Things You’ve Noticed In Your Writing

I usually start off with dialogue. It easier for me to get into the flow of a story when I start off with dialogue.

Audrey T.:

I usually start off with dialogue. It easier for me to get into the flow of a story when I start off with dialogue.

That's the same with me. I've read somewhere before that starting off a story or even a chapter off with dialogue isn't the best way to open but I've tried before to start it off with a small description of the town or the house that the character lives in but it just sounds boring to me and if I wouldn't want to read it then I know my readers wouldn't want to.

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One thing I've noticed in my writing is my use of repeating certain words like 'just' or 'as' or 'before'. It gets annoying to see it when I got back and reread some of my stories.

A lot of the time, I start out with either A: a description of what a character is doing, or B: A description of the setting.

I never start out with dialogue.

I have quite a couple characters without their mothers [who are dead]. Most times, they're girls, and if a guy doesn't have his mother anymore, its something he has in common with the girl.

I've confessed that to my mom and she says its because I don't love her or want her dead. D: I don't think that's the case; I just have a tough time highlighting mothers in stories unless they're dead. Though that fact has something to say about our relationship. >.>

Just thinking about it, I never write outcast characters. EVER. Been thinking about why that is and I can't come up with a real reason. I don't necessarily write characters that are perfect and popular, but they usually have at least a small group of close friends, or simply aren't interested in having steady friends. But I've never written a character that had no friends and maliciously picked on.

I ramble and use a lot of run on sentences. Generally the run on sentences are to convey the franctic/fast-pacedness of either the situation or the mindest of the character.

dru's dreamworld.:

I ramble and use a lot of run on sentences. Generally the run on sentences are to convey the franctic/fast-pacedness of either the situation or the mindest of the character.

This, when my characters are freaking out and stuff like you said.

I describe mouths and breathing a lot. Teeth and lips and tongues and piercings. Sighing. Shallow, harsh breaths. Panting and I don't even know.

I love to make my characters dermatophagiacs like me. It's a thing where you pick at and bite the cuticles of your fingers and sometimes toes. I've been like that since I was really young, and I can't stop. But I do it to my characters too.

I don't quite tag my dialogue with he said or variations of that. I tag them with descriptions of something the person does or looks. Less of, “You hung up on me,” is all Bill says. and more of, “I don’t want to tell you.” His voice is small and rather like a child grouchily arguing with a parent. and “When to reel.” Tom stares lukewarm at his twin brother, half-aware of Bill holding onto him tightly." I mean, it's obvious that the character is speaking. No need to always tag that they speak.

It wasn't intentional but lots of my stories have a main character that can draw really well. I think it's my subconscious telling me I want to be able to draw well.

Andreas Hudec.:

I don't quite tag my dialogue with he said or variations of that. I tag them with descriptions of something the person does or looks. Less of, “You hung up on me,” is all Bill says. and more of, “I don’t want to tell you.” His voice is small and rather like a child grouchily arguing with a parent. and “When to reel.” Tom stares lukewarm at his twin brother, half-aware of Bill holding onto him tightly." I mean, it's obvious that the character is speaking. No need to always tag that they speak.

I do that too. Or I try to find a word other than 'said'. Like instead I put 'laughed' or 'muttered', etc. It's become a pet peeve for me if I see too many 'said's. :/

I mean, are they all that...emotionless? I dunno. xD

I also tend to have sad endings. Not a 'no-one-can-live' ending. But just a 'someone-has-to-die-at-the-end-or-the-writer-explodes-because-she's-secretly-a-murder' ending.

And it has to be a significant person to the story. Like the one who wasn't supposed to die. And they do.

^ Well, I don't mean just the word said. I mean general dialogue tags: screamed, whispered, muttered, etc. I don't often tag the way the person says something, but moreso something that occurs while the person says it.

And I've realized I tend to pull a Hamlet thing. I kill off my characters a lot. Always, nearly, if it's a tragedy. For The Looking Glass is a prime example of it. It's just clean and done and leaves no room for people to go OMGGGG SEQUEL/CONTINE???

^
I love killing people.
I don't do it as much as I used to, though.

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I have a tendency to torture the same character over and over throughout my stories. Like, it's the same character with mental problems/demons/etc.

I don't know if this counts or is slightly off topic, but I always fall in love with the antagonist. And then hate the protagonist for not falling in love with them.
:P

Fragments! I use them so often its not even funny. My entire Microsoft Word page is underlined in green because of my fragments. It's crazy.

^ I hate Word for not realizing it's a LITERARY DEVICE. It's not a mistake.

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Almost all my characters have darker hair, like brown or black. I think it's because I secretly want my hair to be darker.

A lot of my main characters look similiar. Actually, a lot of my characters have similiar appearances. Mae and Emily look practically the same, Andrew looks like Cole only Cole's taller and not blond, and Ashley and Xander and Cameron are practically modelled off the same guy.

Boo my creativity.

I write a lot characters that sleep around and it doesn't affect their love for a particular person.

I write largely about guilt every single time I write something. Period. :3 It's usually one character's transition from innocence to corruption and the other having, or believing they have, a role in it.

loverfayce.:

^ I hate Word for not realizing it's a LITERARY DEVICE. It's not a mistake.

Exactly! It's so terrible. I always click the little 'ignore' button, but BOOP! magically it gets underlined in green once I start typing again.

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I've recently realized that when I write in third person, I get a feel for the characters so much better. But when I write in first person, I suck at character development.

dru's dreamworld.:

^
I love killing people.
I don't do it as much as I used to, though.

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I have a tendency to torture the same character over and over throughout my stories. Like, it's the same character with mental problems/demons/etc.

I haven't killed in awhile. My, that sounds odd. But I've been writing more...not fluffy, per se, but mellow endings.
I've been through the same character thing as well. All my first stories on here were David Marchand (Davey Havok) over and over and over for ages until I found another fandom. But he was always the same character no matter what I did to him, same issues.

Coward:

Exactly! It's so terrible. I always click the little 'ignore' button, but BOOP! magically it gets underlined in green once I start typing again.

THE DEATH OF ME!

I'll end a chapter or a story with a one-liner quite a bit.
Also, beginning sentences with 'and.'