Critique of my own writing...

After reading the comments and edits from everyone, I’ve realized a few things about my writing style. The major thing I’ve gathered that I need to improve on is that I do a lot of “telling” and not enough “showing; my characters also lack a certain depth. I think this is because I usually focus on the plot and storyline, instead of the actual descriptions/character development. I myself usually read stories and books with a compelling storyline, so I tend to focus on this element in my own stories also.

Before workshop, I hadn’t even realized that my characters are pretty flat (instead of multifaceted, which would be closer to reality), or that I tend to tell the reader a little too much about what is going on. Like Annie Dillard wrote in her book The Writing Life, I harbor in my eyes a unique kind of appreciation for my writing simply because I wrote it—just like the photographer appreciated the photograph that he had to climb to the top of a mountain to get—and this made me blind to the flaws that my writing contained. I guess the most powerful thing about workshop is that the writer gets to see what others honestly think about their writing, as the writer’s own opinion of their writing is highly biased. The feedback was really helpful, and I really thank everyone for taking the time to help edit/comment on my story to help make it better!