Absolute Vanilla… (& Atyllah) tagged me the other day with the Writing Strengths Meme, so I figured I’d give that shot today. This one is difficult for me as I don’t view myself as a very good writer. I’ll do my best to not be too self-deprecating and write this one straight.
Humor
One of the things I’m certain I’m good at is making people laugh. I love laughing and I love making other people laugh. My humor has sometimes been called “dry” by people who know me. I’m the quiet one in the group that out of nowhere adds a little comment that has everyone cracking up. I think/hope this carries over to my writing. Before I read Terry Pratchett (and Douglas Adams as well) I wasn’t sure it was possible to write good fiction that make you laugh.
One of my top posts right now is a funny little short story I wrote a while back called Frank – A Halloween Short Story. I don’t know who is reading that because it’s not getting any comments, but that’s story is an example of my humor, I guess.
Ideas
I’m pretty good at coming up with interesting and unique ideas for stories. I’ve had stories about Elves and Scott Baio, a time machine bought on ebay, a man who grows a second head, and an alien invasion thwarted by a pet Ferret. You can see all these in the My Fiction section on this blog.
One of my most successful stories was my honorable mention at The Clarity of Night. It was about teenage werewolves on their way to a party. You can read that one here.
Pacing
I enter a lot of writing contests, and don’t really win any of them. However, I do get some nice feedback. I often hear my stories have good pacing. I’m not really sure what this means, but I have it.
Write What I Like To Read
I enjoy reading stories in which something interesting happens and the author gets to the interesting part right away. I don’t like combing through a lot of description (ala Lord of the Rings, though I did enjoy those books). I’d rather read some snappy dialog or hear what the characters are doing. I like to read simple stories that are well written. That’s what I hope I write.
Entertaining
Above all, I think my writing is entertaining. At the end of the day, I want someone to be happy they read what I wrote, that they didn’t feel like they wasted their time. I want their day to be brighter, a smile to be on their face. I want them to be entertained.