Things that all writers should know

I swear that made me laugh out loud right in the middle of my computer class where I'm supposed to be writing an essay. That is so true it's not even funny.

So true!

We heard noises outside our house the other night. In a horror film, you'd be screaming, "Don't go outside, you doofus!"

In real life, my husband grabbed the gun and checked it out. It was the neighbor's horse kicking the fence. But if it had been in my novel ...

I think I remember Amelia Atwater-Rhodes doing #1 in her first book she'd ever written/published. I think if it's YA, you might be able to get away with doing this. While reading it, I was like "hmmm... odd, but informative! I semi-like it!" It didn't throw me off. I think she was getting ready for school. Maybe if the character is annoyed with something that always seems to draw their attention while looking at themselves.

I don't know... I've read some books where onomatopoeias were used brilliantly (Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy, for example). I'd say don't use them unless you know fully how to get the sound across... pun intended.

Unfortunately, I think what you have here in your post is a case of badly used onomatopoeia. In well used onomatopoeia, the sound words are made separate from the text. Instead, they add to it. And really, you would be surprised just how many words are onomatopoeic and that sometimes, people don't even realise they're using them.

For example: "The spool fell from his grip, landing with a clatter and a splash in the bowl below."

Clatter and splash aren't separate from the text and they don't jump out at you. They're subtle words that allow the writer to use onomatopoeia to emphasise the noise made by the spoon.

I always agreed with number one but I'm kind of confused as to how I can tell readers what my character looks like in a more interesting way. Here's what I wrote, I'm open to suggestions:
When I looked up, I couldn’t help observing myself in the mirror, because the face that looked back at me wasn’t something that could quite be defined. The face that stared back at me was the result of thousands of choices. And what had they made? My skin was still its tan, caramel, Nauset brown; my eyes were still as wide as they were intent in their deep milk chocolate shade. My hair was still wild and manic, the darkest of browns with few mahogany streaks here and there, the blanket of shoulder length curls framing my face. It was the face of normality, the face of purposelessness. Uselessness.

Everything can be broken if done well, but you won't know how that is done well until someone risks and does it.

And everyone writes differently.

I assert this is the only two rules you need and I shall demonstrate how this works.

1. Bianca pulled at her kinky hair, shamed that her hair was not straight like that of the rest of her class. Why couldn't it be straight? She wished it could be straight and it would behave like the long smooth locks of Linda. Her eyes didn't look that good.

Filter it through character POV. Done. The problem is the lack of selection or a mirror that happens to be there without the way the characters sees herself or how it changes. That's how you use a mirror.

2. Onomatopoeia can be used as part of regular speech. The car screeched around the corner. That's a whole lot better than "The car went around the corner very fast so it made a high pitched noise."

The cat meowed is better than the cat made a sound that was platative and medium pitched.

3. Characters are sometimes really that dumb or act that dumb on purpose (See Colombo). There are approximately 5%, I believe something like that in a fire scenario where they will physically go to check out the fire WITH the alarms going. Yes, people are that dumb. I know the phenomenon of the flying pig (or so my family dubs it) where people feel they need to stop and stare at an accident to see what happened. People also gather around police tape too and ask questions.

So yes, people are that dumb in real life, so I'll write characters that dumb.

For good character development they need to make dumb decisions once in a while. Fall behind their wants or their needs.

Any rule can be broken as long as it is done well. And if you try to break this rule, you create a paradox. It's a win.

Instead of saying what you shouldn't do, list a rule and show how to break it.

There are exceptions to the first rule you listed; for instance, a character with amnesia, or a character that has just come to life for the first time. My NaNo story this year begins with the main character, a living human that was artificially built, waking up with no knowledge of what she looks like and no memory of being awake before that moment. In cases similar to this, I believe it's acceptable for a character to notice their own basic features.

Hmm, number one is debatable. It really depends on the situation. On any given day you wouldn't notice things like your eye or hair color, but if there were extensional circumstances then it might be okay. Like if the character had lost their memories or something like that then it would be appropriate to describe themselves in a mirror.
Number three is also very debatable. sometimes a character makes stupid decisions based on a myriad of different variable such as stress and other stuff.

Very nice answers, I have to admit I have done #1 in a short story but my excuse was he had no idea what he looked like. But it is a very good point.

Oh dear, I've spent so much time in my novel explaining Why my characters are doing what they are doing...it's actually a bit exhausting...I wish much better luck to everyone else.....

I think a big thing with me is not writing like I have to explain everything to the reader, let him imagine some things for himself/herself. Sometimes I wonder whether or not a story is truly good because of the writing or because of my amazing imagination taking it to the next level? But it is just impossible for me to separate the two when I'm reading someone else's novel...and I think that's a good thing. So now I have to remember as a writer to just give the reader room to let their imagination soar, maybe they will take my novel to places I didn't even know it could go...

I don't know if that makes sense.

Eek I have used onomatopoeias in my novel - ok not a lot, just the sound on a small bell twice and I never like it, it seemed childish to me and this confirms it - I am going to go back and change it right now!

Tell me then, how do I use my onomatopoeias?
Or how do I work around them, if I should?
When's the right time and place to use them?

I don't know about your number 2. I think it is a personal preference and also something that each writer has to decide for themselves. The decision to use onomatopoeias is something that has to do with each writer's particular style. You would not expect Bertha Mason to leap from the roof of Thornfield with a WHOOSH and a wretched AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! but onomatopoeias surely have their place in the world of novel-writing, don't you think?

I like the things written in this blog, but here' s the one thing I have come to know as a writer and as a teacher of writers.
Write, write, write. Then REWRITE.

EDIT!!!

The whole premise of NaNoWriMo is to write, write, write so that you just get it out. Because getting your butt in the chair to get the words out is the key to being a writer. Not talent, or experience, or having a story you can spin into a franchise to make millions. Your butt in the chair to do the work.

So write! If you character wants to describe themselves in a mirror, let them! If they want to scream "You're a poopy fart-face!" when they're made, let them! If you want to use onomatopoeias, do it! Let the car VROOM or the exhaust pipe go BANG! And if your character makes a less than common choice, roll with it.

Get it on paper.

No one writes a great novel in the first draft. For evidence of this, read any interview with a writer. Read Stephanie Meyer's partial draft of Midnight Sun (but be warned, it's ROUGH). First drafts, which is what we're creating in NaNoWriMo are ROUGH drafts. Let them be rough.

The trick is to be brave enough to go back, give your work an objective (or as objective a look as you can) and fix it. In the rewriting, you think "maybe it is a little weird that my character has just stopped in the middle of the day to describe themselves in the mirror." And then you find a better way of communicating what the character looks like.

Maybe you go back and reread and realize that no one gives a flying-you-know-what about the sound the car makes, so you take it out.

And perhaps your character is a ditz and usually misses the obvious choice, so they do the not-obvious thing. Maybe they aren't, so you erase that "gripping scene" you wrote for the better good of the novel and move on.

Be brave, be bold, and make mistakes in your first (rough) draft. GET THE WORDS OUT. Then go back and fix them.

"I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter." James Michener, 1948 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Tales of the South Pacific (the work South Pacific was based on).

Ouch! Major diss!

Definitely agree.

Sometimes writers need to realize that telling isn't the ultimate sin of writing.

I very much agree. Sometimes I'll get writing assignments (I am unfortunately still in high school) back and the teachers will have yelled at me for telling. But the thing is, if you tell in an interesting way, than it can work just as good or even better than showing.

I always thought that advice was used when writing screenplays or plays not novels. In novels I thought you should do both.

Unless you live in China, Korea, or Japan, where info dumps are standard. Oh and India, where the conflict may not start until much later. Or you're writing a fairytale. Are we talking after 1930's? 'cause I believe Gertrude Stein was the one that made this pivotal change.

Funny... that's what my teacher says.

Actually, a more accurate statement would be "Show AND Tell". The hard part is knowing when to do which.

I learned this in creative writing class. xD Like, giving hints about the characters by subtly describing them, without being a writer who says "their dark eyebrows and their sinister eyes and their evil lips" lol. Like Stephen King said, don't give features personalities.

True, turning it into an adjective makes it sound too poetic. "Rare are the times when an adverb is appropriate."

In a move, though, you can hear a character's tone of voice. Sarcasm is most definitely a tone, and one not easily described other than using the word "sarcastically." If you're still trying to go with showing and not telling, saying "said sarcastically," still works, because you're not tediously laying out why he's being sarcastic, or what precisely he's thinking. You're just illustrating what his tone would be if you were hearing a conversation in real life.

You can't just cut adverbs, the modify all your great adjectives.

Also with adverbs: I have recently been told (over and over again) by my Magazine Editing professor that a great way to cut down on adverbs, replace "very" with "damn." If you would use damn in the sentence, you can use very. This probably works better for the magazine industry, but it's still a good exercise for novelists.