quick poll

[aruan]

Despite reading a lot of good fic in this lovely fandom vast and wide, I blame a combination of journalism and poor nutrition on my inability to feel anything for this story I'm writing and want so desperately to be good.

So, as brief or as detailed as you please, what's the single best writing tip anyone's ever taught you/you've divined/gotten from a fortune cookie? Though maybe not that cookie thing, those aren't usually well-written.

At the moment, I'm going line-by-line and remembering to show, not tell.

Comments

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Hi, just popped by because you friended me, and here you are talking about one of my favourite things :)

The best thing I've ever figured out about writing: write to make myself squee. You know, those scenes that just make you burn with the yes of it? Like that, for as many scenes as you can in any given story.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

A very good friend of mine has you friended, and I liked the way you wrote about writing, the speed-dating snippet (John's sister totally WOULD) and that you seem to have unabashed affection for Ben Affleck. That last one's almost impossible to reconcile for most people, so I try to like Forces of Nature very quietly.

Mmm, I know the ones you mean. It's sometimes even something small, a single line or gesture, but yeah, even the ones that lead up to what you really want happen need to crackle. Problem here is that this story is mostly angst from beginning to end, with a little guilty-but-necessary sex in the middle, so it's hard to be enthusiastic when I know all I'm going to do is break hearts and not resolve anything. But yes, if you're writing something that you don't want to read, it's a v. good sign that there's a change of scenery necessary.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

unabashed affection for Ben Affleck. That last one's almost impossible to reconcile for most people, so I try to like Forces of Nature very quietly.

Yeah. I don't get the Ben Affleck hate at all. And I share your love of Forces of Nature, but then I'm a sucker for frienship romances.

so it's hard to be enthusiastic when I know all I'm going to do is break hearts and not resolve anything

Oh, but there's nothing like writing a scene that has you sobbing as you type! It hurts so *good* :)

[synchronik.livejournal.com]

Delete adverbs.

Best tip I ever got.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

They pretty well beat modifiers out of me in journalism school, but yeah, that's a rule I of the effusive run-on sentences that are more like bursts of emotion than coherent thought would do well to remember. I love that even if we took out all of the adverbs in English, we'd still be able to express ourselves without losing a lick of nuance. Strong verbs, strong verbs, strong verbs...

[whynotsaylove.livejournal.com]

you are only allowed three exclamation points in your life. it makes you describe the excitement in words instead of falling back on punctuation to do it for you. :)

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Ah, thankfully while my prose did go through embarrassing shades of purple during the height of my gothic romance phase in middle school, exclamation points have not been a sore spot in my writing repertoire. But I get the deeper spirit of what you're saying - don't rely on conventions and shortcuts to elicit emotion. Excellent tip, thank you.

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Write, then edit. Get that crappy first draft out there, all the way to the end and let it breathe for at least a minute before you go back in and start whaling away at the edit. And then be brutal.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

God, yes. Anything of mine that actually gets finished is done in this hazy, self-denying burst of productivity that comes from a nether place I can't even meditate to. I made the mistake of walking away from it thinking that I could use some food and showers help me think, and that was almost the end of it. But a rough draft does exist, only all I've really done since then is change words here and there.

The be brutal part though, I'm getting that. I love that I'm going back and realizing I've basically inserted cliches where I needed to say something important but didn't have the words, so they're there as obvious placeholders for something that hasn't been written a thousand times and again. But yes, finishing the frame always makes that sort of thing easier, because you know what you want to say and how to get there, even if at the moment it's the road less traveled rather than something navigable.

Wow, /bad metaphors.

[glendaglamazon.livejournal.com]

I agree with what everyone has said. I'd add to synchronik's comment about deleting adverbs; as you're deleting the adverbs, find a better verb. Instead of "he walked briskly down the hall" write "he strode down the hall." That sort of thing. There are so many wonderful words that get ignored.

Also, eliminate all intensifiers. Very, really, quite, rather, etc.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Intensifiers! Yeah, me and superlatives, it's a beautiful thing except they don't much serve the writing in the end. Which they rarely do, because English has so many beautiful words that sit on dusty shelves due to our laziness in finding something that expresses us accurately, instead of just quickly.

[jdq.livejournal.com]

mine might be more of a precursor to writing. Take a single moment or action and write down every possible thing to describe it. If you look at somebody walking just tear it apart and figure out how she's walking, why she's walking like that, how her arms swing, etc. all that stuff. It's always helped me.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I really like this. Taking a look at gestures and dialogue and having to justify it not only forces an economy and purpose to your characters' actions but makes for a better-told story. Can't have the actors distracting us with props and all that. And it might be a clue to their character that they can't stand in a room without fidgeting or leaning against something, or it can be a huge tell as to what they're actually thinking as opposed to what they say they are. Many thanks.

[xalxuffasch.livejournal.com]

While I learned this earlier, I still give credit to the one and only, Ms. Miles: Writing the standard five paragraph essay for an AP will get you no where, unless its a wonderful, and natural, five paragraphs.

As an aside, I'm going to be in Orlando, with free time, next Friday. I would very much like to come visit, if you are amiable. Give me a call when you get a chance, and we'll try to get something done if you have the time.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

I totally lied and will in fact be working as of *1:30* Friday afternoon, but if we can still work something out in my little hamlet, that'd be fab. Gimme a ring tomorrow, I'll sleep with the phone by my bed.