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Sunday, November 21, 2010

10. Writer's block is a well-known problem. There are many ways to deal with it. One way is to look at what you are doing and change it. For example, if you're writing by hand, type. If you're typing, write by hand.
9. Be a bully to your character. The worse you act toward them, the more exciting your story will be. One writer said if she could tell something to her series's main character, she would apologize for all the things she did to him. You should also think about what ever is likely to go wrong. Don't make it something ridiculous, like your character being pulled through a time portal to the stone age, unless that's the focus of your story. If they're jumping on the trampoline, being pulled through a time portal is highly unlikely.
8. You don't have to outline everything. You can if that's what you like to do, but some writers would give up writing in disgust if they had to outline things. On the other hand, one writer I know of writes hundred page outlines. If I had to make an outline that long for every story, I'd stop writing permenantly. Still, you should have a vague idea what's going to happen if you want to finish.
7. Don't dwell on pain. If, in your story, there is a fight or injury of any sort, don't dwell on how it feels. Now would be one time to display mercy to your character.
6. Suddenly is like cloves to your story. You don't need or want a lot of either. If you use a lot, it's simply too much. Watch out for a tendancy to use certain words a lot. Otherwise, your story will sound too redundant.
5. What's your veiwpoint? First person uses "I" and "we". Second person uses "you". Third person uses "s/he" and "they". Sometimes, certain stories do better with certain veiwpoints. Remember, what you put in your story is only what the character can see/hear/taste/touch/feel.
4. Remember to give your character a personality. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, preferences and dislikes, and a code of morals. Even the bad guys in your stories are real people.
3. Edit!!!! You may hate editing. So do I. But you won't sound good if Jen has perfect skin on one page and a bad case of acne on the next one, and only five minutes have passed in your story.
2. There's really no write or wrong. Sure, there's some things that are just plain good sense to do. But no one's making you describe things in perfect detail.
1. The best thing you can do to improve is write, write, write, and write some more. Oh, and did I mention write? You'll never learn unless you get your rear in a chair and you start scratching your pen across the paper.

2 comments:

  1. Cool post! I love to do posts like that! I am now an official follower of your blog!

    www.thewritingsofanaspiringauthor.blogspot.com

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  2. I LOVE EDITING! I'll be your editor.
    :) X( :P :)

    ReplyDelete