Things You’ve Noticed In Your Writing

I use colons way too much. I've been trying to fix it, but my attempts are failing miserably.

Aside from recycling characters (which I'm aware I do a lot ), I also tend to gravitate towards the same list of character names for minor characters, the occasional OFC in a oneshot, and characters that other characters just reference.

For example, one name that tends to be one I go to for character references is "Allie." If there's a sister referenced in a story, her name tends to be either Olivia or Chloe for some reason. I've never had actual, full-fledged characters with any of these names, but the names are referenced a lot.

Huge sentences with lots of clauses and commas.
Way more description than dialogue.
Adjectives everywhere.

I have a (parenthesis problem), I think I italicize too much, always lots of commas -- and let's not forget the tense issues.

As for my characters, they're all sarcastic assholes (who would've thought ).

Most all of my stories deal with drug abuse and depressed boys, and whenever I try to write a non-slash story it all goes HORRIBLY wrong, so I never finish it. I also used to kill off people, especially when the stories are very heavy affiliated with the drug scene. And what really doesn't go with any of that is that fact that all my stories are definitely romance, but I LOATHE writing fluff.

Omg, and the most annoying thing I do is have one of my characters REALLY into Psychology/Sociology, even if I don't make it known to the reader.

Also, I used to tag every single piece of dialogue and I almost always avoid the word 'said'. And I think the biggest thing I've noticed is that recently I have to have multiple characters, underlying plots, and like a lot of other writers, I'm pretty sure I over use commas, semicolons, and dashes because I love long sentences.

I seriously just realized, in I Can't Hang, that Brady is a baby boomer, and James was born on the cusp of World War II. Also, there are so many loopholes in that story. Like...their parents are probably in Heaven, Brady and James', I mean. So why wouldn't they make an effort to reach their sons? o_o [/failure]

My main characters always sigh way too much.
Personally, I don't think I've actually sighed in months.

Also I used the more exclaimed too much. I need more speaking words, like there are hundreds of them out therebut exclaimed is always my go to for some reason. I should keep a list of speaking words by my side.

I've noticed recently that I don't usually describe my characters looks. I guess their appearances aren't important enough to mention. However, I do mention a few things about other characters looks, maybe their hair color or length of their hair, but that's about it. I guess I just like letting the reader imagine what they look like.

I've also noticed that I'd rather write description than dialogue. My newer stories seem to have less dialogue and more description in them. Is that because I like reading description more? I don't know, but it's something I've noticed about my stories.

Someone has already said it, but I have a terrible tendency to reuse names. I guess it's because I want to keep the name somewhat accurate and avoid "trendy" names (there are also a ton of names I dislike, so it's hard for me to name my characters). I just typed up a list of all the names I've ever used in a story/one shot/etc. so I can consult it before I name new characters. Hopefully this helps.

I like to reuse names and I also apparently have some weird writing kink for green eyes because I have at least 4 stories with the words "green eyes" in it. Two of the stories aren't posted, but still.

For me, I tend to use "smile" or some version of it as well as "sigh" a lot. XD

I also notice that I don't describe the scene as well as I should. It's usually only a few sentences at most to describe things.

I use "think", "know" and "remember" way too much.

I put way too much background into certain characters that just doesn't get expressed within the story they're in.

Recently I've been writing a lot about murder/torture/sex, and other really sensitive topics.

But I've also noticed that it's hard for me to do, because of involuntary shame or guilt that follows once I think about relating these fictitious things to real life, or as something that might change a person's opinion of my interests.

I've also noticed that my chapter stories seem to take on a certain style of writing and hold continuity, including the general length of paragraphs, if it typically utilized dialogue in a big way, or if it relies on lengthy descriptions and details. My plot and characters change to fit the dynamics of the story as it advances, but the style of writing generally stays the same.

I can't write romance. I just can't; it feels awkward and forced and it just doesn't work whatsoever. So, any story that I've tried making it into a romance story, it ends up being just friendships, acquaintances, or enemies; that's it.

I've just realized how weird it is that Plaster Caster and Put'emup, Put'emup have only released music videos for singles after their albums have dropped. I...I don't know why I made them do that. I've never known a band that releases an album with no singles announced beforehand, and then makes a music video for a song. It's...it's so weird, now that I realize it. o_o I don't think Put'emup, Put'emup did that with their first EP, though; I think they released "Somebody's Everything" as a single/music video before releasing the whole EP, but for "Cooler Than Cool," (their most recent album as of Generation Why Bother), they just...didn't have any music videos before the album dropped. Why didn't I notice that before? o_o

I have my own personal archetypes.

I love the idea of a weak, ethereal, injured being who is taken care of somebody incredibly egocentric, powerful, and cruel, and observing as the stronger one essentially kneels to somebody he could easily destroy. And then the balance of their inherent nature being so incomparable, but so necessary. It's beautiful. Maybe that's why Rumbelle is important to me.

I do a lot of narration haha (if that is how you use that term). I tend to start my sentences with the word "and". I also abuse my dear friends comma and semicolon. I feel terrible. I also tend to use the same background for my characters. I am trying to stay away from that. I also tend to leave out keywords in my sentences, even if I read over it a millions times. I tend to just add them in.

I have a really bad habit of coming up with what I think is an amazing idea for a story, putting off writing it, and mulling the idea around over and over in my head until I psych myself out from actually sitting down and writing it

I've been using the word "but" wayyy too often lately...