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

[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.