Friday Question: What Do You Suck At?
This week, we have looked at how recognising your failings as a writer can do wonders to help you improve and focus on what you are good at.
So the question today, of course, is…
What Do YOU Suck At?
Think of this as a public declaration that you recognise and accept your own failings. And a statement that you won’t try and do those things anymore, and that you will concentrate on what you are good at, and that you will work around those things you find difficult.
You Suck At Something, You’re Good At Something
Knowing what you suck at means knowing what you are good at, too. Be honest with us, and yourselves. Tell us what your writing weaknesses are, and explain what you are going to focus on instead.
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Let us know what you suck at in the comments section below!
Image courtesy of Alex Proimos.
Christopher Jackson is the Editor for Fuel Your Writing and a creative copywriter. He is currently working on Project: Snotbook, an interactive children’s storybook for iPad.
I suck at article titles. Sometimes, I feel so insecure about a title I choose for an article, that I tell my editor to feel free to change it. She rarely does but I still insecure because I believe I suck at it.
Sometimes I really suck at this whole writing thing….!!
Well, I believe every writer has their own style. Unless you are talking in literal terms, you can’t really “suck” at writing.
I’m not sure if you realize the magnitude of what you just said. This thinking saved my writing career. After I received harsh criticism, that wasn’t helpful. I decided to give up writing because, in my mind, I didn’t want to deal with mean people. In response, my father-in-law sent me the following quote by Jack Welch:
Control your own destiny or someone else will.
Something clicked, and I asked myself why the criticism bothered me so much. Why did I take it personally? After some more probing, I discovered it was because there were areas in my writing where I wasn’t confident. I vowed to work on those weaknesses until they became strengths, and now I understand the true meaning of confidence. To look inside yourself and admit your weaknesses allows you to turn them into your strengths.
That’s a brilliant quote. Thanks for sharing that Eleni, and your story. And well done for admitting your weaknesses and becoming a better writer despite the criticism! It’s inspiring.
Amazing, Eleni! Thank you!! You’ve inspired me!
That’s an experience I can reflect to, thanks for sharing Eleni.
I suck at writing about relationships. I’m not very good at them in reality and I always shy away from including them in my writing, unless a couple is already together. I have a lot of solitary protagonists, and it’s something I really need to work on.
You’ve hit the nail on the head there, that sometimes we struggle to write about things because we aren’t familiar with it or good at it in real life. Could make an interesting topic for an article!
Thanks for sharing Icy.
Have to agree with Christopher. I’d love to see an article on how difficult it is to write when not in the correct headspace (i.e. writing about relationships when you’re heartbroken or not confident about one). I think we all struggle with that one! (When my heart is heavy, I find it almost impossible to edit a wedding video… I’ll do it, but it certainly becomes a massive challenge.)
Moving characters around – I try to describe every little thing because I want the reader to ’see’ what’s going on but end up with far too much detail. Mind you, I can fix this if I pay attention to it. Writing with emotion is something I struggle with and tend to avoid, especially in family situations – the parent child relationship, especially mother daughter. It’s probably too close to home for some reason!
Over-description can definitely be a problem, and is a tricky balance. But I think you’re right Louise, as long as we recognise that issue and pay attention to it, we can get it right.
Good look with your writing, and with putting emotion into it! Hopefully this article may help :) http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/the-emotion-in-your-writing-is-failing-and-heres-why/
I suck at finishing stories….. Seriously, I have so many shorts sitting around half done it’s embarrassing.
The problem though is easily recognizable – and fixable – if only I’d be more strict with myself. Once I wear my wrist out getting the first ten or so pages out of my head I inevitably stop and think “what’s next”?, (herein lies the problem – we all know we aren’t supposed to think when writing first drafts). When I can’t figure out – at that very moment – what happens next I end up setting the story aside and forgetting about it until I happen upon it six months or so later. I can’t tell you how many fairly decent half-stories I’ve found that I don’t even recall writing! So what I need to do, or at least what seems like a good idea, is to put a note on my calendar to pick such-and-such story back up maybe a week after getting the original idea down and FINISH THE THING!
Thanks for the encouragement Christopher!
I am TERRIBLE at finishing stories – I think it’s probably my biggest failing as a writer. Looks like a few people have the same problem, which to be honest isn’t a surprise!
Thanks for commenting Deanna, and good look finishing your next story!
Wow…so many choices!
I too suck at finishing things but I think that’s just a symptom of my real problem: poor story planning. I’m a bad planner. I tend to get a few people in my head, they start talking, one of them decides they have a problem and, from that, I think a novel length story is born.
This also goes along with structure–if the story’s not at least kind of mapped out, it’s hard to see the structure of it which will also make it difficult to finish.
I suspect if I let that be point A on an outline or plan, I’d give myself a better shot at finishing something. And I’m not talking about an entire story blueprint. Just something that more or less outlines who’s in the story, what the main conflict is, what the core relationships are and how the conflict should be resolved in the context of these core relationships. that might help.
Even just a rough skeleton outline can work wonders – I don’t like to plan things out in advance but I notice a huge difference in my writing if I already have an idea laid out of how the story will go.
Thanks for commenting Eva!
Sometimes, it’s difficult to find interesting topics to write .
This is a tough one, and might be a good topic for us to cover on FYW soon! My problem is the opposite though – too many ideas that I never know what to focus on!
When my confidence is shaken, I feel like I suck at everything… writing-related topics especially. I talk myself out of doing anything because “so many people are better than me; what’s the point?” This frequently leads to my biggest weakness across the board – time management.
When I am feeling confident, however, I suck at storytelling. I’ve found that I have much more of an essayist, commentary style than a traditional yarn-weaving voice. That doesn’t mean I don’t love to tell stories, I just don’t see it as my strength.
This is a bit off-topic but I suck at selling ads. Basically, I suck at selling anything people do not actually need or want but selling advertising seems to be my major shortcoming. As a member of a working board of directors, I was expected to sell ads to support our Community Theater. I was so disappointed at the number of people I approached, especially businesses I support (like my veterinarian for my three pets/family members), who turned me down for a $40 advertisement.
Unfortunately, I took it rather personally and left the job of selling ads to someone a bit more persuasive. Now, with the upcoming marketing of my book, I wish I had learned more about how to close that sale no matter what the product.
This is a bit off-topic but I suck at selling ads. Basically, I suck at selling anything people do not actually need or want but selling advertising seems to be my major shortcoming. As a member of a working board of directors, I was expected to sell ads to support our Community Theater. I was so disappointed at the number of people I approached, especially businesses I support (like my veterinarian for my three pets/family members), who turned me down for a $40 advertisement.
Unfortunately, I took it rather personally and left the job of selling ads to someone a bit more persuasive. Now, with the upcoming marketing of my book, I wish I had learned more about how to close that sale no matter what the product.
Self-editing. I’m good at editing other people’s work. I’m only good at editing my work *after* it has gone to print.
I suck at two things. One, I suck at allowing my ideas (for a scene) to come out naturally. Which as a result I end up with scenes that are rushed. It’s as if I spend more time with the idea in my head than writing it. The other thing I suck at is finishing my stories. It is horrible. You know what, I would request an article about finishing stories. It seems more than a few of us could use some advice.