Quick Tips

[dr_mabeuse]

There really aren't any rules or laws to writing, but there are tips, tricks, techniques, advice, hints, and pithy sayings that are of some use to fiction writers. It would be nice to collect these into a kind of toolbox, so that we all could possibly benefit from each others' experience.

So what's the best advice anyone ever gave you on the art of writing? (besides "Don't start", "Don't quit your day job", "Marry someone rich" etc.) What have you learned that's of use to you and might be of use to others?

I'll start with the classic"

(1) Show, don't tell
Which means: avoid telling your reader what's happening when you can show them what's happening.

(2) Write hot, edit cold
Do your writing when you're inspired or involved in the story, then wait till you're sober again before you do your editing

(3) Dialog brings a scene to life
Well, it can help.


---dr.M.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

So what's the best advice anyone ever gave you on the art of writing?

"Try to avoid writing the stuff readers skip." Elmore Leonard

"Don't bore the reader." Rumple Foreskin (I talk to myself a lot)

 

[The_old_man]

"Leave the reader room to get into the story." Lois McMaster Bujold.

 

[Wantonica]

"Leave the reader room to get into the story." Lois McMaster Bujold.

Oh my, I am getting in so deep here. However, I would so much like to say that I agree with you.

This is from a little girl who grew up without a television and was forced to read for amusement. And I loved it. (Is that a proper sentence?) hmmm, should I put a period there?

Anyway, I am just a warped girl.

Great moments,
Lascivious Wanton

 

[Alex De Kok]

This is from a little girl who grew up without a television and was forced to read for amusement.

Should be compulsory! I could happily live the rest of my life without television, cinema, even computers (which have given me a living since 1966), but not books.

Now back on topic - Tips? To paraphrase a friend of mine - Do it. The man who never made a mistake never made anything.

Alex

 

[TheEarl]

Don't patronise your readers.

The Earl

 

[oggbashan]

Write everything down. Don't think about what it means or where it will fit until you have recorded it. Then you can work on it.

If it isn't written down it doesn't exist.

Write for yourself.

Don't bother telling everything about place and position. If the bedroom is upstairs you don't have to say that the stairs were climbed.

This one I'm bad at: Cut everything out that doesn't contribute to the story.

Og

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The first sentence in a story is the hardest to write, and almost always the worst.

Corollary I: After the story's done, you can usually go back and delete the entire first paragraph and it'll be a better story.



Flashbacks are odious
You're much better off if you can incorporate the backstory into the action rather than stop everything while you explain things.

 

[Pookie]

Be true to your characters.


Pookie

 

[Weird Harold]

A wise Friend of mine said:

"Just let the words flow until you run out. Then delete the two-thirds that is total garbage and edit the remainder into something readable."

Condensed that's" Don't edit while you're writing

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The more white space on the page, the better

Corollary 1: Avoid big, massive blocks of text
Corollary 2: It's better to have more paragraphs than fewer.

(Ignore the obvious corollary about blank paper being the best)

 

[DurtGurl]

First sentence

The first sentence in a story is the hardest to write, and almost always the worst.

Dear Dr M,
That's very true. That's why the first sentence of my storeys is always something like: "AaiiiieeeeEEEEEEEEE!!!!" or "KAAAPPPOOWWWW!!!!!"

That avoids the tedium of rewriting first sentences and makes errors in grammar and structure hard to make even if you try which I dont usually.

Hope you find this helpful,
DG

 

[Graymouse]

In terms of writing scenes (and okay, so mybe I actually heard this in a screenwriting class, but it works all over) I've been told, "Come late and leave early." My understanding is that this means its generally best to start your scene with the action in progress rather than beginning with a whole bunch of backstory, and to get out quickly rather than dragging a scene on and on and on after everything that's important has already happened.

Essentially comparable to some of what's already been said, but it's concise and I like to keep it in mind when I go back over a piece--usually I find about a third of what I've written isn't necessary.

Writing screenplays, incidentally, I think is a nice exercise. It lets me practice plot development (my huge weakness) without getting fixated on writing style (the only thing for which I have any shred of skill.) Just a thought.

 

[Wantonica]

Should be compulsory! I could happily live the rest of my life without television, cinema, even computers (which have given me a living since 1966), but not books.

Alex

Yes dear, I agree wholeheartedly. In this world of satellite dishes and video stores, I am quickly bored and pick up a book to perk my lazy mind every time.

The computer can be fun, but also bores me. It is far too inanimate. I can't rip it up in disgust.

1966 was a great year. That was when I came into the world.

Have a super day!
Lascivious Wanton

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I always take DurtGurl's words to heart. In fact, they make a mild yet stimulating colonic during periods of occasional irregularity. That's why I'd like to exemplify her advice on opening a story with this sample from legendary screenwriter and author Bud Shulberg:

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!
Four slugs ripped into my gut and I was off on the adventure of my life!


Now that's an opening!

---dr.M.

 

[wildsweetone]

Edit the work of other Authors

I thought she was insane at the time when she advised me to have a go at editing. But KillerMuffin was right, it's the one area I've learned the most about writing. Thank you KM.

 

[MathGirl]

Shulberg 1, Melville 0

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!
Four slugs ripped into my gut and I was off on the adventure of my life!

It sure beats, "Call me Ishmael............"
MG

 

[openthighs_sarah]

Don't edit while you're drunk. It will seem like a good idea, but it's really not.

If you can, have someone read your story back to you, out loud. Or just read it yourself. Among other things, you'll get a feel for how well (or how poorly) you've paced the story.

Try to incorporate the word "droogs" into the opening line.

Don't underestimate your readers. That's probably impossible anyway.

Pookie wrote: "Be true to your characters." I think that's my favorite. If you're unsure, it probably means you don't know your characters well enough, so get to know them (especially the cute ones).

And my other favorite, considering that many of us write stories about incest, bisexuality, vampires, elves, etc.:

Write about what you know.

 

[Guest]

The advice I would give would be to rely on advice from those (others) that write well (and for a living).

What this thread first reminded me of was how shamelessly I rely on my handy a copy of "the little book," about US$8, The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White as my quick desktop reference, my advisor on many occasions. Certainly not a set "rules" or "laws", but this cheap, little manual has an amazingly condensed set of tried and true guidelines, the large majority of which can still be applied today in much of the writing we do for fun or professionally. To E. B. White's credit, he made this book a success for Strunk through several wonderful edits during the last century after it was first published in 1869.

So in honor of them both, I repeat the twenty-one well-known reminders here from Chapter V, "An Approach to Style," including a sentence or two from the paragraph with each reminder.

1. Place yourself in the background.
Write in a way that draws the reader's attention to the sense and substance of the writing, rather than to the mood and temper of the author.

2. Write in a way that comes naturally.
Write in a way that comes easily and naturally to you, using words and phrases that come readily to hand.
Mark Twain was a big proponent of this, too.

3. Work from a suitable design.
Before beginning to compose something, gauge the nature and extent of the enterprise and work from a suitable design.
The operative word here is suitable; layout and plan your ideas, even if they are rough.

4. Write with nouns and verbs.
Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs.
He goes on to say adjectives and adverbs aren't bad, but the most important words in a sentence are nouns and verbs. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly, to enhance their effect when they are used.

5. Revise and rewrite.
Revising is a part of writing. Few writers are so expert that they can produce what they are after on the first try.
(Except KillerMuffin. )

6. Do not overwrite.
Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.

7. Do not overstate.
When you overstate, readers will be instantly on guard, and everything that has preceded your overstatement as well as everything that follows it will be suspect in their minds because they have lost confidence in your judgment or your poise.
Almost sounds like the admonishment a judge would give a jury about someone lying under oath, doesn't it?

8. Avoid the use of qualifiers.
Rather, very, little, pretty—these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words.
(I fucking love that. )

9. Do not affect a breezy manner.
The volume of writing is enormous, these days, and much of it has a sort of windiness about it, almost as thought the author were in a state of euphoria.

10. Use orthodox spelling.
In ordinary composition, use orthodox spelling. Do not write nite for night, thru for through, pleez for please, unless you plan to introduce a complete system of simplified spelling and are prepared to take the consequences.

11. Do not explain to much.
It is seldom advisable to tell all.
As if 42", DDD, giant breasts aren't obvious enough!

12. Do not construct awkward adverbs.
Adverbs are easy to build. Take and adjective or a participle, add -ly, and behold! you have an adverb. But you'd probably be better without it.

13. Make sure the readers knows who is speaking.
Dialogue is a total loss unless you indicate who the speaker is. In long passages containing no attributives, the reader may become lost and be compelled to go back and reread in order to puzzle the thing out.

14. Avoid fancy words.
Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute.

15. Do not use dialect unless your ear is good.
Do not attempt to use dialect unless you are a devoted student of the tongue you hope to produce.

16. Be clear.
... Muddiness is not merely a disturber of prose, it is also a destroyer of life, of hope: death on the highway caused by a badly worded road sign, heartbreak among lovers caused by a misplaced phrase ins a well-intentioned letter, anguish of a traveler expecting to be met a railroad station and not being met becuase of a slipshod telegram.
Now it's a poor signal from a cell phone.

17. Do not inject opinion.
Unless there is a good reason for its being there, do not inject opinion into a piece of writing.
A little heavy-handed for story-telling, maybe, but this section goes on to describe good reasons for a "just-the-facts" approach to writing.

18. Use figures of speech sparingly.
The simile is a common device and a useful one, but similes coming in rapid fire, one right on top of another, are more distracting than illuminating.

19. Do not take shortcuts at the cost of clarity.
... Many shortcuts [abbreviations, initials, acronyms, etc.] are self-defeating; they waste the reader's time instead of conserving it.

20. Avoid foreign languages.
The writer will occasionally find it convenient or necessary to borrow from other languages.
Hmmm ... in today's world? I wonder.

21. Prefer the standard to the offbeat.
Young writers will be drawn at every turn toward eccentricities in language. They will hear the beat of new vocabularies, the exciting rhythms of special segments of their society, each speaking a language of its own. All of us come under the spell of these unsettling drums; the problem for beginners is to listen to them, learn the words, feel the vibrations, and not be carried away. ...

"But," you may ask, "what if it comes natural to me to experiment rather than conform? What if I am a pioneer, or even a genius?" Answer: then be one. But do not forget that what may seem like pioneering may be merely evasion, or laziness—the disinclination to submit to discipline. Writing good standard English is no cinch, and before you have managed it you will have encountered enough rough country to satisfy even the most adventurous spirit.



(Okay, okay. I really didn't want to work on my story, tonight. My bad. )

 

[openthighs_sarah]

Thanks, manxy. Your list makes my list look like a really odiferously underwhelming pile of toxic crap, or rather like a pathetically obnoxious dung heap, or...

(Please note the ellipses, manxy. They're for you.)



Excellent tips, by the way.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, manxy. Your list makes my list look like a really odiferously underwhelming pile of toxic crap, or rather like a pathetically obnoxious dung heap, or...

(Please note the ellipses, manxy. They're for you.)



Excellent tips, by the way.

______


(I love it when you talk dirty, especially with the words that have the "x's" in them.)

"Oh, God ... another male multiple orgasm on the way ... "


P.S. Oh, btw, you're welcome, sweetie. (... for the ellipses, that is.)

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I forgot about this invaluable, though regionally specific, piece of advice in my earlier post.

"No good southern fiction is complete without a dead mule." Wm. Faulkner

You are welcome.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Isn't Strunk & White's provenence non-fiction? Same for Chicago Manual of Style.

Still good advice, but I'd argue with some of their points.

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

Isn't Strunk & White's provenence non-fiction? Same for Chicago Manual of Style.
.
.
.
---dr.M.

_____

Certainly not.

CMOS is a remarkable style guide for all types of writing, including fiction, chock full of examples from a wide range of writing, editing, and publishing disciplines. It's a reference manual. You don't pick it up to casually start at chapter one and read cover to cover, although you could if you're really bored, but it's best used as a well-indexed compendium, covering most of the issues and FAQ's normally and typically encountered in writing and print.

As for Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, it is dogmatic in tone, loaded with thou-shalt-nots (tempered over the years by significant editing by White), and some ideas do seem out of place (maybe a little old-fashioned, anachronistic, today), but I think it largely remains a very useful and compact resource guide, again, for all types of writing.

 

[jfinn]

Know the rules before you break them.

In fiction you can basically break all the rules of writing, but it only works well if you're doing it on purpose and not because you don't know any better.

Jayne