My friend Annika tagged me for this meme, the goal of which is to list five of my strengths as a writer. Some of my answers could just as much be considered weaknesses, I think. Here goes! Five Writing Strengths
1. Character love. When I create a protagonist, I spend a lot of time getting to know her/him and trying to see the world the way they see it. I'll go through phases where I spend more hours in my protag's head than I do in my own. I sometimes even dream in their POV. My hope is that all this time and love I put into my characters makes readers end up caring for them as much as I do. (But is that even possible?!)
2. Commitment. I used to work full-time in an office. I used to make more than twice as much money as I make now. But three years ago I decided to see if I could really do this writing thing, so I switched to working 20 hours a week instead. I'm not making any money from my writing - yet - but I work on it between 20 and 40 hours every week. I haven't given up!
3. Voice. I think the compliment I get most on my writing is usually on voice. I don't understand how it works or where it comes from, but I seem to have it. Or so people tell me.
4. Dialogue. The thing I get compliments on secondly is probably my dialogue. Again, I don't know where this stuff comes from. But I so enjoy writing it. I'm always working out dialogue in my head while I'm driving or riding the bus.
5. Research. It's been pointed out to me that I sometimes take my research a little further than other writers might. When I was writing a scene where Seth was pushed into a pool while he was fully dressed, I dressed in clothes like he would have worn and had someone push me into a pool (making sure they did it while I was distracted so I didn't know for sure when it was coming). I could have guessed what it felt like, but I didn't want to; I wanted to feel exactly what Seth would have felt. I don't do this with everything, but whenever I can, I do try to do things my characters experience in the scenes so that I know for a fact that I've written something real.
And now for the tagging. As always, no pressure. If you don't want to do this, please feel free to skip it. But, I figure everyone reading this is a writer, so many of you might enjoy it!
cocoskeeper, fabulousfrock, jengt, mandywriter, ravelda, rosefiend