Where are your weak spots?

[inkdust]

I've known for a while now that I struggle with grounding my scenes with setting details. I'm so wary of drawn-out descriptions of places and people that I run the risk of writing scenes that read more like dialogue scripts. So one element of tackling my second draft is consciously adding in more background details.

Where are your writing weaknesses? What do you do to try to overcome them?

Comments

[sarillia]

I have a similar problem. It's not about being afraid to put in too much description though. I just get so excited to see how the scene plays out that I keep going with the dialogue and the action so I skip over the stuff that tells people who don't have the images in their heads that I do what it looks like.

So, like you, I have to go back and add more details later. I've found I actually enjoy that process though and I'm getting better about remembering to do it the first time around.

[inkdust]

I think my main issue is the same as yours, just cutting right to the action, but it's compounded by aversion to over-description. It's gotten more enjoyable to work it in as I've read some better descriptive writing, especially writing that effectively uses simile and metaphor instead of spitting out either the ready-made canned or the overwrought.

[sarillia]

My writing tends to be very concise, which you would think would make me enjoy the advice that tells people to write the way I tend to write naturally, but really it just makes me think of all the old books with long, lyrical descriptions that I love and feel sad that people aren't really allowed to do that anymore because it's been declared Bad. I wish more writing advice would focus on the quality of the description rather than the quantity. Of course, readers would have to do that too and most of them think of it in terms of quantity than quality too, unless it's hilariously bad.

[serria]

I definitely struggle with setting up scenes, too. Especially when I think about the scene in terms of its purpose and what I want to happen, fleshing it out is difficult.

Sometimes I can write and get a scene flowing really naturally, so much that I'm pretty satisfied even with a first draft. But other times, pushing descriptions, dialogue, and character actions/behavior is really tough. One thing that I consistently struggle with (or obsess over, whether or not what I've written is okay or otherwise) is dialogue scenes. Usually the dialogue itself is fine, but everything around that is hard for me. I want to write action along with the dialogue, besides "s/he said." I try to avoid unnecessary adverbs or synonyms for said (though I never liked this as a 100% rule anyway). But what else happens while they talk? She frowns? He scratches his head? She rolls her eyes? That kind of thing. It's easier when the dialogue happens during some kind of outward action, like the characters are eating dinner, but if they are just standing there and talking, my dialogue scene feels bare. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it so much, but I'd say that's one worry I have - not enough detail.

[sarillia]

I actually really love writing the characters' reactions to the dialogue. I think part of it is that living with my anxiety has made me really aware of the sort of bodily responses that can happen under emotion since mine are so exaggerated. But I love to think about how each line might affect the person speaking and the person being spoken to, the complex emotions that are brought to the surface and how they are reflected in their body language.

[inkdust]

I think describing physical reactions well is key to good writing, since without them, verbal responses have no backing and may not come off as credible (certainly not as relatable), but I get so stuck with the few that come to mind. Breathing and heart rate, eyes widening/rolling/closing, various kinds of fidgeting, looking down/away/at _____, I just feel like I'm repeating the same things over and over. I wish there was a master list of every movement the human body can make.

[sarillia]

You could try researching body language. There's a lot of interesting scholarship on the subject. If you combine the information from various sources you might be able to make such a list yourself.

[serria]

Oh, I so agree about that master list! I get not wanting to put in excess descriptions that don't serve a point, but a good scene should be able to tell itself from the actions as well as the dialogue, I think. But I hate feeling like I'm recycling the same cliches. I cringe myself whenever I write the word "frown" or "stared at ___" now, because I use them way too often.

[inkdust]

God, "stared at" is the worst. Every scene.

[inkdust]

I know what you mean. I've gotten a little obsessive about avoiding dialogue tags whenever possible and just using action tags, and I run out of actions pretty fast if there's no outside activity involved. I have a bad habit of frequently using action tags to mention what the characters are looking at, because in my head that's very important to the dialogue but I think on paper it's often tedious and/or unnecessary. But dialogue is also an area where I make a point go back in and see where setting details might fit, since those can break up the " " [frown] -" " [shrug].

[agilebrit]

Same for me, and I think it stems from being a fanfic writer before I started writing original fiction. In fanfic, your readers already have pictures in their heads of what things look like, and it's actually considered a faux pas to describe the characters (I've seen it complained about at fanficrants, in fact).

So transitioning to original fiction has been a challenge in that way. I've gotten better at it, and making it do more than one thing, but it's still a struggle. Not only that, I write short fiction, so I'm pressed for space anyway.

I especially struggle with describing my first-person protagonists. I think you get one "mirror scene" in your whole life...

[inkdust]

Character description is even worse for me than setting description. I can give a character a line or two of description if my protagonist is meeting them for the first time, but otherwise my characters tend to run around as blank slates with one or two features I managed to squeeze in mentioning without feeling ~so obvious~. My protagonist? Forget about it. Even in third person, the perspective so clearly belongs to that character that I search for tiny opportunities to mention a feature without cringing. ...I may be over-sensitive about character descriptions.

[sarillia]

What I've found works for me is having my first-person protagonist compare other people to themselves and having not just a description but a reaction to what they look like. Saying that she couldn't imagine having hair as long as the woman she just met, her shoulder-length hair is as much as she can manage. Or that the athletic man in front of him made him feel self-conscious about the way he's let himself go in recent years. Or when she meets someone as short as she is she thinks about how nice it is to not have to look up to look them in the eye for once.

[inkdust]

I definitely see comparison as the best way to describe a protagonist. I was really pleased in my current story when my MC saw an old photo of her mom and aunt and I was able to say that they all had the same color hair. Her relationship to them is huge in the story, so it was even significant to the plot :D

[serria]

Oh, that's a really good point, too. I think the transition from fanfiction to original comes with a lot of obstacles... actually, this would be a good topic on its own, but basically. Yeah. As you said, character descriptions are pretty unnecessary in fanfiction, unless one character is introduced to another for the first time, and his/her first impression is really important to the scene. There's other things, too - when I write fanfiction, I'm complementing the original series, and when I have a character do or say something, the audience knows the context and background of that character making a choice. In original, you aren't playing off of anything, and I think that makes for some legitimate differences between writing good fanfiction, and writing good original fiction.

[belacqua]

Description is something I do have to work at sometimes (especially when, as mentioned above, I'm switching from fanfic to original fiction or vice versa), but I enjoy it. I struggle more with writing distinct dialogue. I'll write out a couple lines, then look back and realize that the characters all sound like they have the same diction, humor, etc. I just don't have a good ear for that sort of thing. Lately, I've been stopping and rewatching/rereading someone else's work just to study the dialogue, but that can get tedious and I often lose inspiration before finishing. I'd love suggestions if anyone has any.

[sarillia]

Having characters talk with different voices is really hard. I struggle with that too. I try to think about how their personality would affect the way they talk and their social class and that sort of thing, but it's definitely tough.

[splinteredstar]

Pacing.

I am /totally/ capable of having an entire novel that mostly consists of talking, people staring at sunsets and thinking about things. With occasional action.

Still working on fixing it, though being aware of things like that is the first step, I suppose.

[inkdust]

Oh I'm great at having these two people talk over here, and then these other two people talk over here, and then these people argue. So great at that. It's really a shame it doesn't make for a better story :)

[splinteredstar]

I know, right? I'm especially good at having them stare off into the distance and come to conclusions.

[inkdust]

Takes real talent, that.

[caecilia]

Middles, endings, hurting my characters.

I can have a great opening and then it starts to slow down until it gets stuck. I think I'm held back by my fear of taking emotional risks. :\

Have you tried writing exercises where you just describe different settings, without characters?

[inkdust]

Doing an exercise like that would probably be good. I've written timed prompts and things where I've included more description because the style of writing seemed to welcome it more, but when I have an actual cohesive scene I want to play out, it's hard for me to balance it with action. Maybe I'll try copy-pasting a scene and just adding a ton of setting description, way more than I need, and then pare it down and see if I'm left with something better.

I do okay with putting in emotional stuff, but then when my characters react to it I get paranoid about them coming off as whiny / depressed / unlikeable. That's one thing I really need outside reader feedback for. But I do find that my overall state of mind affects the content I feel like I can write about. When I'm more depressed, I hesitate to do painful things to my characters.

I find that if I can at least figure out what I want the climactic point of the story to look like, then I have something to push toward even if the middle slows. Or do you ever try writing out of order, at least for a scene or two?

[caecilia]

Oh yeah, I write out of order all the time, because sometimes I don't even know what story I wanna tell or where it starts, or I'm just doing freewrite or jotting down little ideas. I'm procrastinating on this right now, though. Blech.