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

[rose0mary.livejournal.com]

Writing advice:

Practice, practice practice - if you can. and don't be afraid to edit or REWRITE the first draft.
Yes, the lessons I learned in English class still apply here.

As for specifics:
1. If I use these, I don't notice them until I reread what's been written.
IMHO, they aren't necessary, unless the bots (and cons) like comparing/contrasting what's happening NOW to what's been experienced in the past - Like when one of them sees something that doesn't fit what they know about, and then when they try to describe it to others.

2. This could be one of my failings: too much focus on the emotions, or a blank canvas.
Sometimes writing down EVERY SINGLE DETAIL of every muscle twitch and aborted arm/leg movements, sometimes forgetting they can add jesters, or emphasis their words with body language.
Hit and miss on the emotions/body movements. I'll get better with more writing of fiction. LOTS of writing.

3. I do enjoy adding unnecessary detail.
So, when the muse hits, I let it go as descriptive and in-depth as it likes, just so I can get to the juicy bits, then, before posting, either cut out the extra words that -while great background and history - bog down the story or aren't relevant NOW. Or I rewrite the scene and find I automatically cut out some (most) of the [boring] stuff surrounding the activity.

Different writers, different authors have different approaches to how they get fics written and published.
The fact you know where your weaknesses are is a good thing - you'll be able to keep an eye on those sections, and ask for specific help when it's needed, instead of waiting someone to point out 'hey this doesn't work right. don't know why, but I struggled reading this part' which is NOT a big help.

[ayngelcat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all this <3 I've realized since starting writing how abysmal my english education was - which just goes to show that expensive schools aren't necessarily good schools. It was a while back - I like to think teachers wouldn't get away with so much now! I agree lots of writing - it feels like a process of evolution.

That's interesting what you say about putting in a lot and then cutting it back. I've only just started being able to do that as well. I found a great tendency to think "but I LIKE that so I WANT it in there" regardless of whether other poeple were going to like it or it would really work that well as a whole! Good to have that drawn to my attention again :)

I agree that's not helpful, any more than are negative reviews. Ive been lucky to have very helpful betas :D