Writing Subtext: A Weakness

The more I write, the more I understand what my weaknesses are as a person as well as a writer. And I can pretty much tell everyone that, hands down, subtext is my weakness.

In life, I miss nuances in conversations and actions. I offend people. I’m brash at times and too quiet in others. I put a lot of pressure on myself to always have an answer, even if that answer isn’t very thought out.

As a result, I find it difficult to present my characters motivations through writing subtext instead of directly telling them.

My first drafts, especially when speed drafting, tend to rely on telling, rather than showing. Or stating the obvious and then reaffirming the obvious with character thoughts as well. Doubles the word count, but not with real quality words.

I go through my didactic writing in revisions, removing obvious statements and replacing with removed actions to clearly connote what a character is thinking.

It has taken me years to realize that it’s not about the first draft. You can’t expect perfection to come from your fingertips all the time. If you do that, you’re in for a world of hurt. If you have to address the weaknesses in your writing later and layer in the effect you want, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it makes you better to know where you need to pay special attention. The only issue is that you can’t rewrite a statement in real life (wouldn’t that be helpful?).

What are your writing weaknesses?

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