Do you have any writing tips for newbies?
i only have one, and that's to change your perception of a project. nearly all writers approach their work with the goal to Complete A Thing. and for fiction writers, that makes sense: a completed narrative is one with an inciting incident, rising and falling action, a resolution, and a denouement. when the story is over, the project is over.
but that's not what a project is, and if you approach writing with the attitude of, "i'm going to write a novel," you'll struggle at best or outright fail at worst. finishing a story is an intermediate skill. finishing a story well is an advanced one. don't worry about completing anything until you come across a story that forces you to finish it.
you'll improve most by creating studies in discrete craft concepts. approach a piece of writing as a study in developing character, a study in setting, a study in the style of your favorite author. and when you focus on that thing, give up everything else. if you're studying character, fuck conflict. if you're learning how to build setting, feel free to begin every sentence with "there was." the focus is setting, not style.
every successful thing i've written began as a study in something. the story i wrote that got me into a bunch of residencies and a PhD program began as a study in similes. my first published piece began as a study in modernizing a short story i read that had been published in the 80s. my most recent successful story began as a study in widening narrative access. the novel i just finished began as a simple character study, because i'd never really allowed myself to do that before.
when you're drawing in a sketchbook, the goal isn't usually to make a whole-ass picture. the goal is to draw a hundred eyes, or hands in different positions, or your own face over and over again. when you're learning to dance or fight or any other athletic thing, you have to practice the steps and basic skills first. we take writing for granted in that we conflate basic literacy with writing skill, and because storytelling is one of the most innate aspects of being a human, many people tend to approach it from the wrong direction.
but by approaching writing as a series of studies in specific craft elements, you approach it with questions rather than answers. the stakes remain low--the goal is no longer to make something good, but to learn a skill that you can take with you to your next, hopefully even better, piece.
titsay
yousharknotpass
janainaart
romaincrisis
areudirty
