Advice for a First Time Author

A lot of people will tell you to drop "the ego". Ego is good. Ego drives. But drop any hint of egocentrism you have inside. Write so other people see the picture you are seeing.

 

Gun to my head, what's the "best" piece of advice I've ever received about writing and storytelling?

Show, don't tell.

You want your reader to believe something? You gotta prove it. Give them solid evidence of why your character is such a badass, don't just say "This guy's such a badass." A scary event happened? "This shit was so scary, man." Frighten your reader.

This one little reminder transcends all other aspects of storytelling. No emotion in the writer, no emotion in the reader.

Make it real.

 

Careful though. Sometimes the room smells like sulphur, other times a sharp smell pierces your nostrils.

 

Continue reading the kind of fiction you want to write, but read analytically. How does this author build tension? How does that one reveal character? To what effect are chapter breaks used? And, most importantly, what makes this such a great story? Don't be afraid to go back and read more than once.

Good luck.

 

Then there is this:
http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/lee-child-debunks-the-biggest-writing-myths

I tell everything on my first draft then go back through on my edit and decide what and how much I want to show.
Telling also serves as a good place holder until you can figure the details and lets you keep moving.

 

Critique.

On top of your two weeks probation, you've also got to critique two works on this forum before you're entitled to post.

That's not just to make you help others, it's also the best practice you'll have at improving your own writing.

You won't like everything that's been posted here. Guaranteed. But work out why you don't like it. Is it horrendous SPAG issues? Is it plot-holes the size of a nebula? Is it the way that he tells you how the characters feel, without really showing you? And then incorporate everything that you've learned into your own work.

 

Looking for any advice for a beginning writer. I wrote paper for my English class in high school..graduated in 2012. Now I'm thinking about writing about dirt track racing in a fictional format. Any and all advice is appreciated! Thanks in Advance!

 

That's all you need. Start writing

 

I suspect you're looking for specific instructions, eg, "Do exactly this," and "Don't ever do that."

Sorry to say, those rules don't exist. Aside from spelling and grammar, there are no rules.

If you're anything like me, you're writing because you want to. You enjoy the process, you have a story to tell. Embrace that. Don't you ever fall out of love with storytelling, you hear me?

*ahem*

This topic (many have been asking questions about "the right way to write" lately) is rapidly turning me into a broken record.

Write what makes you happy. Write whatever you want, however you want. There are no rules for genre, voice, style, level of detail, or anything like that.

Just do your thing.

 

Thank you.. I guess I have been watching a tv show where a kid writes and gets published Yada Yada Yada more less what got me intrigued to start writing is that I enjoyed it in high school and I enjoy certain topics like dirt track racing so I figured I'd write about a dirt track racer and his season and I guess that's what I'm starting with..see how that goes..hardest part will be thinking of a title for it

 

Okay lesson number one: Punctuation.

 

Ya, I'll work on that.

 

Don't worry about the title at this point, something you write in your story might jump out as being the title for your book once you have it put together. BTW, I believe titles are not copyrighted, so you don't have to worry about it being unique, but it is usually best to try for that. Finally if the title is truly the hardest part for your writing effort then you have something over 99% of the rest of the forum members I believe.

 

Ya I should have worded that better.. the title for me is part of the hard part but also a big part is that I have an idea how I want to start but I have to write down what I'm thinking and see if the words start flowing after that and also gotta think of character names

 

Don't overthink it. That's my problem, I overthink it first before I write it.

Just make up some names. If your characters have to be called Howard, Nora, Shaun, or Preston until better names come up for them, then so be it. Just write with your heart first. The thinking can come later once you're done.

 

I'm pretty new at this too @Dirtrackfan3DH . The best thing I've found is just to write. What comes out might be a bit rough or even downright bad but that's what 2nd, 3rd, 4th drafts are there for.
As long as you can get what's in your head out of there and on to paper or a computer screen you're not going wrong.

Leave the title for now, you'll get that from the vibes your book gives out when you've got more pieces put together. Like @Link the Writer said, names can always be changed. I know my characters have had several different names before I settled on the ones they have now. You just know if it fits or not, if it doesn't just change them until it does.

Must mention too the guys on here are all so helpful so you're definitely in the right place for support. Good Luck!

 

Thanks everybody for the help. We will see where my writing takes me once I finally start lol

 

Not sure I agree with all the "just write it" advice. I've been looking around a number of writing forums and there's a deluge of bad writing going on that's really just a waste of everybody's time. Clearly there are a few cardinal sins to avoid that will improve your writing no end. The big three for me are:
- be sparing with adjectives
- avoid lyricism and over-earnestness (especially avoid exclamation marks and over-helpful words like "very")
- avoid flat explanations (work it into the narrative instead).

 

I agree with 'just write'. The biggest stumbling block for new writers is worrying so much about whether you're doing it right or wrong that you never actually get round to telling the damn story. Editing is the bit you can learn or at least pay someone else to do for you. Churning the story out is the bit you need to do.

 

While ultimately I agree, these are the things that really seem to come with time and experience. Trying to instill rules in a new writer, especially without copious examples and context, can send that writer down the wrong path. I remember when I was a new writer and tried, with every sentence I wrote, to follow every rule tossed around on the forum. It was impossible. It took me a very long time to get comfortable enough just to write through the work without caring about rules. It took even more practice to fully grasp what the rules meant (not just what they said).

I'm a little wary of the advice to just write whatever you want, no hold barred. But for beginners, I really do think that's likely the best approach. Learn the rules as you go. Post pieces for critique and have them picked apart precisely so you can see those rules and examples applied to your own writing. It's not like your early writing is going to be masterful anyway. Hell, my first novel is essentially beyond salvation. But that's fine, because I know why and I know how to avoid doing it again.

So write. Get a feel for it. Get some idea of what it takes to see a piece through to the end. Then have others look it over. Let it get picked apart. Gain an understanding of what might be wrong with it, what might not be wrong with it, and the reasons why. Then use that to drum up the motivation to write some more. And on it goes.

 

As Neil deGrasse Tyson once said (paraphrased), the biggest problem in our society today is that as soon as our kids learn to walk and talk, we spend the rest of their lives telling them to sit down and shut up.

Never stifle creativity. Don't do it. Let that person explore and find their voice.

 

Everyone is different. However, if I could go back in time and give myself advice when starting to write,
I would say this:

1. Go into a room and write for about an hour, or about an hour and fifteen minutes five days a week.
When finished, leave.

2. Write short stories with a beginning, a middle and an end. They can be about anything - about an object in the room - about two mice falling off a step. It doesn't matter. Make it up.

3. Writing is a craft, then an art. Learn the craft first. They are like the walls of a house. The art is the roof. Write. The first couple hundred stories build writing muscle. Keep going.

4. Understand basic grammar.

5. Read good short story writers.

6. Lower your ambitions. It takes time.

7 . Cultivate patience. It is a marathon, not a sprint.

8. Make a commitment. It is unrealistic to be motivated every day.

9. Avoid distractions when writing.

10. Get the rent paid. Sort out your hierarchy of needs. If your situation is unstable, writing is difficult.

11. Don't let a sense of failure in writing leak into your sense of self.
And don't dwell on the past.

12. Write in good light. You will damage your eyes in time.

13. Stretch. Exercise. Writing will damage you if you let it.

14. Keep writing and the idea of being a writer separate. It is all about the activity.

15. Measure success by effort. Do your best. Therefore, it is always in your hands to succeed.
Do not base confidence on the belief in your own ability. Base it on doing your best. Doing your best is different from achieving your best.

16. If you can, take the occasionally holiday, or short break.


I think Stendhal nailed it - 'Had I mentioned to someone around 1795 that I planned to write, anyone with any sense would have told me to write for two hours every day, with or without inspiration. Their advice would have enabled me to benefit from the ten years of my life I totally wasted waiting for inspiration.'

 

I'd tell young Valance to follow his own path and believe in himself. Not for glory or gain, but for himself.

 

Hmm, let's see...I'd tell myself to:
1. Stick with it! Quit giving up on your stories.
2. Don't compare yourself to other writers.
3. Write every day.
4. Write more.
5. Just, write

 

Research more into the writing field so that you can make a livable wage from it.