I find it hard to start my writing, and I find it hard to stop my writing. That about sums up my experiences as a writer.
My main weakness is starting. I never know how to start a paper or piece of writing. I end up staring at the paper for dozens of minutes not knowing what to say. Even though I answer this same question on a yearly basis, I still can't start the paper. I know exactly what my answer is but I don't know how to express it. This problem has always followed me. No matter what I am writing about or how long it is supposed to be, I just can't start. I don't think it really alters the final product, but it has always bothered me.
The other weakness I have always had is imagery. I am not too good at painting a picture for someone through words. I just never know exactly what to say. I feel like if I get too complex, I am just going to lose the person reading instead of helping them.
Moving on from the negative stuff, I think I also have some good writing qualities. One would be that if I know what I am talking about, I can write very well. This may sound kind of obvious but for me it has to be the most important thing. I hate leaving my comfort zone. I like writing about subjects that I find interesting and I have knowledge in. Writing about sports comes easily to me and my best work comes out of it. But if I am forced to write a fairy tale or Sci-Fi, I will really struggle. This could be described as a strength or weakness. In my opinion though, it is a strength because in the real world I will hopefully only be writing about things that I know and enjoy.
Another strength is that for some reason I am never bothered by length. Although I find it hard to start, once I begin I find it hard to stop. I can keep writing and writing for pages. And its not that I necessarily enjoy writing. I just have a big opinion and personality that I can't contain. So I find it hard to start my writing, and I find it hard to stop my writing.
There are many inspirations that I have come across that have made me feel like I can easily be better. Things that make me feel like, "I could do that too." To me that is part of being an inspiration. Someone that makes what they do look easy, even if it is in fact extremely hard.
My first inspiration is a writer by the name of Keith Mano. He wrote in the 60's and 70's, primarily as a book writer. But Sports Illustrated wanted him to cover our very own Joe Paterno. So, Mano followed Joe around for a couple of days and wrote a beautiful piece about him. It is unlike anything I have ever read about Paterno and truly paints the portrait of who he is. Mano's imagery is tremendous and his strength is my big weakness. I can learn a lot from this one fantastic article.
My other inspiration is a scene from Seinfeld. It is one of the funniest shows of all-time and the scene that inspires me is arguably the best scene ever in the show. One of the characters, George, is telling a story about his encounter with a whale earlier in the day. While that premise is very funny, his monologue isn't really that funny, if you read the words. There aren't really any jokes, yet it is one of the funniest moments the show ever had. So, the writers at Seinfeld knew they had to be funny. They decided that it would be funny if they broke away from their normal style. A long monologue like this almost never happened on this show. They were also rarely ever this serious. And yes, I know he is talking about running up to a whale but the words describe the encounter in a very serious manner, at least in terms of how the characters normally speak. So, breaking away from yourself is sometimes a good thing, and I need to be able to learn that.
Scott:
ReplyDeleteThanks for your honesty. I'm thinking that maybe starting isn't really a problem for you the way you think it is. We each have to start somewhere, and a lot of us don't feel comfortable putting words on the page until we've figured out in our minds what it is that we want to say. The writing process does not start with the first word set down on paper -- it starts in your mind. Maybe it's just that you sit down at the computer before you are actually ready to write anything. Or maybe, staring at the blank page for a bit is exactly what you need to do to work things out in your mind. Sounds quite normal and not problematic to me at all! In fact, I think a lot of writers work that way.
I also have trouble getting started. I can't sit down to write until I know my first sentence is golden. That takes forever. But once I get it, I also write quite quickly.
I'd just reconsider whether getting started is even a real problem for you.
As for descriptiveness -- we'll work on that! A lot of it is practice. Also -- consider books you like, scenes that you thought were particularly well-written. Also, when you write, picture you are writing to a friend. Imagine that you are TELLING him about what happened and he's asking you questions like "But what did look like? What did it smell like?" And think about what you'd say to him aloud to paint the story more vividly. That's one trick!
Thanks.