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Thursday, November 19, 2009

My Weaknesses as a Writer

Every writer has his or her weaknesses. Even professional ones. (I won’t name-call, of course.) I have a lot. Obviously. I have a great deal to accomplish before I make it in the publishing industry. What better way to conquer said weaknesses than by exploiting them for all to see? Great idea!

One of my biggest problems (also the one I’m doing the best at conquering) is creating interesting protagonists. I have many past novels where my protagonist is fairly complacent. Because of this, I added a new word to my repertoire this last year: proactive. Proactive protagonists are a must have! This is one of the reasons The Oracle Seals needs so much revision. I’m completely changing my main character’s personality. Fortunately, I see CSH as a chance to atone for my past failures with characters.

Fighting and battle scenes. I’m working on this. I’ve come a long way since my early days with fanfiction, but I’m far from up-to-par (rhyme intended). My roommate linked me to several websites that talk about fighting scenes, one of which is here. I intend to utilize these tips in the future. I desperately need to. There’s a lot of fighting in CSH.

The one that I get called out on every time in writing groups is my word choice. I try to be creative with my limited vocabulary and often come short. (The best example of this is when I referred to a character’s pet sheep as her “consort”. My sister got a good laugh out of that one.) Honestly, if I could take an extend-your-vocabulary class, I would. Adult fiction is written by smart people. I must become smart. (Or find some clever way to fake it.)

These aren’t all the problems I have, but I don’t have the time or energy to vomit endless pages of my weaknesses into one entry. Future entries, possibly. Feel free to share your own weaknesses as well. :)

1 comment:

  1. One of the best ways I have found to extend my vocabulary is to read until my eyes fall out. And to read things that are interesting, but challenging so I have to think about what I'm reading or look up words I don't know.

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