A New Writer's Tip WRITE TO YOUR STRENGTHS
by Beckie Weinheimer
genre:
Literature & Fiction
description:
Using the writing skills we are strong at, in the important parts of the story, can make the story stronger
chapters
chapter 1:
A new writer's tip
A new writer's tip
chapter 1
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updated 07/05/08
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3002 characters
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0 people liked it
Write to your own Strengths
I just read a great novel, and the writer is a professional actress. She could describe characters movements and non-verbal movements so well, I was frankly, well jealous. I thought I must start doing this. I must learn to write just like her. I must!
But then this voice, this tiny voice inside my head, the voice I trust to help me write my stories spoke. It said, stick to what you love, and what you do well and that will make the best story.
And so I began to think and ponder. I realized of course that some writers are great at dialog, others at descriptions, and other with the use of metaphors, and still more with the use of lyrical language, and the list goes on.
But not everyone is good at everything.
One thing I am okay at is setting. It's almost as important to me as one of my characters, yet I read books where the setting barely comes up, they lived in a neighborhood on the edge of town, the end, as far as setting and still it is a good book, still I enjoy what I have read. But for me, who is a very visual person, who is very swayed by the weather, the sun, the rain, the cold the greens of summer and the browns and grays of winters, setting is important. So my voice inside my head, that day, said use it. So I started to take stock of what comes easy to me, what I like to write about, what is important to me in a story. And after a while I began to feel okay about me as a writer. I don't have to have the insights of a professional actress to tell a good story. I just have to be good at the parts I am passionate about. Does that make sense?
So if you are wondering how to make your voice stronger, your story sing like a heavenly anthem then maybe take a few minutes out to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. I'm not saying forget about your weaknesses. I still need to describe my characters, even though I am so uncreative in that area that I tend to describe all of them as having bouncy red hair and freckles, I 've got to stretch my wings and find a few more ways to describe people, but that doesn't have to be where the heart of my story is, in the description of my characters. My characters can have some basic, hopefully unique descriptions and then more importantly I will show who they are through how they react to their setting. They can feel the chill in the air, the gray of the sky or the watch the hapy swaying of sunshiny daisies to help reflect their moods.
And I think when something really important happens in your story, then use your strengths to get the point across, if that's dialog use dialog, if it's metaphor, use that, for me, I'll probably say something like, Beckie was in a the middle of the woods on her walk, when she realized that she didn't have to be good at everything, she just had to be really good at the things she was already good at. And suddenly the pines smelt like Christmas, the birds chirping sounded like harps from heaven, and well you get it...right?
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I just read a great novel, and the writer is a professional actress. She could describe characters movements and non-verbal movements so well, I was frankly, well jealous. I thought I must start doing this. I must learn to write just like her. I must!
But then this voice, this tiny voice inside my head, the voice I trust to help me write my stories spoke. It said, stick to what you love, and what you do well and that will make the best story.
And so I began to think and ponder. I realized of course that some writers are great at dialog, others at descriptions, and other with the use of metaphors, and still more with the use of lyrical language, and the list goes on.
But not everyone is good at everything.
One thing I am okay at is setting. It's almost as important to me as one of my characters, yet I read books where the setting barely comes up, they lived in a neighborhood on the edge of town, the end, as far as setting and still it is a good book, still I enjoy what I have read. But for me, who is a very visual person, who is very swayed by the weather, the sun, the rain, the cold the greens of summer and the browns and grays of winters, setting is important. So my voice inside my head, that day, said use it. So I started to take stock of what comes easy to me, what I like to write about, what is important to me in a story. And after a while I began to feel okay about me as a writer. I don't have to have the insights of a professional actress to tell a good story. I just have to be good at the parts I am passionate about. Does that make sense?
So if you are wondering how to make your voice stronger, your story sing like a heavenly anthem then maybe take a few minutes out to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. I'm not saying forget about your weaknesses. I still need to describe my characters, even though I am so uncreative in that area that I tend to describe all of them as having bouncy red hair and freckles, I 've got to stretch my wings and find a few more ways to describe people, but that doesn't have to be where the heart of my story is, in the description of my characters. My characters can have some basic, hopefully unique descriptions and then more importantly I will show who they are through how they react to their setting. They can feel the chill in the air, the gray of the sky or the watch the hapy swaying of sunshiny daisies to help reflect their moods.
And I think when something really important happens in your story, then use your strengths to get the point across, if that's dialog use dialog, if it's metaphor, use that, for me, I'll probably say something like, Beckie was in a the middle of the woods on her walk, when she realized that she didn't have to be good at everything, she just had to be really good at the things she was already good at. And suddenly the pines smelt like Christmas, the birds chirping sounded like harps from heaven, and well you get it...right?
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