Writing Blog Number 2

20240812 Personal Foibles In Writing

Personal Foibles In Writing

This is something that a beta reader pointed out to me years ago, and it was brought home to me recently by a new beta reader that I still have not stopped this. Okay, what is this?
         It is little things that come across in my writing, things that I do in my writing that are everywhere. Not just in individual stories but across all works. And it might be something other writers could look at as well.

This will cover three aspects: language, character, story beats.

Now, some say this is a writer’s style. I mean, fans all know Stephen King has a problem with technology and machinery, likes childhood trauma affecting adulthood and uses a lot more parentheses than most other writers. His style.
         However, some things could become problematic. Trebor Martis’ habit of making all his villains, no matter the story, gay, bisexual, effeminate or the like springs to mind. Ernest Cline’s obsession with the 1980s, despite his work reading like he googled it and didn’t actually live it (I lived it; it is so obvious he was on the outside looking in at the time), informs his work thus far. It says more of the writer than should be there.
         So, I am going to point out some of my own foibles and writing quirks in the hope that it can make readers look at their own work and see what they do.


1) Language
So, I have two language issues and there are two more I have managed to overcome.
         I have a habit of my characters muttering or murmuring a lot. I fall back to one of those two words way too much, and it is something I need to look at.
         I also start too many sentences with “And…” It is my way of avoiding “Suddenly…” and “Then…” but I do overuse it, and I know it.
         In the past I used to use the ellipsis way too often. I found one story I wrote in the mid-1990s, and every single paragraph seemed to have at least one. I do still use them, but very sparingly. Not at the end of every paragraph.
         I also used to use the em-dash way too often. As a beginner writer, I was told that the use of parentheses in fiction should be kept to a minimum (this has subsequently been reinforced by many editors and publishers I have worked with, Stephen King notwithstanding), so I replaced them with the em-dash clause. I have found better ways to introduce these clauses and this exposition into my stories.
         On another note, I have been told I use too many adverbs. But I think these people only mean “-ly” adverbs, because adverbs are so much more ("20240513 Adverbs"  will explain what adverbs are). Anyway, I disagree, and so far, only one publisher has removed any.


2) Character
Before I begin, character foibles in writing are often born of the prejudices of the writer, and the life they have lived and experienced.
         So, I have 2 character foibles, and one more I think I’ve overcome.
         My first is that all my characters tend to be university educated, or highly educated if still school students. I have tried breaking myself of this habit, but I struggle to write people like that because the people I grew up with are all university graduates; my ex-wife is one, my kids are either at or aiming for university.
         My second is that my female characters have long hair. I find longer hair very attractive, and it is something I am struggling to overcome. I have deliberately written some MC females with shorter hair, but still fall back on my long-haired preference.
         The one I have managed to pull away from (I think) is having every single character go to the gym. I do still use it at times, but only where it becomes important for the story now. Otherwise, every long story had a gym junkie somewhere.
         Now, here’s two things that I have been accused of in characterization that I don’t think are issues. First is smoking. I rarely have my characters be smokers. I have only smoked marijuana, so the idea of an addiction like that is something I simply struggle to write realistically. Second is a lack of people of African descent in my stories. I use Indigenous Australians and people from Asia, but none from Africa. I don’t think USians realize that, until this century, we rarely saw people from Africa here. We never had an African slave trade, and Australia was not seen as a place for them to emigrate to, so – with the exception of US athletes who came here to play basketball – I never saw people with African heritage except on TV. It is not racist – it is just that people from that continent tended not to be here. Ditto for people of Jewish faith. I have never met a Jew IRL. Like, ever.


3) Story Beats
This is a tough call because, especially for those of us versed in Campbell’s Hero’s Journey arc, every story follows the same beats. However, there tends to be something that happens in my stories that I need to get rid of, and something I have managed to stop doing.
         My main thing, and one I am really pushing to work on, is that not all the good guys survive. There is good guy, often MC, death and it does tend to bring the tone down. So, for example, in the first draft of Invasive Species, the female who kills the monster died in the attempt. Before it reached the beta reader, I had her survive, and also gave her short hair. Yes, this was a deliberate subvert the expectations of myself. But in Patch Of Green, Sins Of The Fathers, and Relick (3 of my 5 published novels), a good guy dies. Sometimes more than one. The only reason it doesn’t happen in Under Ground is that that is YA, and the deaths would not have suited the story.
         The one I have managed to stop doing is having the love interest have a break-up (except where it is needed to get them apart). In a romance, it is different, but there is no need for the couple to break up in the middle of a horror story. Sure, they can argue, but mine always had a break-up, resulting in them having to get back together.


And those are my personal writing foibles. I could not just list common ones because these are personal to each and every writer. And, yes, every writer has them. Maybe not something in all three categories, but there is something there.
         One other I have seen mentioned is “setting” but I think this is not a foible. Stephen King is a great example here – his fictional Derry, Maine setting. On a lesser level, my own work tends to be set in South Australia. Why is this not a foible? Because it sets up a writer’s personal universe. You can reference other works in more recent ones, and ties the books together. And, more importantly (and this is my case) – the writer clearly knows the area. I have lived my entire life in South Australia; I know the place and people, and so in a work of fiction it comes across as more realistic. Setting is not a foible, but a choice.
         I must also point out that foibles are not mistakes. They are things that occur in writing that can almost be said, as I mentioned, to be style. However, they can be reduced to cliché in a writer’s work, or can even become a source of mocking or not taking a writer seriously, which is why I bring them up.
         So, those are my own personal foibles. Can you recognize any in your own writing?