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

[anon-feather.livejournal.com]

1. I don't think much about metaphors or simile. If they work in the sentence, I place them there. I don't think there's anything wrong in using the same metaphors from fics to fics. It's like the word "said". It can be used very often without it being too overused when reading. In my opinion, anyways. Maybe for a same character you can use the same analogy. It's it's a bomb, you can use "his fuse was getting short", "he is ready to explode", "5 seconds until he detonates", "luckily, someone diffused his anger." Whereas another charcater could be compared to something else, like water "He touch was always gentle like raindrops", "He could be placid; he could be torrential", "It was always refreshing when they kissed."

For human terms... I either try to say "As the humans would say: blah blah" or try to find a cheap equivalent. Usually by placing a cyberterm like -turbo or by relating it to the spark/electricity.

2. I described the actions/reactions. Sometimes I add dialog/thoughts if I'm uncertain that the message passed.

3. Description XD. I don't really use them. I find them boring to read, and thus to write. I take for granted that people know what an office basically look like, so I don't really described it unless it's something different from the common conception. So I might just start with "This office had the particularity of having a missing title in the ceiling. Someone thought it funny to add 'Ninja Exit' under it." So my advice, don't worry about the background unless it's relevant to the scene or that it's really beyond something common concept.

[eaten-by-bears.livejournal.com]

Seconding the turbo-this, electro-that suggestion. Canon's full of it, and imo, it's part of the charm.

[ayngelcat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all that helpful advice.

You slip metaphors really appropriately into your writing and that's what i'd like to be able to do - not even think about it and have them be really effective. Instead I tend to sit there with a frozen brain trying to think of something that correaltes with what I'm trying to describe! Maybe its something that just happens with practice? Or more so if you don't think about it too much?

I like the human references, personally, and should maybe use them more. I remember reading ages ago somebody's opinion where they said that phrases like 'he sighed, as he had seen the humans do' were overused in fanfic and rather tiresome. Although I didn't agree, I always think of that whenever I write something similar - which goes to show how negative one person's opinions can be. Its time I moved on from that I think.

You're very good at embodying emotions in actions/reactions too! I am trying to improve on that score :D

That's good advice about the surroundings - thanks :)