Top Tips For Writing

[SpookyFrank]

thats the most important one...

never ever ever ever be anywhere without something to write on and with...also keep something by the bed incase you wake up and have to write something down really fast.

Happily I have an absurdly good memory and if something pops into my head I just repeat inwardly it to myself over and over again until it's stuck there. Then I can go and do something else and transcribe my flash of genius at a more convenient moment later on. I've been known to write several pages in my head in one go

I don't know about the not editing stuff as you go along thing though; I don't rewrite anything or change anything important, I just go through chapters tinkering with the nuts and bolts of the language to get rid of sentences that annoy me. Continually improving what I've already written gives me the confidence to carry on and write some more stuff which I can dissect at a later date.

 

[scifisam]

I don't know about the not editing stuff as you go along thing though; I don't rewrite anything or change anything important, I just go through chapters tinkering with the nuts and bolts of the language to get rid of sentences that annoy me. Continually improving what I've already written gives me the confidence to carry on and write some more stuff which I can dissect at a later date.

It stops me from carrying on at all; I get too caught up in the editing, and it ends up all bitty.

Like someone else said about tight plotting; I find that, if I plot too tightly, I end up having to force my characters into situations. So I have to plot quite loosely, while making sure to keep track of what's happening as I write. Also, it's so much more interesting when I don't know exactly what's going to happen next.

Different things work for different people, innit.

Right. I really am off now, to complete a short story challenge.

 

[lontok2005]

Some of these have been said, so apologies for repetition:

Always have a pen and pad to hand.
Write, write, write - even if what you write is crap at first, it's better to have a shitty looking lump of clay from which to mould a beautiful vase than no lump of clay at all. Staring at a blank page won't give you anywhere near as many ideas as staring at an awful sentence will.
Read, read, read.
Remember that you never, ever master your own native language.
Always write with the reader in mind. Would you want to read what you write?
If you can cut something, cut it.
Say as much as you can in as few words as possible.
Favour verbs and nouns over adjectives and adverbs.
Avoid italics. The rhythm of the sentence alone should tell you how to read it. Same goes for exclamation marks.
Remember that dialogue is not a game of ping-pong. Think first what the characters are feeling, or what their motives are, and let the dialogue spring from that.
Read, read, read.

And finally, remember what Da Vinci (I think) said: art is never finished, just abandoned. This is especially important to bear in mind in this day and age of wordprocessing.

Now, I might just tidy this post up a bit....

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Stop looking at urban 75. This has done for me for the last 3 months. I am stopping at 9am today.

at self

Yup. Internet forums have ruined my writing.

 

[fela fan]

thats the most important one...

never ever ever ever be anywhere without something to write on and with...also keep something by the bed incase you wake up and have to write something down really fast.

Agreed, but it's not easy is it?! With keys, mobile, wallet already taking up too much mental and physical space, how many more things must we remember to take everywhere we go?!

I did have one of those sort of cigar-shaped mini voice recorder things, but the batter kept running out.

 

[ajk]

<offers fela a top-up>

 

[SpookyFrank]

Like someone else said about tight plotting; I find that, if I plot too tightly, I end up having to force my characters into situations. So I have to plot quite loosely, while making sure to keep track of what's happening as I write. Also, it's so much more interesting when I don't know exactly what's going to happen next.

With the story I'm writing at the moment, the first thing I came up with was the ending. I've got the ending set in my brain down to the last detail so I can allow the story to meander a little bit in the middle because I know exactly where it's going. A book I recently gave up on had no such ending in mind, and as a result it was turning into an ugly, unfocused mess and even I didn't know what it was supposed to be about.

 

[scifisam]

With the story I'm writing at the moment, the first thing I came up with was the ending. I've got the ending set in my brain down to the last detail so I can allow the story to meander a little bit in the middle because I know exactly where it's going. A book I recently gave up on had no such ending in mind, and as a result it was turning into an ugly, unfocused mess and even I didn't know what it was supposed to be about.

Ah - every story I've written has had a clear ending in mind. Maybe what others meant by 'tight' plotting isn't as tight as I thought.

 

[DotCommunist]

Ah - every story I've written has had a clear ending in mind. Maybe what others meant by 'tight' plotting isn't as tight as I thought.

King and Grisham are both apparently very tight plotters, mapping out story arcs carefully and having each chapters ideas and aims planned beforehand

Given how formulaic their work is, I am put off the idea of plotting to tightly

 

[Biglittlefish]

Write! Get something down on paper. It won't come out as the genius idea you had in your head at first but once its on paper it can be worked on. Having it in your head is worthless until its on paper. Dream up a beginning, middle and end as soon as possible. This gives you a structure to work within and helps you decide which ideas to keep and which to discard.

 

[zoooo]

I really couldn't do the stopping mid sentence thing, although I can see its appeal. What if I forgot a really good ending to it?! :O

 

[Badger Kitten]

Good books can help,

How to write damn good fiction - advanced techniques for dramatic storytelling - James Frey

How to write fiction ( and think about it) Robert Graham.

Both highly recommended.

But in the end, it's about just doing it. And editing it later. Much later. You can't write, and edit simultaneously. It's different brain hemispheres, for starters.


Watch a dancer, dancing. You can bet your ass they don't move across the stage going one-two-three - jump - pirouette-smile-kick - increase tension in right bicep...check body shape in mirror and lean back 14 degrees....loojk moody...

Or a fighter, fighting. Do they go - ah, roundhouse kick and ...need to point my toes more, lean back and make cool shape with my arms, suck in abs, glide past and feint, feint, wallop, oh, I needed to kick my hips out more there, bother

No, they just dance . Or they just fight.

Then they analyse and perfect technique later.

Just.Do.It. Even though it is scary. If you don't write, you are not a writer.

This is what I keep telling myself.
And to turn off u75.
argh.

 

[the button]

It's actually not my advice originally. It was a writer, I believe Nabokov, who said it.

Graham Greene had a variant on that one -- he said he always stopped writing for the day when he knew exactly what he was going to say next.

My other one is "show, don't tell."

 

[SpookyFrank]

"show, don't tell."

That's a tricky one to master, but when I'm reading something and I feel as though I'm having something spelled out to me by the author it gets my back up a bit, so I try and avoid doing it myself.

I'm pleased to report that this thread has put a boot up my arse and I've written a whole eight pages today, and come up with back stories for two of my characters to boot. What I'm doing now is trying not to go back and read it all and agonise over whether it's any good, instead I shall leave it sleeping and write lots more tomorrow

 

[SpookyFrank]

Watch a dancer, dancing. You can bet your ass they don't move across the stage going one-two-three - jump - pirouette-smile-kick - increase tension in right bicep...check body shape in mirror and lean back 14 degrees....loojk moody...

Or a fighter, fighting. Do they go - ah, roundhouse kick and ...need to point my toes more, lean back and make cool shape with my arms, suck in abs, glide past and feint, feint, wallop, oh, I needed to kick my hips out more there, bother

No, they just dance . Or they just fight.

Well put. I often find when I'm playing my guitar that if I think about what my fingers are actually doing, or how in the hell they seem to know what to do of their own accord, then I immediately fuck up. I try and approach writing in the same way, just blot out the world and type until my fingers are falling off. Today I was pleased to note that I'd written loads of stuff but had absolutely no memory of pressing any buttons on my keyboard

 

[the button]

That's a tricky one to master, but when I'm reading something and I feel as though I'm having something spelled out to me by the author it gets my back up a bit, so I try and avoid doing it myself.

To be fair, there are some brilliant writers who can do show and tell. Thomas Hardy being one, for instance. But then I remember how much I fucking hated Tess of the D'Urbervilles when I studied it for A-level, because he keeps hammering his points home on & on & fucking on. At the time I was comparing him (unfavourably) with Joseph Conrad who pretty much tells the story & lets the depth fill in itself.

This said, I've gone back to Hardy in later life (mostly by rediscovering the novels via the poetry) and liked it a lot. Much like Dickens, in fact, who would be another "teller".

 

[frogwoman]

That's a tricky one to master, but when I'm reading something and I feel as though I'm having something spelled out to me by the author it gets my back up a bit, so I try and avoid doing it myself.

I'm pleased to report that this thread has put a boot up my arse and I've written a whole eight pages today, and come up with back stories for two of my characters to boot. What I'm doing now is trying not to go back and read it all and agonise over whether it's any good, instead I shall leave it sleeping and write lots more tomorrow

I'm coming up with a story as to why an evil character (who starts out REALLY vile) is so evil

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I'm coming up with a story as to why an evil character is so evil and trying to include a description of the inside workings of a "cult" like organisation ... - things are getting progressively more nasty in my story.

He probably had a deprived upbringing.

 

[frogwoman]

Nah she had a perfectly good upbringing - she just gets involved in a govt organisation because all her friends are, she gets into for social reasons, doesn't truly understand what it is, and it's the classic cult indoctrination thing, humiliating people who dont conform (including her), and the organisation's work involves some very fucked up things ... it's the only way she can justify to herself what she's doing, by completely believing in their goals ...

There's a good character in my story who is a bit of a psychopath and doesn't feel any sense of remorse ... because SHE had a bit of a fucked up childhood, but she's not evil ... just fucked up.

I want to get people to think about what the distinction between good and evil actually is ...

 

[Cheesypoof]

Writing comes from the heart. Always be true to yourself and trust your instinct. Never doubt yourself. Be bold. Do all these things. I did this to do what i want to do now. Which is work as a writer. It makes my life very fullfilling and worthwhile

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

I'm echoing what others have said about just getting it down on paper and fixing it later, rather than trying to get it perfect on the first go.

And short stories lessen the work load

 

[SpookyFrank]

I wonder if we shouldn't have a u75 short story contest on similar lines to the photo competition. We'd have to limit them to being pretty brief or people won't have time to read them all and pick favourites...

...and then they've got to be hosted somewhere. Might not work tbh

 

[scifisam]

I wonder if we shouldn't have a u75 short story contest on similar lines to the photo competition. We'd have to limit them to being pretty brief or people won't have time to read them all and pick favourites...

...and then they've got to be hosted somewhere. Might not work tbh

We could also have challenges, like the one I just did (you're given a picture and use it as a prompt for the story, which has to be exactly 1000 words). Then, if we wish, we could have a competition based on those stories.

They could be hosted somewhere like livejournal - emailed to one person (like me or you) and we then copy and paste them into a new entry. You don't need a livejournal account to read posts there.

 

[phildwyer]

Try to write one to two pages per day, no more, no less.

No: make sure you sit in front of a computer screen for 2-3 hours every day, no more, no less. Some days you won't write anything, some days you'll write 5,000 words. But the key is to do it *every* day. First couple of hours after waking works for me, but your mileage may vary on that.

 

[SpookyFrank]

We could also have challenges, like the one I just did (you're given a picture and use it as a prompt for the story, which has to be exactly 1000 words). Then, if we wish, we could have a competition based on those stories.

They could be hosted somewhere like livejournal - emailed to one person (like me or you) and we then copy and paste them into a new entry. You don't need a livejournal account to read posts there.

Sounds good, I was thinking of a phrase or sentence the story has to start with, but a picture would be better. And if people are up for doing a regular competition we could have the winner choose a picture for the next one, like with the photo comp.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

No: make sure you sit in front of a computer screen for 2-3 hours every day, no more, no less. Some days you won't write anything, some days you'll write 5,000 words. But the key is to do it *every* day. First couple of hours after waking works for me, but your mileage may vary on that.

The guy I was quoting was interested in completing a marathon, not a sprint. I suppose he'd learned that trying to fire out reams of creativity, day after day, leads to burnout. Two pages a day, whether it took half an hour, or four hours, seemed to allow him to continue writing, and also living a life, for the long term.

 

[goldenecitrone]

Fuck, I must spend at least two hours a day on Urban. If only my writing hung together and meant something.

 

[the button]

No: make sure you sit in front of a computer screen for 2-3 hours every day, no more, no less. Some days you won't write anything, some days you'll write 5,000 words. But the key is to do it *every* day. First couple of hours after waking works for me, but your mileage may vary on that.

See, I used to do it almost exactly the other way around. It was 1000 words a day for me. Sometimes I'd have them done by mid-morning, sometimes it took me all day and into the night. But it stopped me feeling guilty for having the afternoon off to go to the pictures if I'd got my 1000 words done early. Also it stopped me wiping myself out if I was "on a roll."

Admittedly, this wasn't fiction. But it's still writing of a kind.

 

[frogwoman]

Just bringing this back up to the top.

I've just finished part 1 of my story And I'm really happy with it tbh - and just started part 2.

The beginning of part 2 has fuck loads of symbolism in it ... which ive found works on a number of levels ... considering the subject matter of the story ...

 

[frogwoman]

If anyone wants to review the completed Part 1 I would be more than happy to send them it as long as they are happy to wade through 128 pages ...