Today’s blog chain is brought to us by Sandra Ulbrich. She asks: “What do you think your strengths and weaknesses as a writer are? Did you have to develop your strengths, or did they come naturally to you? How are you trying to overcome your weaknesses?”
My weakness is easy. I have trouble writing in third person, and I have difficulty writing in past tense. I don’t know why I have this block, but every time I try to write in past tense, I must read a bunch of similar voices before I am able to begin. I recently completed a work-for-hire assignment that was in BOTH third person and past tense. Once I got going, I was able to keep the pattern, but I had to keep going back and rereading to make sure I didn’t slip into first person or present. I am proud of myself for completing the assignment and know I can do it again for that type of work. But will I be writing any books in third person or past tense any time soon? Nope. In this case, I’m not sure if I have to overcome this weakness for my own novels. There are writers who have difficulty writing in first person and/or present tense. Sure, it’s good to have range, but in the end, if my best work is produced in first person present, I’m not going to mess with it.
As for strengths, I can do emotional realistic stories well. I feel can also grab onto a character’s voice and develop him/her so that others can connect with them. Like them, don’t like them–if I evoke either of these emotions about my characters, I think I did a good job because they elicited a reaction. The exception would be if someone hated an MC they were supposed to like. If that happened, it would be problematic.
How about you? What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? To find out what Amanda said, check out her blog. And hop on over to Laura’s blog to see what she has to say (hers is already up as yours truly is a day late posting).
sandraulbrich.blogspot.com
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