Tip-Top Writing Tips
07-23-2011, 12:46 PM
Sooooo...these are just a few observations I picked up here and there concerning writing and tips thereof :3
take everything with 1 pillar of salt, after meals
BEING A WRITER
1. Be observant. I find that often overhearing conversations or seeing something as mundane as, say, an empty bus, is enough to trigger a thought process. Thought processes are good stuff.
2. Be knowledgable. The more information there is in your head, the more stuff there is for a brain to connect facts and events and ideas to. You could be reading about a controlled nuclear detonation in the 1960s and you might suddenly start thinking about soil liquefaction! And then you would have a story about shockwaves in the Earth created by nuclear detonations that lie dormant, waiting to strike. Or something (that was a really stupid example. Dammit). You also don't have to look things up as much, and won't have to go back and correct a story because one of your (human) characters does something humanly impossible like jump 50 meters across a superhighway.
3. On that point, know your measures! It's a common problem of mine: I cannot actually envision a distance more than a meter. It gets difficult past about 5. And a kilometer is actually beyond my comprehension. This is why I have been guilty of creating kilometer-high towers (i.e. BIG ONTO THE SUN) in stories before, by dint of needing a tower and not really understanding how high up a kilometer is.
...that's probably why I'm also failing at Astrophysics. DAMN YOU PARSECS AND LIGHTYEARS AND ASTRONOMICAL UNITS
4. Sleep less. Sleep-deprived ideas, unlike drunk ideas, are the best ideas. Also maybe get sick into the bargain, fever dreams have created some of the most lasting literature of our time (actually, all the ones I can think of were drug abuse. But don't do that. In fact, don't do this either, it's not good for you and you build up a resistance to coffee).
WRITING A GRAND BATTLE
1. Past tense. It's the standard and violating it leads to demonphones. Fair warning.
2. Talk to people. Talk to your fellow authors, your Grandmaster, talk to your peers and your pets. Don't talk to strangers unless they are suitably arty and have a beret (even if it is just to steal it). Discuss plans and things, because a noninteracting character is a bad bad eliminatey character.
3. Throw yourself into it. This is a competition, people! Burning daylight and daylight does not burn pretty. Even though GBs can last for a long time, don't let this fool you. Your GM may decide to move things along in the blink of an eye, and where does that leave you? Make plans, enact them, and keep writing the best you possibly can!
IDEAZ
1. Write them down. Cannot stress this enough - write. them. down. It's said (well, Douglas Adams said as far as I know) that the human brain can only juggle seven things consciously at the same time. You can bet if you don't write your brilliant idea down it'll be gone like a breeze, off to be had by a more determined and focused writer, and your head will be full of useless things like 'I left the oven on' and 'my house is on fire now, claim responsibility or insurance?'
2. Research them. Chances are, something similar's been done. If there has been, look at it and see if you can have another take at it or can improve on it. If there hasn't (or Google says there hasn't) then learn as much information as you can on the subject! You don't want a critical part of the story to hinge on an erroneous fact. It's possibly your sources are misinformed.
3. Don't toss any. There is no such thing as 'too stupid' or 'intractable' or 'I can't write this'. Even if it's a cheese who falls in love with a rainbow and lives in a magical land with a pile of dollar bills who like to go walksies in the real world and cause inflation. There's got to be something in there worth using. At least the cheese is imaginarily nommy. :3
...So yes! I'm going to have to cut this short because it's late, but feel free to post up your own comments and tips and ideas and cheeses! <3 you all, night night
take everything with 1 pillar of salt, after meals
BEING A WRITER
1. Be observant. I find that often overhearing conversations or seeing something as mundane as, say, an empty bus, is enough to trigger a thought process. Thought processes are good stuff.
2. Be knowledgable. The more information there is in your head, the more stuff there is for a brain to connect facts and events and ideas to. You could be reading about a controlled nuclear detonation in the 1960s and you might suddenly start thinking about soil liquefaction! And then you would have a story about shockwaves in the Earth created by nuclear detonations that lie dormant, waiting to strike. Or something (that was a really stupid example. Dammit). You also don't have to look things up as much, and won't have to go back and correct a story because one of your (human) characters does something humanly impossible like jump 50 meters across a superhighway.
3. On that point, know your measures! It's a common problem of mine: I cannot actually envision a distance more than a meter. It gets difficult past about 5. And a kilometer is actually beyond my comprehension. This is why I have been guilty of creating kilometer-high towers (i.e. BIG ONTO THE SUN) in stories before, by dint of needing a tower and not really understanding how high up a kilometer is.
...that's probably why I'm also failing at Astrophysics. DAMN YOU PARSECS AND LIGHTYEARS AND ASTRONOMICAL UNITS
4. Sleep less. Sleep-deprived ideas, unlike drunk ideas, are the best ideas. Also maybe get sick into the bargain, fever dreams have created some of the most lasting literature of our time (actually, all the ones I can think of were drug abuse. But don't do that. In fact, don't do this either, it's not good for you and you build up a resistance to coffee).
WRITING A GRAND BATTLE
1. Past tense. It's the standard and violating it leads to demonphones. Fair warning.
2. Talk to people. Talk to your fellow authors, your Grandmaster, talk to your peers and your pets. Don't talk to strangers unless they are suitably arty and have a beret (even if it is just to steal it). Discuss plans and things, because a noninteracting character is a bad bad eliminatey character.
3. Throw yourself into it. This is a competition, people! Burning daylight and daylight does not burn pretty. Even though GBs can last for a long time, don't let this fool you. Your GM may decide to move things along in the blink of an eye, and where does that leave you? Make plans, enact them, and keep writing the best you possibly can!
IDEAZ
1. Write them down. Cannot stress this enough - write. them. down. It's said (well, Douglas Adams said as far as I know) that the human brain can only juggle seven things consciously at the same time. You can bet if you don't write your brilliant idea down it'll be gone like a breeze, off to be had by a more determined and focused writer, and your head will be full of useless things like 'I left the oven on' and 'my house is on fire now, claim responsibility or insurance?'
2. Research them. Chances are, something similar's been done. If there has been, look at it and see if you can have another take at it or can improve on it. If there hasn't (or Google says there hasn't) then learn as much information as you can on the subject! You don't want a critical part of the story to hinge on an erroneous fact. It's possibly your sources are misinformed.
3. Don't toss any. There is no such thing as 'too stupid' or 'intractable' or 'I can't write this'. Even if it's a cheese who falls in love with a rainbow and lives in a magical land with a pile of dollar bills who like to go walksies in the real world and cause inflation. There's got to be something in there worth using. At least the cheese is imaginarily nommy. :3
...So yes! I'm going to have to cut this short because it's late, but feel free to post up your own comments and tips and ideas and cheeses! <3 you all, night night
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So very British / But then again | People are machines Machines are people | Oh hai there | There's no time
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Superhero 1920s noir | Multigenre Half-Life | Changing the future | Command line interface
Tu ventire felix? | Clockwork for eternity | Explosions in spacetime