What did you say?

Different writers have different strengths.

I have read some books where the description of places is so vibrant that I think I am there. Objects take on lives of their own. I can see every character, every scene.

I'm not one of those writers. I attribute that shortcoming to my own inobservant nature. I'm not color-blind (though I usually can't tell the difference between navy and black), but I don't see color unless it is so bright that it cannot be ignored. (I grew up with black-and-white TV, and filled in my own colors.) I don't notice how people look. I notice their quirks. The way they speak. Little gestures. But ask me to describe someone's face, and I'm lost. I couldn't even describe my own husband, or my own mother, beyond the general characteristics--my husband has a beard, for instance, and my mother has black hair. When my editor pushes me to write description, it requires extraordinary effort. I do "see" my characters in my mind--in a general sense, the same way I see my mother or my husband. But describing demands a greater depth of vision.

What I can do is write dialogue. I thoroughly enjoy it. When I'm writing, I can often "hear" (no, I'm not schizophrenic) the voices of my characters. I hear their inflections, their emotions. When one character provokes another, I hear the response. I can even hear the differences among my different characters. I cannot write until each character has his or her own "voice." (When my editor suggests changes in dialogue, my response is often, "He wouldn't say that.")

I've heard of writers who are challenged on writing good dialogue. I know one writer who pours forth fantastic descriptive passages, but says she's uncomfortable with the conversations--though I think she does a good job.

Each of us has talents, and talents within talents. What we need to do is to maximize what we can do, and do it well.

Then maybe people won't mind so much if I can't tell them anything about the couch, except that it is green.