Advice for new writers

dorkelf

dorkelf

Active Member
Welcome to the 'Advice for new writers' thread. I plan to contribute to this regularly, but I also encourage everyone who wants to help new writers to respond with comments and accounts of personal experiences with writing. And I encourage new writers to submit their own comments and experiences.

The first thing I want to say in the way of advice is what I believe to be the most important thing of all: Writing is doing, not being. In other words, a 'writer' is not a practitioner of some effortless, abstract, mystical art that some select few are born into and have a special 'talent' for. It is title earned by someone motivated by angst, passion, love for Christ, sense of responsibility or other factors, who consistently practices the craft of writing until the point that it is perfected enough to become a part of his or her personal identity. The good news about this is that absolutely anybody who can read and speak can become a writer. The bad news is pretty bad though: with everything we have to distract us, including all the lulling comforts of modern life that even the most 'disadvantaged' of us enjoy every day, most of us just don't have enough motivation to become good writers, even though we may have a God-given talent for it and even desire to practice it.

Ultimately, this is exactly what this writing forum is all about. It is all about encouraging you to write, so that 'writer' may eventually become a well-earned part of your personal identity. It is all about practicing, which next to reading and learning basic grammer is the only way to learn writing. It is also about sharing, because even someone who might never develop a strong personal identity as a 'writer' still has stories to tell and experiences that can be shared through writing. Some people find other ways to express these things - visual art, music, dance - but for many of us writing is the best ticket for sharing ourselves in a meaningful way with others.

So what do you think? Agree, disagree?

Paul
 
Some people (like me) have issues with writing because you do'nt get feedback. Sometimes you have to pretend like you are telling a story to a person and fake their replies. It may sound weird, but some people get discouraged by that boring word document. Let your mind roam, let it go where it needs to go.

Also you may want to read similar material, I have messed with teachers minds by using weird wording in my papers, it is funny to hear a person speak after they have read something. You will often adapt your speach to what you have recently read, and in turn will affect how you write.

A story does not form by cramming it in, start early in the day and jot down some notes, over the course of the day you will develop and enhance certain aspects of your story, then as you feel the need jot down some more. You cant force good liturature, you have to let it develop and brew within your mind.
 
wow i found this at the perfect time. I have written very rough short stories (about 5). the shortest around 8 Word Document pages and the longest around 20. i have also been wanting to starting writing again (big writers block) i have a idea that i have been throwing around in my head and those few tips up there were awsome. thanks. I have to heart this page.
 
I think its probably about time that I posted something else to this thread. I have come to realize, after reading a few good books on writing and trying to apply some of what I learned therein, that writing and editing really are best approached as two mutually exclusive activities - not to be done at the same time. For me at least, I've discovered that they endlessly cancel each other out when they are mixed, leaving very little progress and a lot of needless typing in their wake. Therefore, the best strategy I've found is to either write without editing, or edit without writing. That isn't to say that I write for a month straight without editing anything, or vice versa. But when I'm in a creative mood, I try to write with only minimal editing - and when I'm creatively 'dry' or suffering from writer's block, I use that time to just edit and not write. I can highly recommend this strategy, it is at least worth trying.

For those of you who write frequently, I hope you'll share your own thoughts about the editing/revision process.

Paul
 
Writing Poetry

The main point in prose is the overall story.
The reader, once hooked, is usually ignoring
the choices of phrasing and rhythm and mood.
But not so in poems. They’re never ignored.
Instead they’re the focus, and can never be boring.

Wording and rhythms that work for the ear,
That sound good and are quite delightful to hear,
which rhyme well and jive well with chanting and song,
and sound quite poetic, but looked at alone
have quite little meaning, are artism’s fear.

In poems, the author must strictly reject
the phrasing and meaning the reader expects.
Whenever the reader can somehow predict
a line, or conclusion, or even a word, then
its not a poem for her anymore.

In fear of this failure, the poet is born!
So take up the pen as you’d take up a sword,
the battle for baring your soul has been joined.
Beginning with freedom to never write poems
and knowing that you don’t know how to write poems
you choose to write poems.
 
Last edited:
dorkelf said:
writing and editing really are best approached as two mutually exclusive activities
Click to expand...

Absolutely. That's why it took me 2 months to crank out chapter 1-7, because I kept reading them OVER and OVER. I found that when I just went SPLAT and finished the rest of the book, editing was much easier to do.

Also on the note of editing, here's my method and we'll see what you guys think. First, write everything. Then you read it over on the computer, making corrections as you go. Afterward I printed it all out, then made corrections on paper. Once I put those corrections inside my book, I printed it all off one last time.

Remember, as the author, you can find flaws in your work until the day you die. You, at some point, have to STOP and consider it "done."
 
Paul,

I agree with you...in everything you've said.

Kind of like answering the question, "How does one get into Heaven?"

There is one and ONLY one way.

As with writing...there is one and ONLY one way to be a writer...WRITE. Not talking about it, or hanging out in smoke clogged rooms with finger-snapping poets...WRITE.

Just DO IT. Write...right? Left? No, write.

yeah.

And as far as writing and editing. These two processes are functions of opposite sides of the brain. As writers, we're constantly faced with the Writer's Duality (read Edith Brande's book "On Writing")...the Artist in competition with the Editor. Deadly stuff here.

As you're writing, if the Artist stops to allow the Editor to creep in and say, "Hey...HEY...you forgot a comma there! WAIT! LOOK at how you spelled that word over there!" you, are not only inviting a most horrid form of writer's block (not to mention the despair we've all faced at the feeling, "Am I EVER gonna get this right?"), but you're derailing yourself, even before you get warmed up.

Shut the Editor up...let him/her know that he/she will have a chance to do his/her work...but it's the Artist's turn now.

There are cool little ways to trick your Editor...to keep him/her silent while the Artist does what he/she's paid to do (I pay MY Artist with soda and potato chips...mmmmmm chips).

Writing by hand, with pen/pencil and paper is still the best way (although not nearly the quickest way) to create manuscript...Natalie Goldberg in "Wild Mind" gets a bit overly "wordly" about the whys and all of writing by hand...but, I tend to agree with her basic premise.

Do I write by hand?...sure...all the...um...no...errr...not any more (unless, of course I'm doing free-writes in my Journal, or something)...although writing by computer is something I had to learn (yes, if you grow up without computers, you actually have to train yourself to use them...old dog, new tricks...ugh)...and you can use this (writing by hand) to your advantage in tricking your Editor...writing in all caps...timed writings...skipping every other line...switching writing instruments every other line...there are many ways...these ALL keep the Editor thinking about OTHER stuff rather than continually focusing on what the Artist is creating.

The Editor will say...all caps...ALL CAPS...that's not a cap...Is that an "L" or an "I"? 5 minutes...only 5 minutes?...what's the time?...how much longer?...quick...quick...QUICK...TIME'S RUNNIN' OUT!!!!!! Where's that pen...NO, the BLUE one...ack...not red...BLUEEEE!!!

Yeah, sounds like we're nuts...not conforming to this world...not of this world but of another...only travelers passing through...the Good Book has lots of cool stuff for growing writers/artists.

Writing and editing are two different parts of the process. It's hard...REALLY hard, fighting off that Editor...hoping the fragile Artist can get out what he/she needs to before anyone comes by and actually SEES what dribble he/she's putting down (that feeling, by the way, is another trick of the Editor to keep the artist from creating).

Ignore it...well, as best you can.

I see writing as Cranial Vomit...get it out...get it ALL out...and, when you finally have the mess, stinking and icky in front of you...THEN let the Editor out of his/her cage.

The Editor is brutal in his/her dealing with the Artist, let your Artist be the same with the Editor..."No...NO...It's not your turn. Here's a donut, go check out what trouble Gilligan is getting into."

But, get it out first, no matter how goofy it sounds, or how badly it's written or spelled...no matter who walks into the room and suddenly...quietly...begins reading over your shoulder....AAAAAAAAHHHH! Write...create.

We were made in His image, the Master Builder...Creator...Artist of the Universe. It is in our DNA, not only to worship Him, but to emulate His creative power.

The "HA" in Abraham...is part of the Hebrew lexicon...it invokes God's creative power...Look what happened when Abram became Abraham...BOOM...offspring more numerous than the stars in the sky or sands on the sea shore.

I do this in worship as well...yeall, "HEY!!!"...MAN, talk about WOOSH...

What were we talking about? Oh yeah...

Have you ever gotten into writing...feeling the flow...the creative power surging through you...and are staggered by the...the...whole experience of it? Well, you are your Father's child...with His gifts (You will do greater things than these...)...let the Holy Spirit move through you and allow you to, like Christ, create. HE created ALL things...and has told us that we can do as He did...WOO HOO! Cool stuff.

Anywho...I'm babbling...and life is calling...Please forgive me if it looks like I think I'm a know it all doofus head...I'm just babbling about two of my favorite subjscts...the Lord and writing.

Well, have a great day, all...blessings and donuts to everyone.
 
dorkelf said:
The main point in prose is the overall story.
The reader, once hooked, is usually ignoring
the choices of phrasing and rhythm and mood.
But not so in poems. They’re never ignored.
Instead they’re the focus, and can never be boring.

Wording and rhythms that work for the ear,
That sound good and are quite delightful to hear,
which rhyme well and jive well with chanting and song,
and sound quite poetic, but looked at alone
have quite little meaning, are artism’s fear.

In poems, the author must strictly reject
the phrasing and meaning the reader expects.
Whenever the reader can somehow predict
a line, or conclusion, or even a word, then
its not a poem for her anymore.

In fear of this failure, the poet is born!
So take up the pen as you’d take up a sword,
the battle for baring your soul has been joined.
Beginning with freedom to never write poems
and knowing that you don’t know how to write poems
you choose to write poems.
Click to expand...

I don't like poetry compared to prose :3
 
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