Like JKR is really good at creating an atmosphere of whimsy, Patrick Rothfuss has a knack for writing about music and interspersing stories in a narrative (thats not even mentioning prose), GRRM is good at describing meals and fleshing out lineages/relationships. Some writers’ lean into the economics of their world, Sanderson develops a well defined (too much so) magic system. Etc, etc.

Leaning into these elements that you enjoy researching/writing about is a great way to flesh out a world. Makes it more real to the reader. Personally, I don’t really know where my own strengths lie but I was wondering where the writers of DLP fall.

 

I don’t know my strengths that well, but I guess my greatest skill is characterization? It’s what I enjoy best and characters are the reason I write stories.

Otherwise, I feel like I’m well-rounded. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I’ve been told I’m pretty good at fight scenes.

 

Really hard to self-describe. If I had to guess I'd say maybe fighting and characterization (from certain characters at least). Weakness would probably be a tendency to write bleak stories, even though that's gotten a bit better these days, and a love for long sentences, sometimes too many of them at once. Oh right, and pacing. That damn sucker. I've been told before that my writing can feel glacial or like wading through toxic, mud-like miasma. That was a pleasant review lol.

Honestly I'd really love if there was a kind of review app for FF.net where people don't necessarily rate/review the story but the author's writing style. Like grammar, fighting, characterization, plotting, scene-setting, etc. with five star ratings and so on, and with a way to view the aggregate of those numbers. But that's probably liable to abuse.

 

describing daphne's cleavage and fleur's butt.

 

And not the other way around, unfortunately.

 

Its all biased, but I like to think im good at plotting. Building a story that layers on itself. And dealing with politics and world building (and by that i mean NOT just trying to build a complicated world with tons of notes... which imo is bad world building.. but having a living/breathing world that can be small as well as big in scope).

I think my weakness is in characterization and making my characters feel human enough.

IMO a result of my formative writing background being in academic papers.

 

By my take on my own writing, my greatest strength is pacing. I seem to be (generally) pretty good at trimming unnecessary fat, and also pumping the brakes when some downtime is needed. I'm not free of fuckups in that regard, but it definitely feels like one of the high points of my own work.

I'm actually kinda curious if anyone's read my stuff and how their take compares.

 

My greatest strength is that sometimes I don't.