Thing is, we all have some sort of kryptonite in our life. Something that never fails to bring us to our knees. I'm not going to turn this into a personal life type post but think about it. We all have issues in our writing that brings it to its proverbial knees. Meaning, we can always improve our writing.
For example, for a long time "that" or "just" showed up in my writing all the time. It weakened the writing, kept it from being a good as it could be.
Others among us might have issues with dialogue tags. Replied, questioned, hissed, sneered, cackled, cried, and so many others. Usually a simple "said" will do.
And what about adverbs. Have you ever read something like these, "yelled loudly" "whispered quietly" or "ran quickly"? Those adverbs weaken our writing. Not only are they redundant, they tell us instead of showing us.
Another weakening issue is generic terms. Chair, car, house. Instead, why not use words that show us a specific item, for example, a rocker, convertable or victorian.
Sure, these things are fine for a first draft. Remember, the first draft is to get the story written, to get it on paper (or screen) so we have something to revise.
So, what's your writing kryptonite?
