Things I have trouble with when writing

[ayngelcat]

And I'm just wondering if anyone else does too, and how they have dealt with it. Very happy to take advice/counsel from experienced writers or those who are good at the following, or discuss with others who also have found these hard:

1. Similes and metaphors. This is the biggest one. I know I don't put nearly enough of them in - and they're so wonderfully effective if you can do them well. I find it hard to think of good ones, and tend to repeat things like 'his temper simmered, a bomb waiting to explode,' which I think are probably quite yawnworthy at times. I also find s's and m's in the tf universe quite challenging because you can't use the organic natural world ones as you would in humanfic. Things like 'a nascent beginning, like a bud unfurling' simply do not work!

2. Resisting the temptation to describe people's feelings in too much detail instead of letting the the reader draw their own inferences. Describing body language as opposed to saying "he felt this ..." or "he shuddered, thinking of X..." I'm getting better but I still slip up and have not quite gotten the balance right.

3. Descriptions of places. Working out how much detail you need and slipping enough in to engage the senses without it dominating all else. Sometimes I struggle with where to put descriptions in, too.

There's others, but that will do to be going on with. All views gratefully received :DDD

Comments

[iron-valkyrie.livejournal.com]

1. I think it's better to write plain-jane to begin with, then worry about getting a bit 'fancy' later on. It's better to look at it freshly than risk repeating yourself or anything that might be cliche. Like I'm one to talk, dskljdsf I DUNNO mostly I agree with bears on this one, ignore my babbling.

2. I dunno, I do this too. :T Probably something I should work on as well. But whatever I describe, I try to make it make sense with the character... I guess? I used to have a bad habit of projecting my own habits onto characters, whoops.

3. I'm with you here. :( I suck at setting.

[ayngelcat.livejournal.com]

OK, well maybe I shouldn't get too hung up about the metaphor thing? LOL, I agree with the 'plain jane' approach. Its just that some well know authors seem to use s and m's a lot - Abyssal1 who wrote 'Worlds Translated Thus' springs to mind. In her later works, she uses them even more, and its often very subtle. But then I guess, she doesn't always, and I know not everyone raves about that story.

Projecting own stuff is so easy to do too - I think it took me ages to realize you have to get as much 'into character' in writing as you do acting. I don't remember ever being taught that in literature or drama. Maybe it should be obvious, but it wasn't to me!