Sunday, September 30, 2007

Leap of Faith

My heart was in my mouth at I watched Snowy's latest game. I waited for the glass shelf to come crashing down!
Over the weekend, yours that is and not mine, I was browsing blogs as I do and came across another interesting meme on Absolute Vanilla's blog and I thought at this current point in my own writing it would be good to do as an exercise. So here is a meme about writing strengths ( don't worry I'm not going to tag anyone):
"The instructions were as follows:
Make a list of five strengths that you possess as a writer/artist. It's not really bragging, it's an honest assessment (forced upon you by this darn meme). Please resist the urge to enumerate your weaknesses, or even mention them in contrast to each strong point you list. Tag four other writers or artists whom you'd like to see share their strengths."
So here goes:
Writing dialogue. I love it and it shows through in my writing.
Sexual tension. I love the build up to romance and I try to put as much as possible into the lead up to the 'kiss'.
Sense of location. Cornwall inspires me and I think I capture the landscape and the feel of it very well.
Capturing adolescence. Probably because of having two of them at home but also because I love just talking with teens, my teenage characters are spicy and true to life.
Happy endings. Some may think this is a down side but I have seen too many unhappy endings in my life to not want to give my characters a hopeful start on the life beyond the book.
So what are your writing strengths?
Posted by Picasa

16 comments:

Lane Mathias said...

Those are 'strong strengths' Liz.
A hard meme to write but a useful one. It's far easier to list our weaknesses:))
x
ps agree with you on the 'happy endings'.

Flowerpot said...

I agree with Lane, Liz. Great strengths and a lot of them are mine too! I will get thinking but couldnt agree more about happy endings. They are always dumbed down and really - who wants miserable ones? We're surrounded by those every day on the news.

Rachel Green said...

Good meme. I'm not sure I'm strong enough to do it myself, mind ;)

Caroline said...

Great strengths. You've certainly got me thinking, but it's a bit of a scary memememememe.
x

Jenny Beattie said...

Mmm, it's good to hear your strengths, Liz. I'm going to avoid doing this one myself though!
JJx

Unknown said...

Yes, Lane it would have been much easier to list my weaknesses which are many but it was good to force myself to look on the bright side :-)

Flowerpost it makes an interesting exercise and pleased you agree wtih |lane on the happy endings.

Come on Rachel you can do it :-)

Caroline its terrifying but you write so beautifully you need not worry......

Don't be a chicken JJ....you don't have to post it to the world. Do it for yourself.....come on I dare you :-)

Anonymous said...

Great list Liz. I love your strengths.

I'm a little different when it comes to endings. Not that I want or need "miserable" endings, but I greatly prefer what I call of course endings. Happy, sad, or indifferent, these are the endings that leave me feeling of course. Of course it all had to end this way. The World According to Garp is a perfect example of what I'm thinking.

Unknown said...

Rebecca, what a great way to describe endings :-)

Lisa said...

This is a great exercise. We seem to spend so much time putting our weaknesses under a microscope that we tend to lose sight of those things that we do well. I'm told that I have a distinctive voice and that people get a good sense for who my characters really are. I'm finding that I can write good description, but it's like learning to cook with a peculiar spice -- I haven't quite figured out what proportions to use it in for each recipe yet :)

Lisa said...

Oh, and Snowy!!! Be careful you crazy feline!

cs harris said...

This is hard! I beat myself up so much for my shortcomings. Good idea.

Unknown said...

c.s. sometime its good to take a different tack.... :-)

Alyssa Goodnight said...

Glad you didn't tag, because this would be a very difficult meme for me. I might try to do it on my own though--I've actually kinda wondered about this before.

These are great strenths though--you should be proud. And I say, Long live the happy ending!

Melissa Blue said...

Vanilla sounds like a Cherry. We have this thread on the Cherry Forums where you have to list the things you are good at. It's so easy to say what you suck at as a writer and to forget the great things, the things that make you keep writing. So go you for meeting the meme's challenge.

Anonymous said...

Re. happy endings.
It's oh-so trendy to be unhappy just now, and it's getting rather tiresome. I read books for fun; I do not want to be left feeling miserable.

That being said, I think Rebecca has a good attitude: better to have a sadder ending, than to force a happy one for the sake of it. These things do, after all, write themselves.

Unknown said...

Alyssa, give it a try...I did find it helpful.......

Thanks Mel :-)

Leigh, i with you on those ending and yes Rebecca is right with the of course......