I've recently begun keeping files with bits and pieces of advice I've read or heard from some of my favorite writers and artists. I'll never use all of it, of course, but like to go through it now and then as it may hold an answer to a particular problem. This is the the one that's been on my mind most this year:
Get it down, change it later.
It was posted by Marc Gascoigne, the Publishing Director of Angry Robot Books in one of SF Signal's Mind Melds (a cool feature on the site where they ask a panel of professionals from publishing one question and post the answers they receive). This is a simple concept yet difficult for me to achieve because I tend to edit as I write. In my view it's a bad habit to be in, and something I'm striving to correct. I hope this, my first NaNo, will in part break me of that tendency. And also, you know, get me a decent first draft. My issues with commas, run on sentences and parentheticals is another matter entirely.
Anyway, that's the best advice I've read recently, what have the rest of you got?
- Christian
http://manakalita.blogspot.com/
P. S. For those curious what else that particular article had to offer (there was a lot of good stuff) here it is:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/01/mind-meld-shrewd-writing-advice...
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18,504 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 07 44
I'm taking a Creative Writing course at school with Writer-in-Residence, Barbra Novack. She often told us that we should make the dialogue effective, other than for fillers. She said the plot and characters are one important thing, but the dialogue should be just as important. The dialogue supports the characters and the characters should support the dialogue. No one wants fillers in a good novel.
----------"Character is action."
F. Scott Fitzgerald
4,084 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 12 24
I learned 2 really important things in college as a Creative Writing Major:
1) Don't be a Creative Writing Major
2) Everything in a story must happen for a reason. "That's what I want to happen" is not a valid reason. The reasons don't need to be REASONABLE - a serial killer can kill because he thinks people are filled with insects and maybe he's trying to help - but they need to have a reason, even if you don't intend to explain those reasons.
12,848 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 15 29
1) Don't be a Creative Writing Major
2) Everything in a story must happen for a reason. "That's what I want to happen" is not a valid reason. The reasons don't need to be REASONABLE - a serial killer can kill because he thinks people are filled with insects and maybe he's trying to help - but they need to have a reason, even if you don't intend to explain those reasons.
I like your 2nd reason. I'm not sure if you're into Stephen King or not, but after reading 1 novel (Cell) and a 7 book series (The Dark Tower) of his, I can say that... No I'm not sure that I like him. Cell was a miserable ending and a misleading synopsis, but that's not my point here. In his Dark Tower series you'll see a lot of plot holes he tries to cover up with nonsense that he, for lack of a better phrase, seems to pull out of his ass. So yes. You can make the reason completely vague and nonsensical and still manage to produce a novel, or even series, but there must be a reason for things to have happened.
As for my own contribution: Don't be so self-critical, and learn to take criticism well. Tips I've developed on my own. For the longest time I had a piece of work I would read over and reedit so many times, for almost a year. After I was pretty satisfied with it, I asked a friend to read it. She managed to point out many things it was lacking. I took the criticism on the chin and am now a better writer for it. Basically, if you're unsure of yourself, don't destroy what you've got, get someone with a legit opinion to read it over. Maybe multiple people, as everyone's got a different opinion and different writing styles that they enjoy.
33,008 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 11 49
This is heavily paraphrased because I can't find the index card I wrote it down on, but last year on the NaNoForums, someone wrote something that really helped me a lot.
"The only thing you have to do on the first page, is make them want to read the second page."
----------Cups of tea consumed: 9
Hours lost to Wikipedia/NaNoForums: 55
Meals missed: 0
Classes attended this month: 16
Times I've NaNo-ed during class: 5
Anxious Breakdowns: 1
32,279 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 11 40
This is the hardest thing for me to do. I want to make it sound as good as I can and I end up editing sentences for ages before moving on. Ugh. It's why I'm not up to speed on my word count. I am going to tackle tonight and tomorrow with a no looking back attitude tho!
The best piece of advice I heard recently... and I'm not even sure it's advice as much as his technique, but—
I recently attended a reading/book signing by Augusten Burroughs (my favorite author) and I asked him during the Q&A what his editing process was like.
He explained that he doesn't remember things clearly and therefore he sits down and brings himself back to that time or place that he wants to write about and just relives the situation while typing... and then when someone questions him on it later... well, he can't remember it. He can't just bring up recollections like that. haha I thought it was interesting and has helped me. I just put myself in that place and boom, it's all on paper...
with lots of edits of course :-p
----------—Louise Romeo
16,403 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2009 - 17 19
well I'm paraphrasing steven king's On Writing here but...
adverbs are bad
it's true how repetitive they can become. your reader should be able to tell how something was done by the context, not just by the fact that you have rubbed it in their face. Now, he said that they are alright if used sparingly but only when completely necessary.
He also goes on to say that 'He said' can be one of the most powerful phrases when given to the correct writer. He believes that using stupid words that mean said is pointless and when possible just use the word said.