Other Are you a conversational, scenery or feelings writer?

[Northless]

Based on that one post in Tumblr that said that a writer is either very good at descriptions, very good at conveying what their characters are feeling, or very good at making dialogue seem real.

I find it a hundred times easier to write dialogue than descriptions, and was curious of what you people think.

 

[Idea]

Honestly...I don't know. My immediate reaction to that statement is "that seems quite reductive of the possibilities of writing and entirely impossible to assert", but playing along with it I would say I probably lean more towards the descriptions with a heavy dose of feelings as well. It's hard to really say what I am or not "good" at, though. The reason why I think I fall into that is because I am a heavily detailed writer who is very attentive to the various details of what is happening, both in the scene (worldbuilding, character actions, reactions and body language, blocking etc...) and structuraly (foreshadowing, establishing x or Y...). I convey what's happening and weave a lot more into each sentence and each paragraph than what is written, without needing to neglet actually conveying the more basic information.

It is also for a similar reason that I feel I am also closer to the feelings department, as I always write deeply embbed into the character's perspective and use literary tricks to try to convey their emotional state and state of mind, such as employing repetition, specific vocabulary and even coding to that effect. However, I would say I am more on the description end just because of one word: "conveying". Sure, my writing may have all that meaning and craft to it (just saying that makes me sound so arrogant...ugh...), but in the end of the day it's a coin toss on whether I can convey much of it.

As for realistic dialogue...I can't even do that without trying to pretend to be someone else...

 

[Jannah]

I'm best at conveying what my characters are feeling. Descriptions of scenery and such is probably my weakest skill of the three listed.

 

[Tove]

That Tumblr post sounds like crap actually. You don't see authors putting themselves in categories. They describe everything at least some of them do. You don't have to go into extreme detail to describe something. You either know how to do all of that or you don't, I do all of those things. That's what writing is about whether it is writing for a book, a roleplay, fun or whatever.

 

[Northless]

Yes, I know it sounds shallow and we need to do all of them, just wanted to see if some people would find one easier than the other, or favoures one over the other

 

[Melpomene]

That's a little weird... I don't think many authors actually specialize in one of those three, as usually writing requires you to be able to do them all well. However, I suppose if I had to choose, I have always been told I was good at conveying the feelings of a scene, so I will go with that one.

 

[Abendrot]

Based on that one post in Tumblr that said that a writer is either very good at descriptions, very good at conveying what their characters are feeling, or very good at making dialogue seem real.

These things don't have to be mutually exclusive, though?

 

[Onmyoji]

Well yeah, to be a good writer you kinda need to be good al all three.

What is easier though, is another story.

I find it easier to get in the mind of the character and describe what they think or feel. I like to think about the meaning of their actions and make everything work to portray the character.
Writing dialogues is alright. I usually know what characters want to say and of I feel like the dialogue gets too convoluted I weed out unnecessary details when editing the text.
And I find the descriptions of scenery and other surroundings the hardest to write because they need to be there for a reason other than bumping word count. And I can't always find that reason so usually it's the part I end up editing the most with adding or removing details to make everything work.

 

[Life.]

As previous users have said, a great writer should be well versed with all of the listed qualities, so as I say this I would probably say that I'm still a developing writer.

Whenever I write a draft for anything or any post, I can see that description of what characters feel as my stronger point of the three. Now for description of a setting, no. Even with novels, I have a difficult time picturing the scene. Dialogue for me isn't too difficult at times, but to write it realistically is a different story. Depending on the personality of the character the way the dialogue should be written out should be different. Like for an awkward character, in reality there would be a lot of uhms and pauses in their conversations, but in writing I tend to have them speak in short and "perfect" (in comparison to real life) sentences.
So there are a lot of things to consider when you write for any of the three.

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Feelings, conversation, then scenery, in that order. Though sometimes conversation and feelings are interchangeable, describing scenery is probably my worst of the three.

 

[Rinzler]

Out of all of these... I would say that for dialogue or realistic conversation I find myself having to "work" on that department most.

Diving into a character's emotional experiences and the scenery of the world they've found themselves in - that comes easiest to me. I thrive off of falling in love with characters just as much as I do their surroundings. I find the more I put into my characters and their world the more I get out of it.

In addition to that, like what a lot of other people were mentioning above, all of those traits are pretty much a requirement for very "talented" writers; I would say everyone always has room for improvement though.

 

[Shuusuke]

Yeah yeah, it's probably a shallow and oversimplistic way of seeing things, but so what? Let's just bite and take that as a fact for the sake of thinking about it.

I'm more of a to-the-point writer and am averse to flowery writing, and too often I feel like being descriptive is synonym to that. "His hair is black and straight" is much more my style than "He had hair as dark as the night sky, which flowed down like a curtain". I picked a physical description as an example because I knew it'd be the most mentally painful for me to write, but saying more than what I think needs to be said, and using stuff like comparisons and whatnot is not for me in the majority of situations in-RP. So, descriptions are the hardest of the three for me.

Speaking of to-the-point, dialogue is usually very direct. I don't mind writing it. Unless you're playing a flowery character, chances are you're not being flowery in dialogue. I only play OCs on fandoms I feel confident in RPing in, so I have a solid grasp of my character's personality and of what would make sense for the genre. But I always feel a little doubt that I did my characters justice with dialogue, which is why I'm putting this as the second most difficult one.

For conveying what my characters are feeling, I like doing that. Not sure if I do that well, but that alone is a step above descriptions for me. I guess it ties to the genres I like to RP in, which have some darker tones to it, making what characters are feeling an important aspect. This comes much more naturally to me, perhaps because I'm rather introspective myself, and especially since you can convey that mixed in with the narration, as if your character's perception is "tainting" what's being written, which makes it much less likely to feel exaggerated.

So to order them based on difficulty for me: Descriptions >>>>> Dialogue > Feelings.

 

[Laifan]

Feelings definitely. I like to describe the scenery but also leave things open for my partner to be able to imagine it the way they want and add their own description. So I'm bigger in character introspections. Of course dialog is also important because my partner can't counteract if my character is only thinking to themselves. Buuut definitely Feelings > Descriptions > Dialogue

 

[peritwinkle]

What is it called when you love describing food? Because that’s one of my favourites besides feelings. Gimme a good ol’ feast and I’ll go nuts.

(Get it? ‘Cause they’re food?)

 

[rae2nerdy]

I think for me I'm best at describing settings. I take a lot of time and effort to really paint a picture of the surroundings for my characters. This is usually because the setting is a highlight of the story and something that is made up in part by myself and my partner. So my stories tend to be more about pushing the setting into the forefront than the characters or their interactions.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

Should you really be just one of three? Not only three is limiting, but there's also a place and time for every named way of writing, and when circumstances call for it, you can and probably will automatically write good descriptions, dialogues, sensations, etc.

 

[QuirkyAngel]

I can write all three if asked to, though, if given a choice, I think I prefer focus on my character's feelings. Descriptions don't come naturally, as I don't tend to focus on things like my character's clothes or looks. I might mention one or two noticeable details, but that's it. My scenes tend to be dialogue and action driven rather than imagery inducing.

 

[scorpiodragon]

I am detail oriented, it’s how I was taught to write and what I am most comfortable with. I’m best at describing/writing scenery and what is going on around my characters. I try to detail their thoughts and feelings towards not only themselves but also towards other characters as it pertains to that scene and what has gone on so far. Dialogue is possibly my weak point and really it’s quality depends on my mood at the moment.

 

[loveablelorrie]

interesting i think emotions for me

 

[Infinitee]

I think that context and subjectivity is important here.

For the most part, I find it useful to set an intention for what outcome I want my writing to have.

For example, in the beginning of a role-play, detailed descriptions are truly important. The scene must be set. In this way, I ask myself "What do I want to describe? A character (physical appearance or personality)? A relationship or previous history? Or the world in which the story is set?"

Although, I do agree with everyone who's said that a good writer is able to use all three under the right circumstance or condition.

 

[obieblu]

I think I'm much better at writing conversation on the fly. I think I'm pretty good at writing descriptions if I have time like preparing a scene ahead of play time. I get caught up in not making someone wait too long when I need to suddenly write a description of a person or place.

 

[starstucker]

𝐢'𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬; 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞.

 

[CrowOuttaHell]

I think that all three apply in general when in an RP or with writing a story. Conversations certainly brighten up the scene and gives you an opportunity to show off how your character normally interacts in a casual setting. (Or any setting. Nothing's stopping you from making a scene where characters have a casual conversation in the middle of a battlefield.) Scenery is important when you're building a setting, and feelings can be a good way of taking a look into how your character feels about the situation.

For me, I usually go at it in order in a post- conversations (usually with an NPC of sort), scenery, then feelings. But out of all three, conversations are what I like to explore often.

 

[Rabid_Rabbit]

Oh god is scenery for me. So hard.

Like I'll take great pains to make a mediaeval marketplace read so real down to the details of the chickens squawking and an old man haggling for spices, and then a character waltzes in and drops a "dude" or something.

 

[elextrified]

i was just talking about this with someone the other day!
feelings > scenery > dialogue for me