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

[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].