Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

[mithen]

--Share one of your weaknesses.

I guess it's only fair to do the flip side of your strengths, but I don't want anyone to get TOO negative below! I think my biggest weakness is a tendency toward hackneyed and cliched writing--I am addicted to adverbs, and I know I use a bunch of pretty tired terms in my writing. My only defense is that I write for the fun of it, and sometimes I'd rather get some writing done that's cliched than agonize over crafting a perfect paragraph for hours. It's still something I could afford to work on!

Writing this week has been slow but steady. I've finally gotten to the clinch in a longish one-shot for a smaller fandom (Blake's 7! My first fandom!) and now just need to write, um, a big showdown of...some sort. (I confess the clinch was the goal, and now that it's done, I'm like "Welp, and then things happened and they lived happily ever after THE END." NO, Mithen, you can't do that!) How about you?

Comments

[me_ya_ri]

That's honestly a harder one for me. I've trained myself to give myself praise rather than focusing on my weaknesses. Mostly because it's so easy to keep on going when I start thinking about my weaknesses.

I'd say that my biggest weakness in terms of publishing is my great reluctance to submit stories to traditional publishers like magazines. I know I'd sell better if I did get stories into magazines and contests but damn, the rejection slips kill my productivity something awful. So I don't do it.

In terms of actual writing, hmmm, I think I'll go with a tendency to use 'weasel' words like very, always, never, nearly, a little bit, instead of actually working through the description and spelling things out properly. I am working on it but it's a long-lived habit that's hard to root out.

Writing went pretty darn well. The novel is chugging right along, extra viewpoints going in beautifully. I also wrote a short story, submitted it to a magazine (thus the comment above) and got rejected the next day. And then went into a funk for a day and wrote absolutely nothing because 'i suck everything i do sucks everyone sucks'. *sighs at myself* Working on getting over that. Really am.

Good luck with the showdown!

[mithen]

That's honestly a harder one for me. I've trained myself to give myself praise rather than focusing on my weaknesses. Mostly because it's so easy to keep on going when I start thinking about my weaknesses.

I hear you there! I kind of winced at posting that one because...yeah, it's too easy, so it's a habit I've tried to get out of.

I'd say that my biggest weakness in terms of publishing is my great reluctance to submit stories to traditional publishers like magazines. I know I'd sell better if I did get stories into magazines and contests but damn, the rejection slips kill my productivity something awful. So I don't do it.

Rejection is painful! Even in academic writing getting turned down smarts, and I don't have as much of myself wrapped up in that...

In terms of actual writing, hmmm, I think I'll go with a tendency to use 'weasel' words like very, always, never, nearly, a little bit, instead of actually working through the description and spelling things out properly. I am working on it but it's a long-lived habit that's hard to root out.

Ah! My great downfall with that is "somehow." "Somehow, he found himself gazing into his eyes..." I read somewhere that if you don't know how they got there, maybe you shouldn't be writing it--but dang, I do love the implied "he was really foggy right then" feeling...

I also wrote a short story, submitted it to a magazine (thus the comment above) and got rejected the next day. And then went into a funk for a day and wrote absolutely nothing because 'i suck everything i do sucks everyone sucks'. *sighs at myself* Working on getting over that. Really am.

Ugh. It's hard! I can see why you'd have to make the plunge into magazines and such now and then, but it sounds like a bucket of ice water...

[prince0froses]

I ended up listing my weaknesses when discussing my strengths: my lack of control over the quality of my prose, and the slow intuitive way I approach a plot. It is a damn good thing I don't write professionally, because I would never meet a deadline. In fact both weaknesses boil down to a lack of control. I let the work come to me rather than pursuing it, and I feel out the plot over long periods of time rather than chart it out.

I have never noticed a problem with adverbs in your writing, nor have I ever found it to be cliche (beyond hitting key genre tropes, which is an important kind of cliche). Since it flew under my radar perhaps they're weaknesses we share. I certainly suffer from the 'dangerously content after writing the good part' problem!

[mithen]

I let the work come to me rather than pursuing it, and I feel out the plot over long periods of time rather than chart it out.

I...kind of like that way of doing it! Instead of hunting down ideas, you lure them to you. :) You're right, it doesn't work as well with a deadline or a word quota that needs to be met, but for inspiration it works quite well...