What is your #1 writing tip?

- Write a book that you'll want to read.
- In the first draft, just write, don't think. Then worry about editing later.

 

Don't keep any beverages close to your laptop/keyboard/notes. One ruined laptop, two ruined keyboards and some tea-soaked notes are my testament to this.

 

Revise. The fact that you typed "The End" when you finished your first draft does not mean you're done. You've just gathered your raw material, that's all. Now it's time to go to work. Revise!

 

This is also a wonderful tip.

 

Some great tips have been mentioned above, here are mine!

- Think about what you want to write and not just when you are at your desk! I have gotten some great ideas while letting my thoughts wander through the story while I was travelling or waiting.
- Leave room in your writing for spontaneous events to happen. Don't force yourself to stay 'within the lines' so to say.
- Read a lot, especially the genre/kind of books you want to write, but try to reach out for something entirely different as well.
- Most important of all, in my opinion, write something you enjoy writing! Not every scene or process will be fun to write, but if you are not enjoying yourself... why are you writing, then?

 

Read with an urge to learn. Take apart a favorite passage, scene, sentence to find out why it connected with you.

Before you begin a scene do some freeform stream of conscious jotting - untap you subconscious.

 

Read!

 

Write your novel/story and then edit, edit edit and edit some more.

"The first draft of anything is shit.” Hemingway.

 

Don't plan so much that you never get round to writing. Write that draft! Get it all down on paper in one pieces - you can work out the details later.

Besides, it NEVER comes out the way you think it would, so all that meticulous planning is usually all for nothing. Don't get me wrong, I am a believer of planning - just don't do too much of it. A skeleton plan is all you really need just to give you enough direction to keep going, and then, WRITE!

 

Hi,

My number one tip? - Write.

Its a skill, an art, a science and a passion. But its nothing if you don't use it. Write. Write every day. Whether you want to or not. It doesn't matter whether its good or bad. If it's bad it'll get better. If it's good it'll still get better. It doesn't matter if you know what to write or not. That will come to you even when you're clueless. But you won't get better if you don't write. You won't find a story you want to tell if you don't write.

Cheers, Greg.

 

I'm also going to add to a previous post - Don't take any advice as the absolute-must-do-or-fail. (I always twitch a little when I see advice about writing it all out and then editing) So learn about different methods to the writing process and try them out - see what works for you and what doesn't, what tweaks you give it that makes it work for you, and remember you may have to re-visit those methods for the next book. Be flexible.

 

Be creative.

In other words don't be lazy. Work hard with your plots, characters, names, everything. Don't let anything to chance if you avoid it. Spend your time and effort focused on writing the most realistic, hilarious, creative, interesting and relatable story you possible can. Don't settle for anything but perfection. Don't stop until you literally can't do any better.

The world is filled with "relatively amazing" books. Promise yourself to stick out of the crowd with an X factor, an advantage, by being that one permille better than all the others. Even if you fail you are much more likely to be lauded and applauded. If you aren't, at least you know you've done your very best, and that's not so bad at all, in fact it's the most important thing you can do. Do your best. That's it. After that all you can do is to hope for the best. But whether by lack of quality or incredibly bad luck, you can't be expected to do more than your very best, and that should make anyone praise you, including yourself.

 

Don't care, just go. If you make a mistake, you can fix it, but avert all worry and just do what you want to do.

 

Write what you enjoy.

 

Everything is alive and wants its story to be heard , it's your job to make it happen, and be awesome at it

 

Keep trying.

 

Rejection: go and get you some!

Walk the plank.

 

Read everything

Write anything

Every day

(Not my words, but..) and remember that there are no great writers, only great re-writers.

Do not give up

 

Like any artist, I think the best thing you can do is practice, practice, practice.

Sit down and do it. Do it a lot.

Reading is like practice writing. It's like watching someone else write. It helps.

If you need something to write about, put yourself in an awkward, out-of-your-element situation. Like take dancing lessons. Alone.
Travel somewhere where they do NOT speak English (it's like being a five year old. You cannot even cross the street alone!).
Generally try to do things that make you feel very uncomfortable. Crossing a difficult stream, filled with slippery rocks and turbulent waters only does one thing. It gets you to a place other people won't go (that's why the fishing is so good!).

Read books that are like the book you are writing. Fill your mind with thoughts of that genre or time period.

 

^This!

There is a section of Queens that is almost entirely Chinese and Korean. All the signage is in one of those two languages, and it almost feels like another country. I found walking around there an exhilarating, if somewhat daunting, experience, and it occurred to me that everyone should understand what that feels like. I remember standing in a small Chinese take-out place, nothing in English, and I had to tell the person behind the counter what I wanted by gesturing. It was a good experience, not just as a writer, but as a person.

 

Parts of Quebec are just as "forn". And breathtakingly beautiful! You feel like you are somewhere else. I love when no one will help you with the language! There is so much freedom in being utterly on your own. The money is on some kind of "base 13" math system and words have more sexes than people. The only advice I will give any world traveler is that it is VERY important to learn the phrase "@#$% 'em if they can't take a joke!" BEFORE you are arrested.

When ordering in take out restaurants, a laser pointer is INVALUABLE! You can't go wrong with a "number three meal" either. Hooray for Google translate!!!! Which will get you ten pats of butter and a paper airplane instead of the Moo-shoo pork you thought you were ordering. But the adventure!!!

 

Read a lot. Write a lot.

 

This made me laugh, JetBlackGT! I was recently in the Netherlands, where I attempted to order a hamburger in a restaurant, speaking only Dutch. I must have mispronounced something, because I ended up with three of them. The waitress—who it turned out spoke perfect English—regarded me as if I was an incredibly greedy pig, typical American! 'Doggy Bag' was not in the travel lexicon, unfortunately...