How To Write Gooder

[shatterstripes]

A while back someone on Tumblr asked me how to get better at writing. This is what I replied.

It’s been sitting in a text editor window ever since. I decided to post it here before closing it and consigning it to the aether forever.

--

Read.

Read great stuff. Read garbage. Read stuff everyone says is garbage even though they sell a ton. Read stuff

Comments

[martes]

Ah yes, how many furry authors and comics creators I've come across who 'don't have time' to read!

When someone tell me they want to write, I ask them what was the last novel they read. "Oh, I don't have time to read."

Ditto with comics. They're about to do their magnum opus comic, and I ask what comics they like. "Oh, I don't read comics. None of them are any good." Or they'll only read one or two super-popular ones.

And the people who write tons of back story! The more world-building I see tends to be directly proportional to the chance they'll ever do anything. Ie-- when I see tons of world-building, there's a very good chance the actual product will never see the light of day.

[shatterstripes]

Ah yes backstory. Backstory is important but oh it's so easy to spend all your energy there forever and not actually write any STORY.