in fact, it's part of an ongoing joke I have with another Litster.

...

Sex scenes, as a number above have said, are my failing as well. Why is that? We write erotica!

It's not that I can't picture exactly what happens in my brain, but I think my innate prudish mind kicks in and I stumble through re-creating what I see into words, without sounding like a 90yo granny reiminiscing about her glory days.

 

[WyreBendr0417]

Yeah, but my problem is redrafting like every time I write two new paragraphs. It's the literary equivalent of a stammer, almost. I end up never getting the words out!

You're not alone. I do the same thing. I've literally spent hours on a paragraph or two because I couldn't get it to say what I had in mind. Perhaps I'm illegitimate.

 

[Voboy]

Semicolons.

 

[Duleigh]

It took me forever to figure out how to properly use semicolons; it was quite a journey to find that knowledge. Now that I know, I am not afraid to use them.

 

[Voboy]

It took me forever to figure out how to properly use semicolons; it was quite a journey to find that knowledge. Now that I know, I am not afraid to use them.

Oh, I know how to use them. I just tend to do it more than I should.

 

[Comshaw]

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

Maybe it's because of the few stories I have written the sex scenes still hold fascination for me. I find myself thinking " should they or would they do this because I know how good that feels?"

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? Or because of the quantity of stories you have written does it become a distant thing? A mechanical thing like the sex? I ask because it would be impossible for me to get to the quantity of stories you have. I'm not saying that to sound dismissive of what I have done, it's just that with the way I go about each and every character in each and every story I've written I feel I know them. Additionally, with the struggles I have just to get the words down on the page, it astounds me that anyone can put out that many stories. Does it become mechanical after a time? A "ho hum yeah here we go again" type of thing?

Comshaw

 

[lovecraft68]

Maybe it's because of the few stories I have written the sex scenes still hold fascination for me. I find myself thinking " should they or would they do this because I know how good that feels?"

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? Or because of the quantity of stories you have written does it become a distant thing? A mechanical thing like the sex? I ask because it would be impossible for me to get to the quantity of stories you have. I'm not saying that to sound dismissive of what I have done, it's just that with the way I go about each and every character in each and every story I've written I feel I know them. Additionally, with the struggles I have just to get the words down on the page, it astounds me that anyone can put out that many stories. Does it become mechanical after a time? A "ho hum yeah here we go again" type of thing?

Comshaw

The answer is both because it depends on the type of story. I have a couple of milf series(some here most in the market) and for them I'm not overly invested in the characters because its pretty much straight up niche delivering erotica. That's not to say I get lazy, they all have back story and motivations, but they don't stay with me past the story.

In my horror series and some of my more involved erotica stories I get deep inside the characters and who they are and what they're dealing with and do it to where if I think back on one of them from a story I wrote several years ago its like thinking about an old friend and I recall everything I wrote about them.

I try to maintain a balance in what I write because to do too many 'pandering' stories would dull the muse, but to always be so intense and serious for a long stretch can also throw me off.

For me a good example is an e-book "The Devil In Mom" which in spite of the hokey title and premise of a demon who inspires incestuous thoughts and actions in the women she possess, (and has some good humorous lines) is a deep and series dive into sexual guilt and repression brought on by religious beliefs and also the sins of the MC's past before finding God...who ultimately let her down in her eyes when her husband died.

Its 90k so a full length novel, but there's only two sex scenes between mother and son and they're both towards the end. Its one of my favorite pieces of my own work. In some ways I consider it my "mic drop" taboo tale. But if that was the only type of story I wrote I feel I'd burn out pretty fast because I 'method' write meaning when I'm writing darker material my personal darkness and issues rise to the surface and its not good to let that mindset hold sway for too long.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

Procrastination at getting started each day.