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@wordswithcorrin
Obligatory Intro Post
Hi there!
My names Corrin, and I write/read/generally consume a lot of Fantasy. I'm also a fan of historical fiction and I'm trying to read more romance and Sci-fi.
I have a lot of WIPS but my main one is Divinity, an epic fantasy set in pseudo-ancient Greece. I'm currently slowly working my way through draft 2, and I plan to tag it as #DivinityWIP
PACING IS ABOUT LOAD BEARING WALLS.
*staples violently to my own forehead*
This is such good advice.
All I will add is: WRITE THOSE BREAKFAST SCENES if you want to, they can be absolutely critical in getting a handle on your characters. Or even on the setting. Write them all to fuck. Go hogwild.
Then cut them. They're for you, and for the characters. Not the readers.
Lo these many years ago, in an elevator at some convention or other, Larry Niven gave me some of the best writing advice ever:
"You can always burn it."
Go ahead and write that stuff. The breakfasts, the staring-into-empty-space scenes, whatever. Then pull them out of your work if they serve too little useful purpose. If you feel the need, shove such material into a separate folder to examine for possible usefulness later.
Even if you don't put it where other people can see it, no writing is ever wasted. Every sentence will teach you something. But if a passage or sequence doesn't help illuminate character, build the world, or advance the plot, get it the hell out of your narrative.
Your readers' time is precious. Do them the courtesy of not wasting it.
I actually hate this. This is the kinda mentality that led to 6 episode seasons with approximately 0 character development.
So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.
I'm going to try it.
I love the lawyer metaphor, because whenever I see “John knew that...” in prose writing I immediately think “how? How does he know it?” Interrogate your witnesses. Cross-examine them. Make them explain their reasoning. It pays dividends.
All of this, but also feels/felt. My editor has forbidden me from using those and it’s forced me to stretch my skills.
This is your "show not tell" advice explained!
Editor here.
First, let me preface this with something very important: you can treat all of this advice as SECOND-DRAFT ADVICE. It is so much easier to rewrite this kind of stuff once you have words on the page. Telling yourself the first draft is totally appropriate and acceptable.
What we’re talking about here are FILTER WORDS (and to some degree verbs of being). Yes, “thought” words are included. But so are “heard, saw, looked, tasted, smelled” etc.—most words having to do with the senses.
This isn’t black and white advice; sometimes you’ll use these words and that’s okay. They’re not WRONG. They’re just weaker. And they’re weaker because they create distance between the reader and the experience of the character.*
If you want your reader to feel like they’re experiencing the story right alongside the character, you want to cut down on filter words.
*This is particularly important with first person and close third POVs. The reader always knows whose eyes they’re seeing through and thoughts they’re privy to. So you don’t need to tell them “I saw X.” Or “I heard X.” Or “I thought Y.” You can just jump into the action/observation as it’s happening.
This is also where you want to pay attention to verbs of being.
“It was rainy.” Versus: “The rain pounded against the roof.” Or “The rain howled like an injured animal.” Or “The rain tapped against the window like an anxious lover.” All of these are inviting the reader deeper into the experience of the story by using stronger verbs and similes. And, at the same time, they stir feelings (instead of TELLING feelings). And feelings keep your reader engaged. Engaged readers keep turning pages; engaged readers become FANS.
This is also where
you want to pay attention
to verbs of being.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
How I never have to face an empty page when I write
First, I write down very roughly what needs to happen in this scene.
For example, take an early scene from my wip. The main character’s mentor has just died in the previous scene. And what’s worse, he’s killed by the magical Library she loves so much. What needs to happen in this next scene?
She brings the terrible news of the mentor’s death and the Library’s betrayal to the mentor’s widow (who gives her a key to the Library, minor detail).
She brings the news to the major, who is responsible of anything concerning the Library and who is indirectly the reason the mentor went into the Library in the first place.
At the end of this scene, the second main character is briefly introduced.
Then I start asking myself as many questions as I can.
What does the Main Girl Character (MGC) feel after her mentor’s death?
What does the MGC do with the key she gets from the widow?
How and when does the widow give her the key?
What is the first thing the MGC does when the mentor dies?
What does the widow do when she sees the MGC and the mentor?
How does the widow react? What does she feel? Did she expect it to happen someday? Does she stay icy calm or does she scream? (pieta)
What does the widow look like?
What is the widow like, as a person?
How does the MGC know she has to go to the major? Is there some kind of police, or is he the mentor’s boss or something?
Does the MGC trust the major?
Can she trust the major?
What is the major like, as a person? Nice? Belittling?
What does the MGC tell the major? What does he want to know?
What kind of new information does the MGC get out of this conversation?
What does the office of the major look like? Where is it?
What kind of a person is the Main Boy Character (MBC)?
What is the MBC wearing?
What does the MBC say to the MGC?
What was his reaction when he heard the news? How did he feel?
How does the major react? How does he feel?
How far is it from the major to the MGC’s home? How much time does the MGC have to inform the MBC and how much time does the MBC have to react and to comfort the MGC? I just realise the MBC already knows (probably from her parents?) because otherwise he wouldn’t be waiting for her at the major’s office.
How did the MGC’s parents tell the MBC? Why would they tell him? Maybe he called her house or he came by because he knew she went to see the Library but he doesn’t know yet that it killed the mentor?
See, I’m already filling my page so that it doesn’t look that intimidatingly empty.
Next, it’s answers time. I go through all the questions and make up a satisfying answer. Sometimes I get it right straight away, sometimes I have to brainstorm for four pages before hitting the suitable solution.
Since this is still preparation, I don’t have to worry about the quality of my writing style - I’m just thinking on paper. Often, this paradoxally means I write relaxed and I end up using whole bits of my preparation in my first draft.
After I have answered all the questions I want (often some become obsolete by answering other questions), I write out the scene again, in bullets or telegraph style, but with the detail and richness I have found in my answers. That usually takes me one page.
And only THEN I start writing my first draft. I see everything perfectly clear in my head and I even have bits of text I can use from my prep, so writing the first draft is way more chill than just writing it cold.
I do this before every scene, but you can also use this technique only when you get stuck or when you have to write a scene you’re dreading. You would think it’s inefficient and it takes too much time, but this technique keeps my thoughts focussed on my story (I’m a daydreamer) and it keeps the imposter syndrome at bay.
On average, my prep is 1,5 times the length of my written scene, but this process makes my writing so much richer. Not everything I make up in the Q&A phase ends up in my scene, especially questions like “what does the place look like”, “what is the character wearing” or “how long does it take them to walk from A to B”, but I find I can write the scene better if I know the answer, even if the reader doesn’t need to know.
Anyway, this is how I do it. Thanks for listening to my TED talk!
I’m gonna tag a few people who I admire, who I hope are interested. Feel free to ignore me if you aren’t.
Keep reading
I know this is the website where we talk about artists and writers doing anything other than making art or writing, but man, we REALLY undersell how good it feels to actually work on your stuff.
Like you hit your word count for the first time in a week and its like
April 20k Update 2
2.8k/20k
Officially crossed 50k in draft 2 of Divinity! And I finished the chapter I was working on. Next one should be the last of act 2, and then it's into act 3 and the home stretch!
I'm going to be away from my laptop for a few days soon, so I'll probably have to do a lot of catchup next week. Hopefully the words come easy!
April 20k Update 1
1.7k / 20k
Today started off strong! I typed up a couple of scenes I've had physically written in a notebook for forever, and once I ran out of that I kept going off the cuff. I made some progress in 4thewords (very thankful they changed numbers around in the desert area lol it was a bit of a slog previously) and I'm about a day or so ahead of schedule.
I did realize I need to update the outline for this draft however. I'm in the middle of chapter 16 right now, and what I'm writting is waaay off from what I had originally plotted out. Think I'm going to jot some notes down in the next day or so just to give myself a decent idea of how I want chapters to fall going forward.
It's been a little while since I've written much of anything, so I'm setting a goal of 20k for myself in April! I was able to hit that amount last year, so I'm decently confident I can do it again :)
“how did you get into writing” girl nobody gets into writing. writing shows up one day at your door and gets into you
Nanowrimo Day 30
Dawn of the final day - I have 1935 words to write reach 50'000. I got 200 in at 12am last night, lets see if I can get the rest of this done before the clock strikes 12, shall we?
Nanowrimo Day 21
Currently sitting at 834/1667- just stopping for dinner and will be back to writing in a bit. I might try to get 1800 if I can tonight, but I'm still slightly ahead so I won't pressure myself. I have been thoroughly enjoying the ambience of the freezing rain outside for writing tonight. I don't know what it is about rain, but it just *hits* when I'm working on something, y'know?
Update! Made it to 1847 before calling it quits for the night. Hurray!
Nanowrimo Day 21
Currently sitting at 834/1667- just stopping for dinner and will be back to writing in a bit. I might try to get 1800 if I can tonight, but I'm still slightly ahead so I won't pressure myself. I have been thoroughly enjoying the ambience of the freezing rain outside for writing tonight. I don't know what it is about rain, but it just *hits* when I'm working on something, y'know?
What do you mean there are only 9 days left of NaNoWrimo?? It was November 7th like yesterday???
Nano Update Day 17
I just crossed 30k for this month and 40k in the manuscript as a whole! I'm quite pleased with myself, especially because tonight I started almost two hours later then usual, and I was worried it would be tough to get the words out. But nope! Once I sat down it didn't take long for things to start flowing. Here's to hoping I can get more done this weekend!
i hope you write (i hope we both write)
hand in unedited hand
being a writer is sometimes just like
“she raised the sword - *stares out of the window for three minutes* - high above her head, its- *plays with pen* - silver skin glinting in the- *gets up and walks around the room* - golden sunlight. her face- *opens tumblr*
