"WORDS ARE, IN MY NOT-SO-HUMBLE OPINION, OUR MOST INEXHAUSTIBLE SOURCE OF MAGIC. CAPABLE OF BOTH INFLICTING INJURY, AND REMEDYING IT." ~ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

RTW: Writing Superpowers . . . and Kryptonite

I'm a long time lurker for YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesdays--and I've been telling myself that one of these days I'll jump in. So . . .

*jumps*

For those who don't know, Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

Today's topic: What are your writing and publishing superpowers (drafting? beta-reading? writing queries? plotting? character creation? etc.) -- and what's your kryptonite?

I had no trouble pinpointing my areas of kryptonite! But when it came to my writing superpowers? Totally different story. Because I still see a lot of room for improvement with every strength I have. So I got kind of stuck. (You'll soon see that this is not quite uncommon, ha!) THANKFULLY, I have my CP Cristin on speed dial. Or, wait . . . Is speed dial even a thing anymore? She's in my favorites, which, you know, is probably a cooler way of saying it. Anyway, she came to my rescue and suggested some things I could use.

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My superpower? Teen voice! I'm proud of this because, considering I write for teens, it's a pretty important power to have. Maybe because I was a teacher for a while, and a youth leader--or maybe because I'm still not entirely sure what my "adult" voice is--but teen voices come very easily to me while I write.

Cristin also recommended pacing, but I'm just going to talk right over that one, because some days I really can't tell . . .


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And my kryptonite? Oh mans. I'd have to say it's world building. Which, for a fantasy/paranormal writer, is unfortunate. I'm working on it, though! I didn't realize quite how big of a weakness it was until recently. But, honestly, that discovery was priceless.

Here's the thing: I have no problem coming up with fun and different concepts for my WIPs. Like my current story, oh how I love it. I have these awesome (imo!) characters with these . . . unique aspects and with these . . . unusual, um, abilities. (Heh. Could I be anymore vague? <--Chandler Bing voice.) This story's been in my head for a looooong time. And when I finally started writing, it flew out of me. In the beginning, anyway. But I got stuck over the summer. Super stuck. Not able to write at all stuck.

Then in September, I went on a writing retreat and after lots and lots and lots of discussion (seriously, thank goodness for CPs and writing friends with brains to pick) I discovered my problem was my world building. I wasn't able to continue writing--even though the story was outlined (the high points anyway)--because while I have these super special characters, I wasn't keeping what makes them so special prevalent throughout the story. The way their uniqueness impacted the way they functioned in our world wasn't fully enough developed.

*ENTER TONS OF BRAINSTORMING*

*And--dramatic sigh--a complete restart to the project*

Which, yeah . . . Holy a lot of work, Batman. (Or, I guess Superman, considering today's topic!) But it was so, so, so worth it.  Because you know what? I'm completely back on track. And maybe--after all this work--world building will grow from my kryptonite into another superpower.

What about you? What are YOUR writing superpowers and kryptonite? And don’t forget to visit YA Highway to see how the other Road Trippers answered today’s question!


WAIT! Don't go yet!! 

ATTENTION!!! 

Have you stopped by Jessica Love's blog today? No? WELL YOU SHOULD. She has some HUGE NEWS!!! 

23 comments:

  1. Another option would have been:

    Superpower: ability to gulp White Russians like it's no one's business, and without getting all mean drunk.

    Kryptonite: Astrally projected curses that close every single place of business you need to patronize.

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  2. Oh, the brainstorming... that might be MY kryptonite!

    I love that you chose teen voice as your superpower! I think that's actually one of my strengths too, which is a good think because I imagine it'd be a very hard thing to really "work on." Lovely post, Sara!

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  3. I'm glad you found out about your world-building weakness. Later better than never. Now you can work on it =)
    As for superpowers, yours are awesome!

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  4. World building is tough...esp doing it w/o the reader noticing too much.

    I'd say your greatest superpower is working that hard to figure out the cause of your kryptonite problem.

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  5. World building is definitely kryptonite for me as well. No matter how much I brainstorm, it seems like I always leave important things out, and I have to go back and edit. I guess this is why my last projects have been contemporary YA! :p

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  6. Teen voice is hard to master for some, so YAY! :) For others it comes naturally, you know, since some of us never grew up.

    And how awesome to have your CP on speed dial!

    (I'm doubtful your world-building is that bad, fyi. Hehe.)

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  7. I've taught creative writing classes in the past, but I've never used the term "world-building." I love it. (Clearly, it's a well-known term that I failed to pick up.) Love the way you describe it.

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  8. Good morning, Supergirl! :)
    I think my strength is my voice as well.
    My kryptonite might just be time (or lack of)!

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  9. I'm repeatedly told by Lola that my strength is verb choices. So I guess I'll go with that. I also use the f-bomb a lot, though I doubt that's a strength...

    As for my kryptonite, where do I begin? I have a rdiculous fondness for "artsy" fragments. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Also, bom-chicka-wa-wa scenes. Oh, and I feel like all my dude characters are the same snarky jackasses, but maybe that's just my perception, I don't know...

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  10. Once I had a professor tell an entire class that I had "pretty" writing--and then he said my pretty writing covered up and hid the fact that my story was basically one big mistake. I don't know if that counts as a super power or a kryptonite. Probably both. :-P

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  11. Hah - I love that you figured out your weakness...that alone is a big win. World-building is the hard! But, so is authentic teen voice and it sounds like you got that nailed. Congrats!

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  12. YAY! SO glad you road-tripped this week!

    And I totally agree with Cristin on your super power. I can see you with a knack for teen voice!

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  13. I've never been good at world-building, either--that's one of the reasons I write realistic contemporaries. :) But having a great teen voice--that's SO important!

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  14. Brainstorming is both my superpower AND my kryptonite. It's good, but I take it a little too far. Awesome that you've got the teen voice down. That's really important (imo) and I even find myself put off by books that miss that mark. Great post!

    P.S. Love the Chandler bing voice :)

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  15. Dare I say that authentic teen voice is the most important superpower to have in YA? Kudos to you!

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  16. Ar least you are fully aware of your strengths and weaknesses--that's a huge part of the battle, right there! :)

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  17. teen voice is a great superpower to have, because voice is really hard to teach. if you've got it naturally, you really are a superhero.

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  18. I love the teen voice one. The last book I read was really good at that, and it makes the story so much more authentic.

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  19. Your superpower sounds like a pretty good one to have!

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  20. It's great that teen voice is one of your superpowers! I've read so many YA books with "teen voices" that just make me roll my eyes, because I'm a teenager and we don't talk like that.

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  21. My superpower is setting, which means my kryptonite is probably telling! My crit buddies are always calling me out on that.

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  22. Thank you so much for the love! xoxo

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  23. Your line using Chandler´s voice was priceless. I could hear it (ok maybe cos I am a big Friends fan but still...hilarious)
    Great post! Knowing about your kryptonite is already going half way to making them superpowers!

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Yay! I love when you have things to add :)