First and foremost I'd like to thank terrorcandy for being so wonderful and brave and articulate and just. A truly good person. One day I hope we can hang out.
Writing major in the heezie fo sheezieultimademonMarch 27 2011, 15:43:07 UTC
1. Pick a time each day that you dedicate 30 - 60 minutes to writing. Same time each day, and try to keep the location the same.
2. Anne Lamott taught me about the 1 inch picture frame. You only need to write as much as what you can see through a one inch picture frame (in a single sitting, that is to say). EL Doctorow also said something similarly: Writing is like driving at night. You can only see as far as the headlights go, but you make an entire journey only seeing that far.
If you haven't read her book on writing, Bird by Bird, I recommend giving it a whirl.
3. I'm sure you've heard the old writing rules before: Show don't tell, write what you know, cut X% in editing, and those are all fine and good, but always remember there are specific times and places where these rules are complete garbage and should be ignored.
4. Faulkner said "Kill your darlings." It's just a phrase that means if you really like something in a story, it's hard to be objective about it. Don't kill all your darlings, but always be prepared to do so. Follow your gut.
5. Feedback is awesome. Get yourself some of that, but make sure it's from people who aren't afraid to help you grow as a writer. It's fine and well to get peeps who love everything you write, but you need a kick in the pants every now and again (if justified). You also don't want people who hate everything you write and who will be mean about it. Ask all camps for specific examples of what they liked/didn't like, read those lines/parts, and figure out why they elicited that response.
I have just told you everything you probably know... or read on the internet. Woe.
1. Resolving to do this with regularity. M must earn.... black belt
2. Can you elaborate on this? Do you mean, like, set down the details of a "scene" that have accumulated between sittings, but don't force it further? (The menu page of the Bird book looks pretty delicious by the way :9)
3. My own addition to list-of-adages would be the one about trusting your reader to visualize stuff without overzealous guidance. I like it because I rarely know what anything looks like, and also because I am lazy.
4. Ahhhhrrrr this one haha :D' I do stories primarily for myself (in private/hissing at natural light), but the chance that others might read these stories is gamechanging. Abruptly I am like THIS MEDIOCRITY JUST GOT 50% SHORTER!!!!!! yw internet
5. Only when done;;; I admire/suspect dudes who can get advice halfway and take it objectively. Whenever someone is over my shoulder or when I am made to describe an incomplete project I end up hating everything. Ironically my job is like. Doing this pm every day so idk why still weak
For the 1 inch picture frame, it's more of a technique to overcome writing blocks and get ideas flowing. You can, however, imagine your story as a painting on your wall, and choose one scene or chunk of dialogue and work through that. The spirit of it, as I gather, is to not overwhelm and discourage yourself with a writing project.
Yeah, editing and the likes is tricky, especially when you're trying not to embarrass yourself (been there, done that!). I've gotten pretty used to having my work criticize. I had to do workshops weekly for my undergrad, and there were many nice things going on (artists have delicate egos where I went, and were very careful when critiquing other's work), but the professors weren't shy about pointing out things that they felt needed improvement. I never felt my ego crushed by that. It also helps that I had my work criticized quite vigorously when I was teaching in Korea. No filter on those fine folk, let me tell you!
2. Anne Lamott taught me about the 1 inch picture frame. You only need to write as much as what you can see through a one inch picture frame (in a single sitting, that is to say). EL Doctorow also said something similarly: Writing is like driving at night. You can only see as far as the headlights go, but you make an entire journey only seeing that far.
If you haven't read her book on writing, Bird by Bird, I recommend giving it a whirl.
3. I'm sure you've heard the old writing rules before: Show don't tell, write what you know, cut X% in editing, and those are all fine and good, but always remember there are specific times and places where these rules are complete garbage and should be ignored.
4. Faulkner said "Kill your darlings." It's just a phrase that means if you really like something in a story, it's hard to be objective about it. Don't kill all your darlings, but always be prepared to do so. Follow your gut.
5. Feedback is awesome. Get yourself some of that, but make sure it's from people who aren't afraid to help you grow as a writer. It's fine and well to get peeps who love everything you write, but you need a kick in the pants every now and again (if justified). You also don't want people who hate everything you write and who will be mean about it. Ask all camps for specific examples of what they liked/didn't like, read those lines/parts, and figure out why they elicited that response.
I have just told you everything you probably know... or read on the internet. Woe.
Reply
1. Resolving to do this with regularity. M must earn.... black belt
2. Can you elaborate on this? Do you mean, like, set down the details of a "scene" that have accumulated between sittings, but don't force it further? (The menu page of the Bird book looks pretty delicious by the way :9)
3. My own addition to list-of-adages would be the one about trusting your reader to visualize stuff without overzealous guidance. I like it because I rarely know what anything looks like, and also because I am lazy.
4. Ahhhhrrrr this one haha :D' I do stories primarily for myself (in private/hissing at natural light), but the chance that others might read these stories is gamechanging. Abruptly I am like THIS MEDIOCRITY JUST GOT 50% SHORTER!!!!!! yw internet
5. Only when done;;; I admire/suspect dudes who can get advice halfway and take it objectively. Whenever someone is over my shoulder or when I am made to describe an incomplete project I end up hating everything. Ironically my job is like. Doing this pm every day so idk why still weak
Reply
Yeah, editing and the likes is tricky, especially when you're trying not to embarrass yourself (been there, done that!). I've gotten pretty used to having my work criticize. I had to do workshops weekly for my undergrad, and there were many nice things going on (artists have delicate egos where I went, and were very careful when critiquing other's work), but the professors weren't shy about pointing out things that they felt needed improvement. I never felt my ego crushed by that. It also helps that I had my work criticized quite vigorously when I was teaching in Korea. No filter on those fine folk, let me tell you!
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