Advice From a Newbie Writer
Jun. 25th, 2011 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foolish_m0rtalSo I've read all sorts of books and articles talking about what it takes to be a good writer. There have been philosophical things like, 'let it come to you' etc and hard practical advice like punctuation and pacing. (this one is closest to what I want to get across) Comparatively, I haven't been writing for a very long time, but there are patterns I've seen again and again with my own writing as well as other people's work.
Don't sacrifice clarity for conciseness
We've finished talking about paring off the fat, and now I'm going to tell you to add it back. To reference Fitzgerald, I lean more towards being a taker-outer than a putter-inner. (No, that is not supposed to be a dirty joke) If I think something is too verbose or distracting, I will take it out and put it in my junk pile, which I will talk about later. In extremes, this has landed me in a hell of a lot of trouble in the past.(Read Full Post)
Dealing with people of the same gender
Oh no. Two characters of the same gender have the audacity to interact with each other in your story. The pronouns are everywhere. What do you do?
(Read Full Post)
Adverbs are not your friends
You probably knew this, but I missed the boat, so I will talk about it to reinforce something I am coming to terms with mylself. Adverbs are not your friends. My temp editor once quoted Stephen King and said that that the road to hell is paved by adverbs. Eliminating them can make your work tighter, cleaner, and stronger.
(Read Full Post)
Do your research
Seriously. I cannot stress this enough. Do your RESEARCH. There is nothing worse than reading a story by an author who hasn't bothered to learn the details of a character's job or setting. It shows to me that the author doesn't have time or respect for her readers and worse, for her own story. Why should I spend some of my time reading someone's work when the author hasn't put in that same time?
(Read Full Post)
Hide your research
Right, so at this point you're asking, "What is this bitch's deal?" You've done all of this research for a story, and now you want to show that you've done the work, right?
(Read Full Post)
Don't be afraid to scrap your story
Yeah. I know. Here's a tissue.
(Read Full Post)
Love your writing
The people that are saying, "Well, duh" --good for you. Sure, we've all gone back and said, "Oh, this writing sucks." Congratulations, you've just leveled up.
(Read Full Post)
Note: Story excerpts used in the examples are from the continuously edited still-not-quite-perfect story The Cornish Manuscripts, part of the Notes of an Antiquary story series.
Hopefully I can articulate some of the practical and the philosophical and make it worthwhile. Keep in mind that it is perfectly fine to disagree with anything I'm saying. There are probably a whole lot of editors who will disagree with me, but this is just my own style, and you have your own. I most likely have a lot of egregious grammar errors. Actually, why am I telling YOU guys how to write? I am clearly enough of a mess.
Eliminate moving parts
Now I'm an engineer, and one thing they tell us is the instability of a bunch of moving parts. This is why my cell phone is a single solid piece with no moving parts (Blackberry). This is why all of us are going batshit over the solid state hard drives verses the traditional hard drives with the disks and read/write heads. Moving parts have hinges and connectors, which are stress points that are vulnerable and breakable...
(Read Full Post)
Eliminate moving parts
Now I'm an engineer, and one thing they tell us is the instability of a bunch of moving parts. This is why my cell phone is a single solid piece with no moving parts (Blackberry). This is why all of us are going batshit over the solid state hard drives verses the traditional hard drives with the disks and read/write heads. Moving parts have hinges and connectors, which are stress points that are vulnerable and breakable...
(Read Full Post)
Don't sacrifice clarity for conciseness
We've finished talking about paring off the fat, and now I'm going to tell you to add it back. To reference Fitzgerald, I lean more towards being a taker-outer than a putter-inner. (No, that is not supposed to be a dirty joke) If I think something is too verbose or distracting, I will take it out and put it in my junk pile, which I will talk about later. In extremes, this has landed me in a hell of a lot of trouble in the past.
Dealing with people of the same gender
Oh no. Two characters of the same gender have the audacity to interact with each other in your story. The pronouns are everywhere. What do you do?
(Read Full Post)
Adverbs are not your friends
You probably knew this, but I missed the boat, so I will talk about it to reinforce something I am coming to terms with mylself. Adverbs are not your friends. My temp editor once quoted Stephen King and said that that the road to hell is paved by adverbs. Eliminating them can make your work tighter, cleaner, and stronger.
(Read Full Post)
Do your research
Seriously. I cannot stress this enough. Do your RESEARCH. There is nothing worse than reading a story by an author who hasn't bothered to learn the details of a character's job or setting. It shows to me that the author doesn't have time or respect for her readers and worse, for her own story. Why should I spend some of my time reading someone's work when the author hasn't put in that same time?
(Read Full Post)
Hide your research
Right, so at this point you're asking, "What is this bitch's deal?" You've done all of this research for a story, and now you want to show that you've done the work, right?
(Read Full Post)
Don't be afraid to scrap your story
Yeah. I know. Here's a tissue.
(Read Full Post)
Love your writing
The people that are saying, "Well, duh" --good for you. Sure, we've all gone back and said, "Oh, this writing sucks." Congratulations, you've just leveled up.
(Read Full Post)
Note: Story excerpts used in the examples are from the continuously edited still-not-quite-perfect story The Cornish Manuscripts, part of the Notes of an Antiquary story series.
