Rae's Writing Weakness

We all have one. And while I plan on having a future post dedicated to weaknesses in characters, I thought I'd use today to talk about my own weakness in the writing world: world-building.

Seriously. World-building is my kryptonite for writing. And settings. I'm more apt to focus on the characters, and what the characters are thinking and doing, instead of diving my time equally so that my reader has some sort of context and an idea of what the world looks like.

Describing their immediate surroundings? I'm average. I tend to be able to paint a few pictures here and there, but actually finding a way to narrate the history of their cities, for example, or provide some sort of background to their society is like pulling fingernails: not that it's painful (well, the fingernail thing is), but it's hard.

And I fully recognize that, for some, world-building is their favorite part. it's where they shine.

Unfortunately I wasn't built with that gene.

So I read a lot of articles. And books. I study how other authors do it. I ask questions, especially to my other writing friends who I deem as absolute perfection. What bugs me, today, is that a lot of people I know, non-writers included, don't want to ask for help when they don't understand something or want some advice. Yet I say that we won't get get anywhere if we aren't willing to be honest with not only ourselves, but with others.

I edit a lot. You've already read my post on taking time with my manuscript, and here's another plus side to having many drafts of the same book: draft one is about getting the plot down. Draft two might be about getting the characters right. Then, with draft three, I can focus entirely on what I know needs the most work: the world my characters live in.

Probably my biggest advice ever: don't be afraid of weaknesses; they only make you stronger.

Stay Crazy,

Rae

Thoughts or Questions? Let me know what you think!