As a writer, what do you feel your greatest strengths and weaknesses are?

[kosamsel]

You can tackle this question however you like—maybe 3 things you like about your own writing and 3 things you don’t, or what’s easiest for you to write versus what’s the most difficult, etc etc. Maybe you love world-building but struggle with pacing, or you think your dialogue is really strong but your action sequences could use some work. Whatever comes to mind.

Don’t just focus on the negatives! Hype yourself up too!
To answer my own question:

My Public Enemy Number One has always been pacing. I am… maybe the worst at it I’ve ever seen LOL. It takes me ages to get to the point, both from an overarching narrative perspective and on a scene-to-scene basis. I just get lost, man. I LOVE a bit of navel-gazing ?

I think my greatest strength is… prooobably characterization, although I’m not always happy with how I translate a character from my head to the page.

 

[Cipiteca396]

Hm. Not writing is probably my greatest weakness.

 

[TASTYLEADPAINT]

My strengths
. I think my dialogue is pretty good and flows naturally.
. I think my world building is okay.
.Smut
Weakness
Pacing
Action scenes

 

[RepresentingWrath]

You tell me.

 

[WhaleSprite]

Probably my weakness in writing is setting or sensory details. I have a tendency to forget these, though I've been gradually getting better with that. World building it also kind of weakness of mine, mostly cuz I don't like to take time to do it, but I understand the importance of it, so I've been trying to do better with it recently, too.

My strength is probably writing characters. I enjoy writing characters the most and like watching them come to life like real people. I want to think I understand people on a pretty deep level, so it's not hard for me to create realistic characters. I enjoy psychology, immensely, and also enjoy knowing the reasons behind why people are the way they are, so I apply that to my characters, too.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

My writing has good flow. Dialogue is good, and characters are easily differentiated from each other.

I'm not great at describing things like scenery. Sometimes ideas don't connect that well between chapters. Sometimes I can introduce too many things to keep track of.

 

[SeaJay]

I can do world-building, emotional depth, and distinct character voices fairly well. I think describing scenery and infusing them with emotion is my greatest strength.
I tend to only write in one particular style, so that lack of flexibility limits my general writing ability. I also find it hard to edit and change the structure mid-draft or accept other's suggestions. My pacing also needs some work - sometimes I stay too long in one scene.

 

[MasterY001]

Aside from the technical stuff (grammar, spelling, etc.), my main strengths are detail, dialogue, and humor. I'm also good at world building in a way that feels more grounded in reality. This means I try to make every character and location unique since I don't leave a lot of room for speculation.

I originally thought pacing was my weakness, but it's actually perfectionism. I like my chapters to be very long which makes editing very long as well. I thought my pacing was slow, but it's actually because I'm too preoccupied with fine details to churn out new material. The long chapters are another weakness since that seems to turn off a lot of people.

If anyone has tips to get over that, please let me know. It's worse than writer's block.

 

[whatswrongwithme22]

Strength: I think I'm consistent, I write almost everyday.
Weakness: Jesus Christ I can't stick to one story, I would have finished several peice by now if not for that trait of mine.

 

[12Silver]

You can tackle this question however you like—maybe 3 things you like about your own writing and 3 things you don’t, or what’s easiest for you to write versus what’s the most difficult, etc etc. Maybe you love world-building but struggle with pacing, or you think your dialogue is really strong but your action sequences could use some work. Whatever comes to mind.

Don’t just focus on the negatives! Hype yourself up too!
To answer my own question:

My Public Enemy Number One has always been pacing. I am… maybe the worst at it I’ve ever seen LOL. It takes me ages to get to the point, both from an overarching narrative perspective and on a scene-to-scene basis. I just get lost, man. I LOVE a bit of navel-gazing ?

I think my greatest strength is… prooobably characterization, although I’m not always happy with how I translate a character from my head to the page.

My weakness is grammar and failed to remember the spellings for strength it would be I have lots of idea if not for my weakness I would have finish multiple novels by now and might even start writing original

 

[GreenLemonShark]

My greatest strength is writing detailed environments, I love immersing readers in a scene through visuals, atmosphere, and mood. I tend to lean into that "show dont tell" approach, so the world kind of speaks for itself.

My greatest weakness is definitely dialogue. I often use the environment as a way to avoid having characters over-explain things, but sometimes that means I miss out on deeper character interaction or emotional subtext through conversation. ?

 

[K_Jira]

strength: coming up with ideas
weakness: commitment issue with those ideas

 

[Frowfy]

My weakest is interaction. I can't understand how people write them so easily. It's not that my dialogues are bad, some people compliment me sometimes in this point, but I find they very hard to do.

My strongest point is writing emotions deeply. Most of my readers say that's what captivates them in my stories.

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

Whew, well let me see! So the things I get criticized for the most tends to be pacing. Myself, I feel I struggle most with slice of life and small talk. Its a genre I actually like, and enjoy, but I find it so much harder to write because its hard to think of how characters interact when I dont have anything important for them to say. Transitions are also very difficult; starting and ending scenes. Often I'll find I finished everything I wanted to do with a scene and dont know how to end it so it kinda just tapers off. I also struggle greatly with romance and religion, and writing really trashy gross characters though thats something I've actively been working on.

Now as far as things I'm good at. I am very evocative with my action scenes, which I think comes from my roleplaying experience. I also am damn good at writing big dramatic scenes between characters. Writing truly horrific stuff, too; I always feel unsure a bout it then when I re-read it I'm like oh god its so horrific how did I even write that? I used to be terrible at dialogue but I got a lot better at it. Pretty good at dramatic one-liners, too.

 

[velvetvertigo]

Strengths: I think I am quite good at visualizing the scenes that I then describe in words. My imagination is purely visual and sensory, so this helps me a lot.

Weaknesses: two for sure.

The first is “native.” English is not my first language, and as a non-mother tongue speaker I'm afraid I often sound repetitive, or mix British and American English, since the differences are not always obvious to someone like me who has not lived in either country and absorbs English through reading or forums like this one.

The second weakness is my memory, so I may struggle to remember where a character is at a given moment, what they are wearing at that precise moment, etc. So not the main details that characterize them (eye color, hair color, personality, etc.), but the situational ones.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

My greatest strength is definitely my action scenes. People have told me they're so well described, it's like reading a comic without pictures.

My biggest weakness is probably exposition. I do my best to weave it naturally into the story itself, but I usually end up just taking a paragraph or two to info dump on the reader anyway.

 

[Little-Moon]

My biggest strenght is most likely Worldbuilding and Plot. (So I have been told)

My biggest weakness is pacing and my mortal enemy grammar.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

My greatest strength is procrastinating.
My biggest weakness is writing.

I suck at this. ??

 

[laccoff_mawning]

strength: I'm focused enough to work on the same project for multiple years.

Weakness: I'm so slow it's as if I've only been working on it for a few weeks.

 

[Deleted member 166465]

This reminds me of a few jokes:
A guy is in a job interview and he is answering questions.
-What would you say is your greater defect?
-I am too truthfull.
-Well, I dont think that is a defect.
-Well to tell the truth. I dont give a F what you think.

Another joke, another job interview:
-What would you say is your greates strength?
-I fall in love easily.
-I see and your weakness?
-Those beautifull eyes of you.

Now my weaknesess as a writer:
1) I am not funny.
2) I am cold and too serius, they say my stories lack "emotion".
3) I push too hard, wich can be tiring for the reader.
4) My description is a mess, I say to much or become minimalistic.
5) I lose track of what I was doing.
6: this reminds me of a joke...