Share a nugget of writing wisdom (chicken and gold variations accepted)

[Kerusso]

The concept is exactly what it sounds like: share a short tip you feel is important for writers to know.

[Atria35]

If you're going to write in first-person narrative, make it sound like first-person narrative. Who the heck describes anything as 'honeycombed' IRL? Think about it!

[LadyRushia]

If you're writing fantasy, don't name your character Adferightkyial von Uthergnalikul because no one can ever hope to pronounce things like that except for you. The easier the name, the more relatable the character. Note how that's not the same using common names.

[Ally-Ann]

I'm better at writing poems, but I guess I can write a decent story. I don't know how everyone else feels about this, but personally, I don't enjoy reading stories where the main character is ALWAYS perfect. It kind of makes me feel miniscule and unimportant, even though it's just fiction. When I write, I try to make it so that most of the readers can relate to the character, because, as you know, no one is perfect except for God. Oh, and if it's a fanfiction you're writing, it might not be a good idea to switch the POVs constantly. And by constantly I mean every paragraph. It's somewhat annoying.

[ShiroiHikari]

Show, don't tell.

[Okami]

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Explain.

[FllMtl Novelist]

I had a much longer post, but my browser was stupid and crashed when I tried to load chat. Hate hate hate.

First word of advice is, "Eliminate unnecessary words." If the reader doesn't need to know something, don't tell them. (>.>;; )

Also what Shiroi said: "Show don't tell." Don't spend paragraphs describing how mean someone is. Show them being horrible instead.

"Read." Like, a lot. Figure out what you like in some books, and figure out what you hate in others. Look at how the author gives his characters distinctive personalities and voices, tells you a character's backstory, constructs his world, etc.

"Write." I mean, all the time. Don't just sit there and think, "Gee it would be cool to write a book someday", do it. Think of a concept. Think of characters. Write about them. Do it as often as you can. Heck, if you don't have a plot, write character interviews or pointless short stories. But write.

"Write what you love." If you're not passionate about your story, who will be?

"Don't write something just because it's popular now." If it's not what you love, don't write it. You will be miserable or apathetic about it, and neither is good. Also, realize that what's popular now was accepted anywhere from two to four years ago, and written, polished, sent out, and rejected even before then! (More about publication below.)

"Take your time." J. R. R. Tolkien didn't bang out LOTR and The Hobbit in five years, okay? Ideas come at any time, and they can be developed any way. They can take forever to be developed enough for you to write, even if you keep prodding at it in your mind. Keep prodding, but be patient.

"Revise." No, unless you are a genius/freak of nature, your first draft will NOT be perfect. Not even if you outline meticulously. It will be riddles with spelling and grammatical errors, and plot holes, especially if it's your first work.

"Let your story sit before you read it." Before you go at it with a red pen, print it out and lock it in a drawer or put in on a high shelf where you won't keep looking at it. Let it drift out of your mind for at least a month. When you go back to it, you'll be able to see if with fresher eyes, and your mistakes will be more obvious to you. It will be more like it's someone else's work, and you need that so you can look at it objectively, as a new reader would.

"Don't polish a mess." Look at your story itself before you nitpick grammar. (I messed this up back in August, I think.) See if your characters are consistent, if the ending is right, if you need to change this part in the middle. Maybe you have to re-haul the whole darned story, but that's okay. The next rendition will be better, and besides--if you've printed or saved the original to something safe, you can always go back to your original idea later. But only after the foundation and framework of your story is sound can you fix those irritating little run-on sentences and commas running rampant on the page.

"Characters can't talk like people do in real life." Well they are capable, but you can't let them do it. Know why? Because in real life, people hardly ever say anything that's truly important. They talk mainly to fill time, and that's something you can't afford to spend a hundred words on. Think: does the reader really need to see Ellie tell Frank that today, Ellie ran into Bessie who was Ellie's best friend's cousin's nephew's old girlfriend, and who got her license revoked in her first week of driving, and the two girls had a good laugh? No. Your dialogue has to contribute to the story. The story comes first. Tweak it to give the illusion of what's realistic later.

"Accept criticism gracefully." If someone just says "Your work sucks!" that's not criticism, that's bashing. Criticism is when someone says, "I can't sympathize with your protagonist" or "The wizard is too powerful" or "The ending didn't make any sense" or it can be more vague, like: "I think I see where you're trying to go here, but there's something missing". Criticism hurts because it means you failed to communicate something correctly, or you messed up somewhere. But it doesn't mean you can't fix it. Criticism is just people telling you where the holes in your lovingly woven story are. You just gotta stitch 'em up.

"Use criticism to make your work better." Don't let it give you a meltdown. let it help you. However, be careful with this, and make sure the criticism you receive is actually useful to you: a fantasy/action fan might complain that your horror/romance has too much kissing and demons but not enough magic and sword-fighting.

"The one who has the last say is you." When someone gives you a suggestion for fixing a problem or making the book better (in their opinion), it doesn't mean you have to take it. Published authors don't always listen to their editors' suggestions. The story is yours and yours alone, and whether a space battle really would make this part more climatic, or whether you really should cut out that annoying little brother character, that choice is yours. Say thank for suggestions and consider them, but if it doesn't work in what you want for your story, don't use it. No one can force a change on you.

If you are interested in publication, "Learn about the business." Don't Google "publishing houses" and send your story to whatever names come up. Look at market listings in Writer's Market, and figure out what houses might actually accept your book. Also, read "Publisher's Weekly" to learn about what's going on in the biz right now. Did Mary Sue Books go out of business? Well that means you can't send your story to them, doesn't it? Are fantasy books becoming less popular? Well, that could discourage you if you're writing the next Star Wars and desire publication, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll fail, and it's an important piece of information to know.

"Expect rejection." Because you will get it. It's like an unspoken rule that your first query letters will be turned down. Every author you've heard of has been rejected at some point: J. K. Rowling, Timothy Zahn, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Jane Yolen, etc. Rejection doesn't necessarily even mean your story isn't any good. You can only be totally sure it means that that house doesn't want it; and if you're lucky, they'll tell you why.

***

Some things I've figured out myself have helped me as well. I say:

"Don't write if it's not what you want to do." You may have dreams of becoming an author, but is it really what you want? Is it really the right for you? Are you expecting to magically get the courage to show someone else your work, or write letters to scary agents? If things that a writer does daily are things you either hate or can't bring yourself to do, you'll probably just frustrate yourself. Your time is valuable: don't spend it chasing one dream when another one might be a better fit and excite you more.

"Don't give up." If it's your passion, don't let anything take that from you. Not skeptical parents, not bleak outlooks about publication, not your own logical mind, nothing!

"Every writer does it a different way." For instance, I outline, but most writers I know don't. It doesn't mean I'm doing it the wrong way. It's just how I roll. I don't care if Stephen King thinks it's ridiculous, it's how I do it.

"Go somewhere where you can work without distractions." I cannot --CANNOT-- write in my room if my littlest sister is in there. She will pester me with questions and break my concentration again and again no matter how many times I tell her "Yes, you can play with that but stop bugging me". My realistically ideal perfect writing situation is: I'm in my room, on my laptop, music I like (but don't love so much I must hear every word of) is playing, and there's no particularly huge crisis going on downstairs (i.e., nobody's swallowed the TV remote, or something).

"Read about writing." It can save you from making really easy mistakes that you just wouldn't have thought of otherwise. In my opinion, you'd save time avoiding a mistake that could take you anywhere from minutes to weeks to fix. That's time you can spend writing or cooking up your next story (or, you know, changing your socks).

"Don't let anything scare you." Revision, for example. You might think it's horrible. Or maybe research looks like this big gaping hole, threatening to swallow up all of your time until years go by and you haven't written a thing, your kids have grown up, and now you're in a hospital bed and lack the dexterity to type. Well, you're exaggerating (and anyway, you should do research after you've written the first draft). It's not that scary. A blank page isn't scary, it's an opportunity to see what you can do. Revision is an opportunity to make the work you've already lovingly slaved over even better. Showing it to people is an opportunity to see if what you've written is actually good yet, or if you've just been imagining it that way in your dreams, or how you can make it still better.

And whatever you do, "Have fun"~!

[bigsleepj]

When you make your notes and outlines, you don't have to stick to them. The best writing sometimes comes when you diverge from your laid out plans.

[Rusty Claymore]

When you show your workd to someone, always be swinging a large metal bat when you ask, "Did you like it?" XD

[Blacklight]

Don't force a message. Write something you would want to read yourself.

[Syreth]

Be prepared for the worst when you ask for someone's honest opinion... and be grateful for someone's honest opinion when someone gives it to you, because for a lot of people, it rarely happens.

[Ally-Ann]

Don't use empty expressions or overdone phrases. For example, don't write "He told her the honest truth." If you're telling the truth, isn't it being honest? Eliminate "honest". Same thing with "She is a doctor by profession". If you're a doctor, isn't that you're profession? "At the present time" can be switched with "currently", "due to the fact" can be switched with "because", "end result" should just be "result", "climb up" should simply be "climb", etc. And when you're writing, NEVER use "the thing is". That's poor grammar.

And don't forget the difference between "dessert" and "desert". Or "their", "there", and "they're". Basically, check your spelling.

People often use adjectives too much as well. Here's an example: "The tough men rode their dog sleds with determination through the deep snow and freezing cold of the deserted North Pole." Wouldn't the men need to be tough to be sledding in the North Pole? Wouldn't they have to possess determination? Do we need to know that the snow is deep or that the cold is freezing? Here's the same sentence with economized language: "The men rode their dog sleds through the snow and cold of the North Pole." Do we lose anything in this sentence? Nope. It's good to use adjectives, but if you use too many unnecessary ones, they can ruin a sentence.

BE CAREFUL WITH SLANG. Never use "ain't" unless your character has an accent, and don't write "He don't got". That's terrible grammar to use with anything. Period. And you shouldn't write a sentence like "He ate a apple". It should be "an apple".

I could ramble on and on about writing like I have been, but that's probably almost annoying to you guys as much as sloppy spelling and grammar is to me. Besides this stuff is probably juvenile to you anyway. Oh, well. That's just some of my knowledge of writing. Now, math is entirely different.

[LadyRushia]

^ I agree with all of the above for prose, but those rules can be bent for dialogue. People never speak in proper grammar or complete sentences. If your character has a particular area's accent, reflect that in their dialogue no matter how improper it is.

[ShiroiHikari]

...and be grateful for someone's honest opinion when someone gives it to you, because for a lot of people, it rarely happens.

This is true, in my experience.

[Ally-Ann]

^ I agree with all of the above for prose, but those rules can be bent for dialogue. People never speak in proper grammar or complete sentences. If your character has a particular area's accent, reflect that in their dialogue no matter how improper it is.

I forgot mention to that. Thanks.

[Lynna]

Think about your characters and who they are. Thik why they do the stuff they do

[steenajack]

Having writer's block? That's a time to take a break from writing for a bit. Use that time for inspiration. Grab a book and have a cup of tea. Go out for a walk. Use that time to let your story cook a bit in your brain. What if the character did this instead of that? What if this stone turned out to be this? Think to yourself those questions, you may find a new plot twist that you didn't expect before.

Also, don't be afraid to plan but also don't be afraid to stray from the plan. Let your characters speak for themselves, and give your plot a little slack. If out of nowhere a new idea sparks into your brain, don't be afraid to write it even if it wasn't part of the original outline. At the same time though, I second what Fu said about making an outline. It can help you stay on track so you at least know where you initionally want to go.

[Atria35]

Write because you want to, not because you have to.

Sure, it's a great idea to make word count goals and chapter goals- but if you're really trudging through a story and aren't happy with it, scrap it.

That's right. Scrap it. Write a story that makes you happy.

[ShiroiHikari]

One thing that might help with writer's block or feeling stalled out is to take a break from your current project and try to come up with a completely new story from scratch, and set your current project aside. I say this because while I was coming up with stuff for my (aborted) NaNoWriMo project, I got a burst of inspiration for the other story I've been working on.

[Davidizer13]

Think about your characters and who they are. Thik why they do the stuff they do

Expanding on this, imagine what your character would do in a given situation, or better yet, in that situation with another character. If they were locked in a room together, what would they say to each other and how would they spend their time?

Your characters don't exist in vacuums - they interact with the world around them and with other people (unless you're writing a character that purposely avoids those interactions), and dialogue, characterization and plot all result from those interactions. The best moments in any story often come when characters are really bouncing off of each other - fighting, exchanging poignant thoughts, etc. If your character is only interacting with or thinking about their own internal monologue, you've got a very boring story, assuming they're mentally stable.

[Ally-Ann]

Whenever I'm writing a poem and I can't think of anything, I'll write a poem or two about writer's block. A simple and short writer's block poem about how I feel that very moment always refreshes my mind. I don't know why, but it does. And it doesn't have to make sense. Just a poem to throw my thoughts and feelings out there. I don't even think of complex rythms and rhymes.

[Tamachan319]

"Go somewhere where you can work without distractions." I cannot --CANNOT-- write in my room if my littlest sister is in there. She will pester me with questions and break my concentration again and again no matter how many times I tell her "Yes, you can play with that but stop bugging me". My realistically ideal perfect writing situation is: I'm in my room, on my laptop, music I like (but don't love so much I must hear every word of) is playing, and there's no particularly huge crisis going on downstairs (i.e., nobody's swallowed the TV remote, or something).

Agreed. To add to it:
1. Find your "writing routine". I almost always have a couple thousand cups of tea when I'm writing. I almost always have classical music on when I'm writing. I almost always try to write with as much routine as I can so that I can think clearly.
2. With music, it is INCREDIBLY easy to get distracted by it. As much as possible, use CDs. YouTube, while nice, is too easy to surf around and get distracted on. So is iTunes. It's way too easy to find distractions with that. But with a CD, I can turn the volume up/down, or skip ahead/back. That's basically it. No distractions!
3. Don't be afraid of resources! I have a rhyming dictionary and a thesarus next to me on the computer right now from a poem I was trying to write.
4. Don't shun the old notebook! Notebooks, I have found, are an excellent way to write down poems. Use a pen to write in it. Then, when you cross out a word and replace it, you still see the old one. You may find that the old one works better with your next line than the new one.
5. Write in your head sometimes. I don't count sheep; I think up storylines and poems!!

[FllMtl Novelist]

I definitely agree with Tama. To add still a bit more:

1. Find your "writing routine". I almost always have a couple thousand cups of tea when I'm writing. I almost always have classical music on when I'm writing. I almost always try to write with as much routine as I can so that I can think clearly.

The time of day you write can help you, too. Some writers write a couple hours before noon, some stay up late doing it (not advised if you have somewhere to be in the morning!), and still others get up at like 4:00 am and write then.

2. With music, it is INCREDIBLY easy to get distracted by it. As much as possible, use CDs. YouTube, while nice, is too easy to surf around and get distracted on. So is iTunes. It's way too easy to find distractions with that. But with a CD, I can turn the volume up/down, or skip ahead/back. That's basically it. No distractions!

If you're writing, I recommend you turn all of your internet stuff off. Maybe leave a gmail window open so you can say hi if you see that friend you haven't heard from in months or need to know if an order went through, but that's it. If you are easily distracted do NOT reward yourself after a certain amount of time spent writing with a page of webcomics. Or a peek at all the new posts made since the last time you checked. Or a google search. Do not look something up on Wikipedia or TVTropes. Just. Don't.

4. Don't shun the old notebook! Notebooks, I have found, are an excellent way to write down poems. Use a pen to write in it. Then, when you cross out a word and replace it, you still see the old one. You may find that the old one works better with your next line than the new one.

Notebooks are also helpful with other forms of writing. I have a beat-up, ancient orange cover notebook that sat for maybe a decade before I got it. Its pages look aged, and there are some kid's doodles scattered in there. But this notebook has so many ideas and rough drafts of scenes I wrote in pen when I either couldn't get on the computer, or when I didn't think to make a document for it. My notebook is almost always nearby, and it accessible in a way my laptop just isn't. I love this notebook, even though I've probably discarded more than half the stuff in there. XD

5. Write in your head sometimes. I don't count sheep; I think up storylines and poems!!

I do this too. It's far more productive than counting farm animals. XDDD

I've heard another bit of advice recently: "Don't hold back for later." Apparently new writers tend to say, "all this cool stuff happens in the next book!" Well, why don't you put the cool stuff in the first book? There's no guarantee that there will be a second book if your first isn't really cool. It's one thing to save an idea for another project entirely, but if it's all one big story, don't make the first part boring.

[Atria35]

3. Don't be afraid of resources! I have a rhyming dictionary and a thesarus next to me on the computer right now from a poem I was trying to write.

And at the same time, use these wisely. Synonyms can have slightly different meanings, even though they're similar words. Make sure that you're actually saying what you mean.

Also: Use these with discretion. There is such a thing as too much.

[LadyRushia]

^Example from Impish Idea.

“The sun rose the next morning with a glorious conflagration of pink and yellow.” – (p.9)

- Definition of conflagration: A large destructive fire. No, CP, the sun rise was not a glorious, large, and destructive inferno.

Christopher Paolini is the king of thesaurus abuse.

[Atria35]

^ Rushia, you're fabulous! Thank you for giving me a good laugh.

[Kaligraphic]

You don't have to write everything at once. It's perfectly permissible to divide the story into layers to make it easier. For instance, you can write a very poor and rough version of the story to get the plot down, rewrite the narrative in one pass, and do another pass for the dialogue.

[Tamachan319]

And at the same time, use these wisely. Synonyms can have slightly different meanings, even though they're similar words. Make sure that you're actually saying what you mean.

Also: Use these with discretion. There is such a thing as too much.

Agreed! Too many synonyms is just crazy- but when you are looking for a certain connation of a word, the thesarus is your best friend. "Obessed with truth" and "loved truth" have completely different connations!!

[Kaligraphic]

And "truthy" has yet a third meaning.

[LadyRushia]

Read badly written books and note what makes them bad so you can avoid making the same mistakes.