question for the studio audience

[eimarra]

Or at least for those of you who have read some of my writing.

I've put a lot of effort into improving areas I'm weak in, such as showing character motivations. Yes, I still have a long way to go there, but I'm working on it.

What I'm curious about today, though, is what do I do well? If you had to say, "This is your strength as a writer," what would it be? (And procrastination doesn't count as an answer here.)

Comments

[ericreynolds.livejournal.com]

Good:

Character development, scenes, and giving the reader a good sense of place. Tension. Dialogue.

As in in "By the Pool of the Blue Lotus" and "Winterset."

[eimarra]

Thank you!

I really wanted to have something to sub to you for Destination Future, but it didn't happen. I'll be watching for your next submission call!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm going to go with characterization. In the crit I recently completed for you, my biggest <3s were the MC's mother and aunt. Those two wanted to steal the show but you didn't let them. Every character was an individual. Once I was able to focus (and not read/crit only a chapter a week!) I found them very easy to keep track of, even though there were quite a few.
Valerie

[eimarra]

Aw, thanks, Val. Maria Elena and Ruth are something else, aren't they? *grin*

I'm glad you found it easy to keep track of who everyone was.

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

I'm not having any trouble keeping track of people either.

[eimarra]

Oh, good! I actually did cut two minor characters who had no purpose other than to be characters who might recur later.

[(Anonymous)]

Two things about your writing make me go "Oooh! Can I read that?" The main one is your wildly creative ideas. The other is the quality of the prose when you're letting it flow -- wit and elegance and often really fine imagery.

I love many of your characters, too, especially the idiosyncratic ones like Crackle and the dying vampire.

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

That was me. I got logged out somehow.

[eimarra]

I'm blushing over here, especially with that "quality of the prose" comment. Thank you.

[david-bridger.livejournal.com]

I'd say your two equal-best strengths are characterisation and atmosphere (and by atmosphere, I mean an effective combination of mood and tone).

[eimarra]

Thank you, my friend. I appreciate it!