 For Authors: July 19, 2023 Issue [#12071] |
This week: Advice and Consent Edited by: Fyn  
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I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself. ~~Elon Musk
Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it. ~~Benjamin Franklin
Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. ~~Marcus Tullius Cicero
I give myself very good advice ... but I very seldom follow it.~~Alice frm the Disney Alice in Wonderland movie
Advice is like snow - the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind. ~~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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A few weeks ago I asked for the best and worst writing advice you'd gotten. These will be in the comments below. Personally, these are the best I've gotten and why these are the things I pass along when asked.
BEST
1. Read, read, read and then, read more. Anything. Everything. The more you read, the more you can see what works and, what does not! The more you read, the more you will encounter different writing styles, methods, and perspectives. These give you opportunities to see what works for you and your writing, allow for experimentation, and lets you see what and why something works for you or doesn't.
I remember a class I took where the teacher had us writing 'in the style' of (for example) Hemingway, Dickens, or Elliot. It was hard. I hated it. But I learned how to phrase words in new ways. I learned how to communicate within a framework alien to me. I also learned more about writing 'me' --and that helped define 'my' style. I also learned about the way those writers wrote on numerous levels, and how they developed the layers they used to foreshadow or move a story forward.
2. Know your audience. who are you writing for, to? A teacher is a vastly different audience than a class of ten-year-olds. The peers in a writing group are different than the general public. Those who read romance may differ incredibly from those who read action/adventure. I've been told many times that folks 'just write, toss it to the masses and hope it connects.' All well and good, but knowing your readers can only help to gain you followers.
3. Let someone else read/edit your work along the way. I'm not talking about a professional even. Just someone you trust. Why? Because you know what you are trying to say, you've proofed it and in that process become blind to the simple mistakes your eye may pass right on by. Another option is to read your work out loud to your kids, hubby, other half, the dog, or the poster on the wall. Often by doing this, you will pick up on mistyped letters, repeated words, or the like.
4. Keep a notebook of odd ideas, 'found' words, that sentence that snuck into your head as you fall asleep. Nothing worse than being out somewhere and having an image pop into your head, thinking 'Ohh, I've got to remember that!' and then later, only remembering that there was a thought and now it is long gone to the winds.
5. Learn how to write dialog. Not only the correct forms of punctuating it but the act itself. I used to be terrified of dialog. But then, I was a) forced to realize it is necessary and b) learned how much of the characters could and would come out in how they spoke and what they said. It was illuminating and eventually, it became second nature.
6. Beware the delete key! If you are struggling, leave it in... maybe underline or something so you can find it easily later. Deleting it may mean you lose a thought forever rather than using it later or in a different place.
7. Trust yourself. Don't second guess you. You know what the story is, what you want to say. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt and forge onward. If it is, indeed, silly, makes no sense, or is just weird, you'll figure it out. And meanwhile, you'll have pages down and not be looking at that blinkin' curser.
WORST - or at least, meant well, but doesn't work for me.
1. Write in the same place/ time of day every day. I can write anywhere. In a notebook or on my computer. I can write at any time -- the operative word being time (which is usually in short supply.)
2. Telling myself, "I need to write (whatever) NOW." Did I need to get this newsletter written and was I running out of time? Yes, but I had the ideas rummaging 'round in my convoluted brain already and just needed to sit down and get it in the newsletter. Vastly different than facing a blank screen that sits there smirking at me whilst my muse flitters off to the unknown. Vastly different than the pressure some folks apply to themselves when they feel the need to write, but have no clue what to write. It can become an exercise in frustration rather than a successful writing time.
3. Taking all reviews seriously. Instead, take them with a grain of salt.
4. When you finish, it is finished: leave it alone. No. It might be, I might be done with it. But there is nothing that might not be better revised down the road. There's a difference . One needs to learn it. Once, I remember pointing out typos in a piece. Major typos like a you're/your type. Several of the there/their/they're oopses. I was informed quite intensely that the piece had won first place and I didn't know what I was talking about. If they had been typos, obviously, they 'weren't important typos or they wouldn't have won.' Whatever. I know better, and I expect most of you do as well. We want our writing to be the best we can make it. It's what we do after all!
Just some food for thought. If you don't care for it, just scrape your plate and wash your dish, please. And don't forget to treat yourself to some dessert! It's yummy!
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A good and informative read!
A list of all sorts of potential helpful info!
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It was super getting so much feedback! Thanking all who took time to respond!!!
Elby Wordsmith  writes: 1. Best advice
Write everything that comes to mind as it happens. After that edit, leave it come back later and edit, edit, edit.
2. You should always follow a recognized form of poetry
3. For a Poet,read your first draft, then get rid of all the useless words.
(Although they are very useful in moderation.) Be open to changing the original
order of your stanzas, this can often improve the impact and flow.
Usually, these are
"the", "and", "like".
For example
“The blind dog ran down the hill and slid.
Barrelling down the hill like a thundering avalanche”
Becomes (with a minor change)
My blind dog was running downhill, slipping he became a thundering avalanche.
WriterRick  wrote: What advice would YOU offer a newer writer?
The easiest way to become a proficient writer is to get away from yourself.
You were there when you decided to become a writer.
You were there with all the stupid mistakes at the beginning.
You were there at every stage of that journey of learning.
Now, when you think about it, that's a lot of baggage to carry along when all you should really be thinking of is how to make your current writings the best they can be.
I have a suggestion...
Dump your baggage at the door!
Don't think of where you've been!
Don't think of where you want to be!
Don't think of YOU at all!
Unless your writings are autobiographical, get yourself out of there!
Create a new Reality.
Then fill that Reality with people, places, and things.
Then flesh out that Reality, let it breathe!
Don't make it yours.
Let it become itself.
See what happens.
Remember, writing is like a marriage.
You wouldn't marry yourself, you already have you.
You married someone to fill in the gaps of your life that you cannot touch.
Let your writing develop the same way.
Stay out of it, let it develop on its own.
Insert the characters that belong in that reality.
Your writing will become natural if you can stay out of the way.
Good Luck!
Good Writings
Quick-Quill  says: Best Advice, Use this basic format for a novel and chapter, Goal, Motivation and Conflict.
Most useless: Give up you are wasting time
My advice: Use Goal motivation and conflict in the overall plot and in each chapter.
Santeven Quokklaus comments: 1. What is the best writing advice you've ever gotten? Don't stop. Don't be afraid of criticism. You can always get better.
2. What was the most useless? So much! I am not a fan of writing advice and did a whole blog post about famous authors and their advice: "20230501 Writing Advice!"
3. What advice would YOU offer a newer writer? 3 things:
Write a lot.
Read a lot.
Get the technical aspects down.
Beholden   adds:1. Best writing advice? This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AgZUlZ0uHw
2. Most useless? Years ago I decided to take a writing course to see what I was missing. Had I been wanting to write advertising copy or writing boring letters to boring organisations, it would have been great. As it was, I was doing that anyway as part of my job so it was all decidedly unhelpful. I never bought another writing course or book on how to do it.
3. What advice would I give a newer writer? Don't listen to advice. You've either got it or tyou haven't and any amount of advice is not going to make things any better. Of course, that too is advice.
oldgreywolf on wheels  says: 1. Keep writing (with recommendations);
2. keep writing (nothing else)
3. Determine loosely what you want to write; study; organize notes and thoughts; start drafting when you think you're ready; keep studying, keep writing, keep editing at the end; be skeptical. When you discover you have to start completely over, that's part of learning and maturity. Keep ALL of your drafts; might be something you want to rewrite and use in there.
Annette  writes: Best writing advice ever gotten: Write that story down. A piece of advice given to me when I was a kid after telling a family friend of an encounter I had with the pet monkey of a street musician.
Worst writing advice: Write every day. Some people can do that. I get crushed under the responsibility to write each day. It stifles my creativity and I end up not writing at all.
Advice I would offer a newer writer: Write to entertain yourself first. Next, ask someone to help you kill your darlings.
Evie 🏳️🌈 write&blog  comments: Show, don't tell" has helped me a lot to improve the quality of my writing. But the best tip I ever got was to build up a writing routine. Now I write every day for at least one to two hours a day. That helps to get better, but also avoids giving up.
Depending on what a new writer is struggling with, I would give them either the first or the second tip.
The one that has helped me the least is having a fixed place to write. I change places often, even when I write most at my desk and in my bed. But it can be enormously motivating to write somewhere where you don't have reception!
Heat Fivesixermiser  adds: 1. Save EVERYTHING. Don't toss or delete drafts and scraps. You never know when they might become useful in some way.
2. I tend to think most pieces of advice have some merit, even if it's not in the moment or related to a particular piece of writing. That said, what I find useless tend to be reviews where the reviewer clearly doesn't know what he or she is talking about, or hasn't really read and understood the item. I wish I had a more specific example, but I think many writers have experienced this before.
3. Don't take anything personal. Yes, your writing may be your baby and you've worked hard on it, but understand not everyone will get it the same way you intended people to get it. Reaching a mass audience to critical acclaim isn't as easy or happens as often as it seems. Know that it's not a knock on you or your work...sometimes it takes time to find your audience, and you'll go through a lot of readers before you find and eventually build one. |
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