What Do You Like Best to Write?

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 21 Jun 2014, 21:34

A writer is incredibly fortunate to find out where he or she belongs in the literary world. Where do you think you belong? What's your "thing" when it comes to writing? Prose or poetry? Short stories or novels? Genre fiction or literary fiction? If you prefer a particular genre, which one? Which POV do you use most often? What qualities do you like best in one of your characters? Tell us a little about yourself as a writer.

I like to write literary fiction, myself, and my favorite POVs are first person and third person omniscient, though there are times I find others more appropriate to a particular story...

My favorite character quality is complexity. I don't like to form my characters around a particular type. The element of surprise is a prize to me...

I have to admit that poetry comes more naturally to me than prose, but I enjoy challenging myself in both areas, and I like to include poetry in my prose pieces. I write short stories for the most part, but I have a novel in the workshop which is to be the first installment of a series. I also have an intense interest in the personal essay and memoir. Sometimes you can find out a lot about yourself whilst you're writing about your life, opinions, philosophies, relationships, and random thoughts.

What is the best thing about writing, in my opinion? Discovery. I like messing with words and personalities until something new emerges. With each draft I find something else, another quality of a character, another description for a place or event, another thread in the narrative. Were I not a writer, I would be a psych patient... That's just the way it is.

Ssirren39 · Post by **Ssirren39** » 30 Jun 2014, 02:24

At this point in time. I like to write short stories and poetry. I would like to get into writing a novel but just don't have the time at the moment. I love dark poetry, erotic, fantasy. I find I do well in those areas

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 30 Jun 2014, 14:35

Poetry is definitely a passion of mine. I have a little difficulty getting myself to edit pieces I've finished the first time around, but, when I do, the product ends up being something I can really be proud of.

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres, though it's hard to find a fantasy that glues my eyes to the page. I'd like to read your work sometime, if and when you make it available somewhere.

I always welcome new reads!

Welcome to the forums, Ssirren39. I hope you have some fun here.

-- 30 Jun 2014, 14:36 --

By the way, I really like your quote signature...

anomalocaris · Post by **anomalocaris** » 30 Jun 2014, 17:09

I'm best at nonfiction, but I enjoy playing with fiction and the odd bit of poetry. I get frustrated with fiction, though, because I like my characters to be real people, and real people sometimes have mixed emotions or complex emotions. Also, in real life, no one goes around holding up a sign saying, "I feel HAPPY," or "I feel FRUSTRATED." We pick up on their moods from their behavior and nonverbal. But when they read, people expect to be spoon-fed every little thing. The need to be TOLD how a character feels, and the character must have a single clear emotion or readers get confused. I hate that.

I don't like to write personal essays and memoir stuff, but have on occasion when forced to by a workshop. I just don't find myself all that interesting and I'd rather write about interesting stuff.

gali · Post by **gali** » 01 Jul 2014, 00:13

anomalocaris wrote:I'm best at nonfiction, but I enjoy playing with fiction and the odd bit of poetry. I get frustrated with fiction, though, because I like my characters to be real people, and real people sometimes have mixed emotions or complex emotions. Also, in real life, no one goes around holding up a sign saying, "I feel HAPPY," or "I feel FRUSTRATED." We pick up on their moods from their behavior and nonverbal. But when they read, people expect to be spoon-fed every little thing. The need to be TOLD how a character feels, and the character must have a single clear emotion or readers get confused. I hate that.

I don't like to write personal essays and memoir stuff, but have on occasion when forced to by a workshop. I just don't find myself all that interesting and I'd rather write about interesting stuff.

Not all people like to be spoon-fed. In fact I prefer the opposite. I don't like it when authors spoon-fed the reader every tiny detail and it makes the reading tedious at times. One of my favorite series is the Malazan Book of the Fallen)/Steven Erikson. What I liked it about the series was that the author didn't spoon-fed the reader and let him find out by himself, as the story got along, what was going on. Of course it takes a talented author to do that.

anomalocaris · Post by **anomalocaris** » 01 Jul 2014, 00:28

gali wrote: Not all people like to be spoon-fed. In fact I prefer the opposite. I don't like it when authors spoon-fed the reader every tiny detail and it makes the reading tedious at times. One of my favorite series is the Malazan Book of the Fallen)/Steven Erikson. What I liked it about the series was that the author didn't spoon-fed the reader and let him find out by himself, as the story got along, what was going on. Of course it takes a talented author to do that.

That's refreshing!! Nice to know there are still people out there like you!

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 02 Jul 2014, 14:42

One of the most important things I've learned about writing is that no reader SHOULD be TOLD what's going on. They should be SHOWN. It's difficult coming up with the description necessary to that purpose, but it can be interesting. The best writers I've ever read were EXCELLENT at description. All a reader needs is an expression, a color, and maybe a metaphor or simile to make either or both of these pop out, and the desired objective is achieved. I can't stand it when writers try to tell a reader everything and put very little work into the descriptive passages. It's kind of... lazy... at least in my opinion. I agreed with my college professor on that.

I want to be immersed in the shades and sensations of a setting, not lectured...

anomalocaris · Post by **anomalocaris** » 02 Jul 2014, 18:06

The other thing that kinda bugs me is that readers often need everything tied up in a perfect bow at the end. I think a little uncertainty is sometimes a good thing. It suggests that the characters' lives continue after the story's over.

N.S., how do you work with characters? I do this weird thing that works for me in a spooky sort of way, but no one else seems to do it. I write the characters from inside their heads, so that when I come back out, I'm often briefly puzzled as to why they did or said something. Then I realize that it's totally connected to the character's existing backstory and psychology, and the reason will be obvious.

I'm crap with description, though. It's an ADD thing.

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 02 Jul 2014, 18:29

I LOVE getting into my characters' heads. I want to know everything about them, especially my favorites... and, yes, I do have favorites.

I almost always work with them inside out, just the same as you do, and I like to let them do as they're going to without my prompting. Then I work with their decisions... If they're entertaining enough, I'll make them a theme. If not, well, better luck in the next draft, perhaps...

Right now I'm writing two characters I'm really, REALLY enjoying... I'm hoping this is my big work... It's very exciting for me...

Description has always been one of my stronger points, though I still have a problem sometimes with letting my images breathe. Each one has to be adequately and concisely described. I have a bad habit of packing too many pictures into a paragraph... In a way, I guess, I have a problem paying attention to certain details...

anomalocaris · Post by **anomalocaris** » 02 Jul 2014, 21:39

I'd love to hear more about your story if it's not a secret. I know there's a fine line with unpublished stuff -- put too detailed an idea out in a public forum, it's liable to be stolen.

hopeingod · Post by **hopeingod** » 04 Jul 2014, 12:42

Stories that have come out of my life I write best. Make believe people aren't my forte, although I could fairly easily switch a first person piece to third, or stay with the first person and elaborate a bit on the drama. Description matters more if one is hooked on prose. I'm not. Detailing a table of food in four pages isn't my idea of writing. I want to tell a story, not create a menu.

RussetDivinity · Post by **RussetDivinity** » 04 Jul 2014, 14:08

I'm kind of a reverse genre snob; I won't write anything that doesn't have some kind of fantasy or sci-fi touch. (Except poetry, but even that I'm tying into a mythology project). Lately I've been considering writing something which would basically be historical mathematical fantasy with a theme tied to Bernoulli's Principle.

I love coming up with characters. I empathize pretty easily with fictional people, and I like finding out how all of them would interact with each other. I just tend to have trouble remembering to put in description. If I weren't careful, a lot of my pages would turn into largely dialogue, and I'd leave the reader to infer what was going on. Names are the things I have trouble with, but Behind the Name has been a major help with that, as long as I'm working with something close to a historical culture.

anomalocaris · Post by **anomalocaris** » 04 Jul 2014, 16:11

I get that about the dialogue! That's my problem too -- O can do characters and dialogue, but never seem to have enough action and description.

ipekbunsal · Post by **ipekbunsal** » 27 Jul 2014, 04:54

I like writing adventurous, compelling stories. I am always like ''what will be the next action that will keep readers alert''
But having a good story behind it while writing an adventurous story is also important. I hope I'll improve.

tracy1 · Post by **tracy1** » 28 Jul 2014, 13:17

I like writing mysteries as that is one of the things I like to read. Another thing I enjoy writing is Amish fiction which is another thing that I like to read. Then I also like to write poetry. In my college writing class we got to experiment with different types of writing and through the years I have tried different types of writing including non-fiction articles, songwriting, memoir, odes, poetry, children's stories, and fiction. I dreaded the memoir section of my college class because I did not think I would be good at that type of writing but I discovered that I did pretty well with it from my instructor's comments and class critique group. So that might be another thing I would like to try to write and have published.