A thread of writing tips
A year ago or so I asked you guys to send in your best writing tips. I've compiled a list of some of the responses below. Oh, let's just ignore that it's been a whole year.
1. Take writing advice with a grain of salt. Every writerâs brain is different. Every personâs life is different. Every creative style is different. What works for some people wonât work for another. On top of that, some advice is just plain not helpful in the first place. So try to limit how much writing advice you take in because it can leave you spinning like a top until you canât tell which way is up. Read more, write more and youâll figure out what works for you eventually. [from @the-writers-bookshelf]
2. If you ever get stuck, vent about it to a friend or a notes document until a way forward presents itself. [from @scarlet-curls]
3. Be gentle with yourself. If you push yourself too hard too fast, youâre going to burn out, and then you either wonât be able to write anything, or youâre not going to particularly enjoy it, because youâre trying squeeze the last drops of water from a dry sponge. If you are burnt out, give yourself time to fill back up. Absorb other peopleâs work as a reader, as a viewer, as a general consumer. Let it give you inspiration and enthusiasm about your work again, and then when you feel ready, go back to writing. A metaphor I liked is that creating is breathing out, and enjoying otherâs mediums is breathing in. As you breathe in more, youâre probably going to get the desire to create, but if you only exhale, you might metaphorically pass out. [from @writing-with-olive]
4. Arrive late, leave early. That advice has really helped me cut the excess out of scenes, and find what's essential / what's really adding to the story. It also keeps you hanging on, feeling excited to write the next scene because you're not divulging too much. You're jumping in and out of situations that are hopefully interesting to the audience / reader, and exploring those scenes, fleshing them out, then moving on. Itâs just about balancing when is the right moment to move on, the right moment to cut the dialogue etc. Lots of trial and error, there! [from @spejdeir]
5. Start with the big picture. Always start with a one sentence summary. You donât need any more than that. A beginning, vague middle, and an end. THEN start adding details. That sentence becomes a paragraph, then a page, then ten pages, and eventually a book. But start with just one sentence. [from @mj-is-writing]
6. Visualize. So you know what's going to happen in your chapter/short story. A's gonna chat with B before they fight monsters and kiss. With more details of course. Before you even approach the keyboard I want you to visualize it. Watch it like a movie in your own head. Daydream the situation. I do it in the shower and before I fall asleep most regularly.
It helps work out the kinks, the awkward points, and makes sure the scene flows naturally. Oh you paused because feels disconnected? Better to fix it now before you had a whole few paragraphs written about this. It helps with my flow a bit and makes sure I really know what's going on. [from @fablesrose]
7. If you are trying to build a writing habit, have a fairly solid writing schedule. It could be every day, it could be writing every few days, it could be once a week. Each time, open up your WIP, and read the last few paragraphs. If youâre coming up on burnout and reaaaalllly donât want to write, thatâs okay. Donât write for now. But thereâs a difference between burnout and âmeh I kinda donât wanna,â and opening up your WIP forces you to at least show up, ruling out the second state of mind. And remember - if you do decide not to write, donât beat yourself up about it. Taking a rest is the smart move. [from @writing-with-olive]
8. Read the dialogue out loud while editing :) [from @loki-hargreeves]
9. Mine is, the often parroted, read a lot and write a lot. Honestly, best way to find your own writing style is to find the techniques/tropes/kind of character arcs you like best in media, and practice different ways of putting them together. If you want something a little less over said, Iâd say make sure you take some time to care of your physical and mental health. As a person whose struggled with this in the past, let me tell you, it affects your creativity and productivity waaay more than you might thing. [from @ren-c-leyn]
10. When you first write something, it's not gonna be perfect. And that's okay. What you wanna do is go back later and fix and/or revise anything that you feel needs that. Also, it's good to make a character have breaks in their own dialogue. Whether they lose their train of thought or simply forget a word, it's okay. If anything, it makes it seem more realistic. [from @thedragonemperess]
11. Write in the time of hour that works best for you. If youâre a morning person, write in the morning. I always write in late afternoon or evening when the house stars to get silent. The neighbors children gone to bed and maybe a little sound of the tv from neighboring is buzzing in the background. [from @tildathings]
12. Never feel bad about writing what you know about. That's not to say you have to write what you know about, but there's nothing wrong with drawing from your own experiences and things you're confident with to help the words flow. That, and don't worry about writing tips, just be you :-) [from @ncruuk]
13. The first draft of your writing doesn't have to be perfect. Just write what ever you want without caring about the grammar, vocabulary etc. [from @yoon2jk]
14. Writing is different for anybody. It can be fast for this entity, while it will kinda take a while for this person right 'ere. Take your time, if you rush yourself you're just gonna burn your inspiration and will only delay you from writing or even stop you completely. Write in your own pace, it can be months, or week, heck it could even be a few hours. Just write comfortably. [from @tayooh]
15. Write garbage, and write it all the time. Have a writing journal, or a folder on your computer for writing journaling. Do stream of consciousness, do prompts, write whatever stupid thing comes to mind, donât vet it, donât dismiss anything, just write it. Write a hundred words, a thousand, just write write write.
Chances are, none of this will make any progress on your WIPs, even if youâre writing about your OCs or scenes from/related to your WIPs. That isnât the important part. The important part is that youâre training your brain to write more and write better. The more you write, the more willing you are to write garbage... the easier it is to write when you need to, the better the writing will be, because youâve already been practicing and thinking about your writing techniques.
I donât mean to say âreal writers write every dayâ or anything, thatâs not what this is. All Iâm getting at is that the more you write the easier writing gets, and the more willing you are to write a hundred words of nonsense, the easier youâll find it to write a thousand words of prose.[from @the-bard-writes]
