Writing Tip:
While you might be tempted to punish yourself for not writing, I find the opposite works so much better, reward yourself for getting writing done. Have a prize waiting for you if (and ONLY if) you get that writing you wanted done today. Try it out!
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Writing Tip:
The ability of a writer to come up with excuses not to write is a titanic force not to be underestimated. You're essentially tricking yourself, and that's not something you'll notice easily. Be aware when you suddenly come up with a reason to stop writing.
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Writing Tip:
Getting into a writing groove means limiting distractions. Some of these are obvious, but we often heap distractions onto ourselves. Turn off phone notifications, don't check your email every five minutes. And, of course, no doomscrolling social media.
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Writing Tip:
Reduce, reduce, reduce. When you edit, see if you can trim your sentences without losing the meaning. Being flowery and poetic with your words is great, but there are often a lot of unnecessary words or phrases we all use that can get cut pretty easily.
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Writing Tip:
Don't be afraid to make mistakes in your writing. You won't get it perfect the first time. You can go back and fix it anytime. Just don't obsess over it. Focus on writing first, fixing it up second. Your first run should be just having fun with the world.
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Writing Tip:
Take note of the mistakes you've made while writing. Even just a quick mental note. Notice the patterns. Those patterns are inherent flaws in your writing process that can be fixed with practice and dedication. It's hard to do, but improvement is possible.
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Writing Tip:
You don't need to have a massive library of well-read books to be an author. It helps, for sure, but all it takes to be a writer is the desire to put words on a page. The rest, as they say, is up to you. Every journey begins with a single step.
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Writing Tip:
Ideas can come from anywhere. Read lots of books, sure, but you can also get good ideas from film, television, anime, comics, webcomics you name it! Inspiration is universal.
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Writing Tip:
Every story has the potential to be incredible. Even if you're not some 5-star author of great renown doesn't mean you can't write something amazing. All it takes is a good idea and a boatload of willpower to turn a dream into reality. So give it a try!
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Writing Tip:
One of the hardest things you're going to have to do is sit down and write. It's getting started during a writing day that is the most excruciating. You'll come up with all sorts of excuses. Ignore them and just get something, anything down!
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Writing Tip:
Write what you want to write. Let your hair down and enjoy the experience. The only one reading your words while you write them is you. Editing and test reading will come later, but that's later. Let yourself be free while you're in the act of creation.
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Writing Tip:
Designate a writing-free time. A time where you absolutely do not do any writing. Maybe it's an hour before you go to bed. Maybe it's breakfast. Set limits so that you can go wild during your actual writing time.
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Writing Tip:
Your editor/test reader might say 'oh, so it's like 'X' story'. Don't despair that they found something similar. That doesn't necessarily mean you ripped it off. Stories have similarities. The trick is to make your story your own even with similarities.
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Writing Tip:
Don't rush your story. If you're rushing toward that awesome ending you've planned, you might just miss all the important setup necessary to make that ending as awesome as you imagined. It's like building a house. It needs strong foundations first.
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Writing Tip:
Speed isn't key. While writing fast is a great skill to have, don't focus on writing fast over writing with quality. It's actually more efficient. Write with quality and you'll have less mistakes to go back and edit, saving time in the long run.
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Writing Tip:
A scene doesn't have to be perfect. Perfection is overrated. You can go back and edit it as much as you feel comfortable, but at the end of the day, you gotta move on. It's okay to do it when you feel the time is right.
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Writing Tip:
Play with your dialogue. Not everything has to be a flat conversation. You can have, for example, one character take another aside for a private whisper, or have another character speak vaguely enough so that only one person understands them.
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I 100% everything in #Hades2. And yet I'm still coming back to it because of a new game mode they introduced in the latest patch, which by the way, they didn't even announce in their patch notes. Now THAT's confidence. Hades 2 was my game of the year for a reason. It rocks.
It's kinda perfect that #Starfield and #Hades2 released free content at around the same time. Starfield releases content that should have been there in the first place and doesn't actually improve the game. Hades 2 releases an entirely new free game mode and even more content. That says something.
Funny how often the cost of a game these days is equally disproportionate to how much fun I've been having. I'll play $80 AAA titles for less time and enjoyment then a simple $20 indie title. Funny how that works, huh?
Writing Tip:
Don't stress about the mistakes you might make while writing. Those will come, sure, but stressing about them doesn't prevent them. Just have fun writing. You can worry about mistakes after you've got something solid down first.
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Writing Tip:
Sometimes the best way to get out of a slump is to open a blank word file and write some trash. Don't worry about quality or even sense. Just get those emotions out onto the page. Enjoy the act of just writing until you feel ready to get back into it.
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Writing Tip:
You may have complete control over the narrative, but not over your readers. You can't force your readers to like what you wrote, nor should you obsess about that. Write what you want to write. If the reader likes it, great! If not, that's fine too!
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Writing Tip:
As an exercise, trap four of your characters in an insanely long car ride. A road trip. What happens? Who is fiddling with the radio? Who is asleep in the back seat? Do they get along or are they at each-other throats within ten hours into the drive?
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Writing Tip:
Your characters are not static. They shift. They change. It might be subtle, but a character should not be the same person they were when the story started. Even if it's just that they learned something new, or had a slight change in circumstances.
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Writing Tip:
Learn to reread your own work. It sounds like such a simple thing, right? Not when you've reread the story 100 times. It takes serious mental fortitude to pay attention and not skim while going over the same material one more time for good measure.
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Writing Tip:
Keep your injury levels consistent. If you have your main character walking off an otherwise fatal wound, then you can't give another character a dramatic death scene with the same type of wound. Your readers will notice the inconsistency.
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Writing Tip:
Not every moment in a story has to be bombastic. Moments of quiet can be just as exciting. Tension is not always born from explosions and punching. You can have an extremely tense scene of two people casually chatting in a cafe. It just takes setup.
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Writing Tip:
As an exercise, describe the room your character lives in. Their bedroom, for example. Go into detail. What personal quirks would you see? What flashes of personality could you glean from whatever knick-knacks they keep strewn around?
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Writing Tip:
Jumping right into writing isn't for everyone. Some folks need a warmup to get their engines going. Do something to jog your writing brain, like a crossword or reading a short story. It's okay to ease your way into it.
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