What's Your Writing Kryptonite?

If truth serum were poured into the collective margarita glasses of all writers, I think we'd quickly learn that there is some aspect of the craft that vexes each and every one of us.  Be it an easy fix, like an unhealthy addiction to adverbs.  Or slightly(see what I did there?) more complex issues with plotting, themes, etc.  We all have the ONE thing.

My kryptonite?  Onomatopoeia ... or rather the lack there of.  I might be the worst phonetic speller in the known universe.  And by worst I mean I do it all the time.  I do many things by ear and tone that most would consider to be a blessing, like sing and play musical instruments.  Unfortunately, I also spell by ear.  Not a big thing, but a REALLY freaking annoying thing.  

That's not to say I do all of the other writing things well, I just think spelling is one of my greatest foes.  What's your thing?  Do you rip your dialog straight from bad soap operas?  Does your computer screen have more depth than your characters?  Let's vent!  :-)

  

~EJW~

23 comments:

  1. Michael Offutt, Phantom ReaderAugust 26, 2011 at 2:16 PM

    My writing kryptonite is searching for the correct word to use instead of a bunch of smaller words.

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  2. Luanne G. SmithAugust 26, 2011 at 3:05 PM

    World building seems to be my nemesis. It's a big ol' meteorite of kryptonite sitting right in the middle of my stories. I'm working on it. :(

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  3. Alex J. CavanaughAugust 26, 2011 at 3:10 PM

    Mine is adding enough description.

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  4. Susanna Leonard HillAugust 26, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    I think I have too many kryptonites to list! :)

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  5. William KendallAugust 26, 2011 at 3:51 PM

    Adverbs would be mine.

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  6. UnknownAugust 26, 2011 at 4:04 PM

    Time. It's always running away from me ... and not because I'm playing solitaire.

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  7. Jeff BeeslerAugust 26, 2011 at 5:16 PM

    I'm a bare bones rough drafter, so adding in more description is a struggle for me, also. And I fear I keep using the same words over and over again. How many different hand gestures can a character really make, though?

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  8. Lorelei BellAugust 26, 2011 at 7:06 PM

    Oh, yes. I have what I calle the "dead zone" What word best fits here.

    After years of pounding my head on the wall--or desk, what I've found best works is--just leave a blank. You'd be amazed at what happens, when you, after even a day or many go by, you read the passage and BLOP! The word just appears magically in your numb little skull.

    Happy Writing!

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  9. AnonymousAugust 26, 2011 at 7:58 PM

    Adding enough description for me too. Though reading a book with great description helps. I would have added more things, but what would be left save a few prepositions lol.

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  10. JenAugust 26, 2011 at 9:21 PM

    Getting anything finished. Because I don't plot, I run out of steam, and instead of going back and fixing it, I shelve it and start something else. A teacher once wrote on a report card of mine back in Grade 2: " Jenny has difficultly with focus." Guess what, Mrs Jordan? Some things never change!

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  11. janAugust 27, 2011 at 8:14 AM

    Action eludes me. I like to stay in my characters' heads and ruminate. It's hard for me to stay "in the moment" with my characters.

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  12. Elena SolodowAugust 27, 2011 at 7:29 PM

    Sometimes I need to slow down my writing. I kind of assume the reader knows things because (of course) I know everything....whoops.

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  13. Kelly PolarkAugust 27, 2011 at 9:41 PM

    Mine is the word "looked". I did a word cloud of my manuscript to see (or LOOK) what words were overused. Yep, looked was a biggie!
    KAPOW!

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  14. Hart JohnsonAugust 29, 2011 at 9:33 AM

    I have a comma fetish which leads to run on sentences... And yeah... I am sometimes too true to my deep PoV--and so I use a lot of 'seemed' and 'looked' to give attributions to other characters--I TRY when i rewrite to change that to what it looked like, but my characters tend to be interpreters rather than describers, so that can feel out of character...

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  15. Robyn CampbellAugust 29, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    Egad. I don't have room to list them. But my biggest one is the WAS word. Oh how I love that word. *sigh*

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  16. Julia Munroe MartinAugust 29, 2011 at 3:01 PM

    My most annoying one is re-starting when I think something isn't quite right -- resulting in many many beginnings of the same piece: a logistical and creative nightmare believe me. I'm with Robyn: *sigh*

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  17. Alison MillerAugust 29, 2011 at 4:54 PM

    Awesome post! Sadly, too many subplots are my nemesis. That, and making every scene move the plot forward. But I'm working on it. :)

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  18. ReeceAugust 30, 2011 at 11:58 AM

    I love this post! Especially the Super Scribe strip. I'd say my particular poison is character building. I have a tendency to make my characters to ideal. I WANT my characters to be exemplary, paragons of humanity, but that isn't always what's best for the character or the story. Before I learned this, I almost always wrote perfect characters (no flaws, few mistakes, etc.). Now I've learned I need to let my characters be flawed, but it's hard for me to do.

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  19. Julie FlandersAugust 30, 2011 at 6:54 PM

    I love the Super Scribe strip, perfect! My kryptonite is adding enough description. It's something I really need to work on, and it is a definite weakness.

    Also, I use the words "just" and "really" WAY too much. I have to slap myself on the hand every time I find one of those words sneaking in to my sentences.

    Great post! :)

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  20. Intangible HeartsAugust 31, 2011 at 8:57 PM

    Fear.

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  21. Angela ScottSeptember 1, 2011 at 8:40 AM

    I'm horrible with certain "go to" words: just, looked, was, etc... they slip in and destroy my hard work. I wish I could simply write it the right way the first time. But first drafts are poop and so all is well.

    Oh, and endings! I have a horrible time writing decent endings that aren't cheesy. It takes me twice as long to write them than the rest of the book. They just about do me in.

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  22. Linda H.September 15, 2011 at 2:57 PM

    Lack of confidence is big on my list. I rarely send things out because I doubt they are "finished". I am a nit-picker and my own worst enemy when it comes to corrections. I could revise and revise and revise...

    Also, I think my vocabulary has decreased the past 10 years. Since I've been living overseas and another language is my main source of communication, the English words seem harder to come by. I know it is strange but true. I have even resorted to using a thesaurus because at times I can't think of the exact word I want.

    ReplyDelete
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