Some random writing tips


Put your phone far enough away that you can't reach it because being too lazy to get up > desire to reach phone = you'll be forced to write

Listen to Hans Zimmer soundtracks, they're literally written to keep you engaged and they help you focus

When you're line editing, put things that will take more thought [in brackets] so that later you can just search the documents for the brackets and find all those things at once.

If you're stuck on one thing in the document, go to a different thing and work on that. Your mind will be clearer to deal with the problem when you come back.

If you're struggling to begin something, even an outline(cuz I do a lot), title it like this: Outline 1, But This is the Sucky Version. If you give yourself permission to suck or outline it in a way where if it's the worst it doesn't matter, it makes it so much easier to begin.

Don't open the word document or look at the page until you already know how you're going to begin. The blank page is terrifying and you think clearer when you're not looking at it. Also, this way when you do open the document and start putting in stuff right away, it makes sure you hit the ground running.

Don't worry about making the scene tidy the first time around. Just write down all the things that come through your head, even if they're repetitive or nonsense or not very good. That way once you come back around to edit it, you have all your ideas out on the page, and you can assess what you're working with before you cut the scene down to just the stuff you really want to keep.

They say don't use adjectives, but I'm going to tweak that advice as per a post I saw from someone else: only use an adjective if it changes the noun in an important way. The example the post gave was this:

She smiled happily

She smiled sadly

See, if you were to remove the 'happily', the meaning of the sentence would stay the same. Smiling is a happy expression, you don't have to say she smiled happily. But if she smiled sadly, how else can you tell the reader that without adding the adjective? You can't. Sure, using a noun without a adjective is punchier and looks better, so most of the time, yeah you should try to eliminate most of them. But there are may times where it's important that word stays.

Comments

  1. I love all of these tips, especially the last one! (I love brackets. They're so useful! Right now, I'm writing in the first person, and using brackets for the thoughts of other characters, when they pop up in my brain, as they do, so that I can see/remember their motivations when I edit.)

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    Replies
    1. That's awesome! Brackets have seriously saved me so many times.

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  2. This is so, so helpful - thank you!! :D

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