What aspect of writing have you grown most with as a writer?

[Kathleen]

What aspect of writing (characters, prose, theme, etc.) have you grown the most with as a writer?

For me the biggest part of writing that I’ve grown most in throughout the years, is learning how to not make a story contrived.

When I was younger I thought there had to be a set amount of events and plot points in my story for it to be a interesting and complete novel.

However, that lead to character decisions that didn’t make sense, forced conflict and antagonists that the story would have been better off without, and worst of all…*gasp* McGuffins.

But as I grew as a writer, I learned to differentiate between what is important for a story and what isn’t. This helped me learn how to not make my stories feel so forced to the point where anyone reading it could see my thought process as the author.

Instead of focusing on plot, I focused on characters. I focused on their desires, demons, passions, and fears and how the other characters’ desires, demons, passions and fears naturally clashed and harmonized with each other.

I focused on their life and their world, and how who they are and their good and bad decisions led them to where they are now and where they will go throughout the book.

So yeah, this ultimately made me grow so much in not only making my stories less contrived, but also in how I viewed and approached stories as a whole. And guess what? Turns out not focusing on plot actually makes your plot more interesting and impactful. So yeah, character driven stories makes everything better, haha.

But anyway, what about you? What aspect of writing, characters, prose, theme, etc. have you grown the most with as a writer?

[Linyang Zhang]

@kathleenramm I think for me it was probably plot and themes. I remember when I first started writing I didn’t really know what themes I wanted to write about, how to incorporate them, or if I even wanted a theme. Now I think that everything I write has multiple themes woven throughout, though I can’t quite tell what they are. (This is why I failed AP Lit, sheesh…)

I also think that the plots I’ve come up with are much better than the stereotypical YA adventure stories I had in mine when I was 12. Not quite sure how I got here, but hey, it’s somewhere.

Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days

[Elfwing]

@kathleenramm I have improved most in writing what I am wanting to portray.

What I mean is I actually complete the scenes for people to read. I sometimes forget readers are book readers, not mind readers! XD

I’ve definitely improved in fleshing charries out, or so people have told me.

I'm 'a homeschooler' because cookie-making writing artistic animal-whisperer isn't a job title

[Ben Dykes]

For me, definitely consistency. I used to struggle with writing consistently every day now I’m great at it!

[Author]

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