This week's topic is "Five pieces of useful advice you have received as an aspiring writer, either in quotes, blog posts, websites or communities."
1. Show, don't tell. An oldie, but a goodie. This makes the whiner in me come out. But it's so haaaaaard! Still, nothing has been more useful in improving my writing.
2. Practice, practice, practice. I can only get better if I just. keep. writing. That award-winning million dollar book isn't going to write itself, no matter how many chimpanzees I put in a room filled with typewriters.
3. The plot will come. This is a gem from NaNoWriMo. If you force yourself to write an insane amount of words in a short time frame, the book actually kinda will write itself. It may not be any good, but ideas will come if you force them. You can always refine from there.
4. Take the time. If I don't carve out time to write, it'll never happen. If I can make the time to blog, I can make the time to write.
5. Get online. This blog was the best thing to happen to me in 2010. I've learned so much these past five months about writing mechanics, connecting with fellow readers and writers, querying projects, and marketing myself. I will never master any of them, but this is a good step toward trying.
What advice have you received and loved as a blogger or writer?
If you're a first time visitor, or just didn't get the chance to stop by this week, here's what you missed:
Meet Myrna from ODESSA by Rebecca Ryals Russell
Author Rebecca Ryals Russell stopped by on Saturday to give us a glimpse into her main character, Myrna.
Reviews
THE CELLAR by A. J. Whitten
1/5 stars
YA Paranormal Challenge
NO PLACE LIKE HOLMES by Jason Lethcoe
3/5 stars
All Male Review Challenge
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Enjoy your weekend everybody!
8 comments:
Best advice I received was be yourself. Again, and oldie but a goodie. Don't worry about what other people are doing and don't try to be anyone but yourself.
I've heard and used the first 4 you posted. Just want to add 2 more. Poet Stanley Kunitz said to his students about revising: "Imagination and syntax tend to break down at the same point." So fixing a sentence might not fix the problem. Another teacher advised poets to read all the poems they could and told fiction folks to just start writing. Interesting to contemplate the difference.
Oh, one more thing. In writing courses, I was constantly told to develop my own "voice." I think poets need a consistent voice through all their work, but novelists often need a distinct voice for each book and their own whispering sub-voice in all their work.
Great week Logan!
You are so right about making the time to write! Essential!
Yes, good writing tips--the best thing I did last year was to do Nano. You do get some gems within the stones when you write super fast without editing. It really surprised me. I just finished that novel draft at 93K words, and I know I need to trim it down, but what a huge accomplishment.
NaNo is something I'm already planning for, so I definitely second that, plus all of your tips listed. It's so, so important to keep practicing. Great advice!
@Small - SO important. That's something that seems like it should be easy, but is surprisingly hard sometimes. :)
@DebraZ - Those are really good tips! Thanks for sharing!
@Missie - Thanks! Yours wasn't too shabby yourself. ;)
@Carrie - Now if only I could follow my own advice.
@Catherine - Last year was my first Nano and now I don't think I can go without it!
@S.G. - Hope to see you around the NaNo forums! Welcome to the blog!
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