Have you ever done a squat? A correct one, with perfect form? It’s probably not terribly hard; not one, anyway. Now, try squatting with one leg. (Honestly, you probably shouldn’t. Please don’t fall down.) It’s a whole different story, isn’t it? When you isolate something, you’ll quickly find out how strong it is or isn’t. The same goes for your writing strengths. Sometimes you can camouflage your own weaknesses in your writing because all the different aspects are at play. Character, setting, narrative, plot – if you’re particularly strong in a few areas, their strength can overplay the weakness in another area. While that might sound like a good idea at first, I think most of us want to be better than “good enough.” We want to be good. Period.
So instead of masking our weakness, let’s face them head on and work to improve them through the magic of isolation. Take a section of your writing that you like. Maybe don’t start with your favorite scene, as this can sometimes be a disheartening exercise.
Decide going into this exercise that you’re going to be ruthless to yourself. This isn’t a time to baby yourself. This is a time for the hard truth.
First, separate the pieces of the scene. Break it down into the different elements of the novel. You can do this by literally copying and pasting the pieces into different documents. You can use highlighters. In the margins, jot down in a few words the intended purpose of the sentence/s and whether or not you feel it’s achieving its purpose.
Do this a couple of times, with a couple of different sections of writing. Then, rewrite those sections, focusing entirely on one aspect. Go hard on your descriptions. Make them so good, so strong, so evocative, that they could almost carry the scene on their own. Next, zero in on character. In that small section, flesh out every little aspect of your character so that they could almost carry the entire scene just with their gestures and internal dialogue.
Very quickly, you’ll start to see what comes naturally to you and what needs work. If you can’t find any shortcomings, I suggest you seek out the help of a fellow writer that you trust who can help you critique yourself. Alas, none of us are perfect; there are always shortcomings for us to work on.
Most importantly, don’t get discouraged! This isn’t a failing grade or a time to beat yourself up. You’re simply gathering information to help you keep improving as a writer and as a storyteller. This feedback can help you take yourself from good to great.
