"I've never been more proud in my entire life."
"But honey, what about our children?"
"Yeah, they're cool I guess."
Now, I'm certainly no writing expert- the only thing I'm an expert on is useless pop culture trivia and the art of terrible puns. But if we had to be experts to give advice on something, how would society function? Climate change deniers would have to actually listen to scientists, people would understand statistical principles like when to use the mean vs the medium, and Piers Morgan would have never been allowed near Americas Got Talent. Nobody wants that. Ahem.
Regardless, there have been quite a few things I've picked up while writing that have been of great benefit to me. Good resources, helpful exercises, and productive ways to think about your writing that are helpful whatever amount of experience you have. Here are a few of them.
And no, basic advice like "read and write consistently" or "edit, edit, edit" aren't here. I know you know that by now.
4. Thesaurus.com is Your Friend
William Faulkner once said Ernest Hemingway "has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." Hemingway, being the Notorious B.I.G. of American literature, responded with "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use." Oh snap!
"Fuck fist fights and lane scuffles/pillow case to ya face make the shell muffled"
I tend to write in a style similar to Hemingway's in that regard, in that I try not to be too verbose. If a simpler word suffices, then I don't feel a need to be flashy and send readers to the dictionary. Personally, I love finding new words to play with in my own writing, but as a reader I also enjoy feeling captivated by a story. If I have to take a break because there are words I don't understand, then that spell can be momentarily broken. I want to avoid breaking the spell for my own readers as much as possible.
Even with my relatively simple writing outlook, however, there are still a lot of uses in consulting a thesaurus. One is that you simply don't want to repeat words too much. Some stories involve repeating certain actions, for instance, but you don't want to describe everything exactly the way you had before. It'll feel mechanical when you're writing it, and repetitive when someone reads it. Instead, hit up your friendly neighborhood internet thesaurus and find different ways to articulate what you wish to say.
Another important reason to use an online thesaurus is that different words have different connotations. Two paragraphs above this one, I used the word "captivated" when describing what a well written story does to me. I had originally wanted to use the word "engrossed", but felt it wasn't exactly what I wanted to say. A quick trip to thesaurus.com gave me a list of similar words, and "captivated" seemed the most appropriate for what I wanted to say. The two terms are of course basically the same, but sometimes one just feels more right than the other.
The final point I will mention here is dialogue. Different characters use different words for various reasons- their culture, their education level, the place(s) they have grown up, the popular culture they interact with, their peers, and so many more reasons I couldn't even begin to list them all. If the dialogue between characters sounds interchangeable, your dialogue needs work. Sometimes it can be as simple as having some characters respond with "yeah" or "yep" instead of "yes" because it is truer to who they are (or the situation at hand). Other times, using a thesaurus can be a huge help in giving different characters their own distinct vocabularies.
3. Write a Profile for Each of Your Characters
There is a common saying in writing fiction that you'll know more about your character than your readers ever will. You have to have a definitive, clear-cut understanding of everything about your character if you want to convey who they are when writing. No matter how integral your character is to the story at hand, even if their pasts and their families and their beliefs explicitly play a role, you still can't communicate everything about them without straight up word vomiting information at your reader.
You don't want to do this to your readers.
One thing that has really helped me keep track of my characters is creating detailed profiles about them. In a separate Word document, I'll whip up detailed descriptions of everything I can think of about each character, even minor ones. The basics minimum for these profiles include your character's life story, their personality, their motivations, and whether they prefer east coast or west coast hip hop. Any other detail you can think of that might be relevant- their height, their ethnicity, their favorite movie, their sexuality- belong in this profile if they are relevant to the story.
Writing a profile for your characters helps give you a clearer understanding of who they are. Sometimes, in fact, when you create a separate document and start writing about your characters, you get even more ideas while writing out the profile. Just like you can get inspiration for what to add to your stories while in the middle of writing them (more on that in a moment), the same can happen when you're writing about your character.
This profile also means you can more efficiently describe parts about your character that are important. So many English teachers and beginning writing classes teach you to write in as much detail as possible, and for good reason: being able to visualize a person or scene or object is important. But if you mechanically describe everything about every character, it'll feel like a chore both to write and read those descriptions.
When you understand a character well, you are more easily able to describe what is important about them. For instance, their height probably isn't important- unless their height doesn't match up with the rest of their family's, or it is a barrier to them getting on the basketball team, or they are so tall it is harder for them to find cover in a shoot out.
One of these men would have a much easier time hiding behind a three foot wall than the other.
Finally, understanding your characters better can give you a better idea of the types of actions they will carry out and the types of decisions they will make when confronted with certain scenarios. Speaking of which...
2. Don't be Afraid of Not Knowing the Plot Ahead of Time
A lot of newer writers- and I definitely had this problem in the past- are afraid of beginning to write because they don't know how their story will end ahead of time. It is a reasonable fear, as going into a story without knowing how it will end is scary because you don't want to mess it all up. Its like going into college without knowing what you want to do afterward or fighting a pterodactyl without an electric guitar- its terrifying because you're not sure where everything is headed.
Still, as with any almost any other reason not to write, it should be disregarded. When you have characters you understand who make their own decisions, you will create a chain of events that will often answer your questions about what happens next for you.
Other times, when you're trying to think of other problems to throw at a character, writing can help give you that inspiration. This is especially true for when you're establishing your character(s) and everything else in the beginning. Setting up what is "normal" in that world can help you think about what types of situations would be out of the ordinary.
Like if you had to watch a play that hilariously parodies you and your group of friends, for instance.
Right now I have four different short stories I am writing, and I have varying levels of certainty for how each of them will end. For one of them, about a woman signed up as a soldier in a sword and shield warfare type setting, I know exactly how it will end because the story is supposed to be an allegory. With the second story, about a group of high school friends who have to start thinking about what they want to do after graduation, I know that the climax will be one of them attempting suicide for reasons I have already decided; the general story draws from my group of friends and the suicide attempt is based on something that happened with a friend of mine. Where the rest of the overarching plot goes, though? That is anyone's guess.
In regard to the third, about a boy who gets a job working at a thrift shop, I have a vague idea of how it will end. I know the direction I want to go with it, but I don't yet know exactly how we will get there and how much that chain of events will affect what I have in mind. Finally, with the fourth story, I have no idea how things will end. The premise is the protagonist finds out reality isn't real thanks to his quantum physicist dad, and he and his girlfriend try to cope with living in an existence that is apparently "fake." I have no idea where this story will go, but we'll see as I continue to write out how they cope with and react to the situation.
What is important to understand here is that I am actually in the process of writing each of these stories right now. Each of these stories are at least a few pages in. I'm not waiting until the perfect bolt of inspiration hits me. Sometimes I'll know exactly where I want to go, sometimes I'll simply conjure up a few characters and a scenario and let it play out. Just as with anything else, its far too easy to come up reasons for why it is not the right time to start.
Fuck that, the time is now. Believe in yourself, because you are capable. You'll be able to find what you need in your story, even if you don't have all the answers right now. The most important part is that you start and show yourself what you can do.
I'm going to repost this article from my last post, because I can't reiterate this enough: GSP almost quit MMA when he felt discouraged, but stuck with it and went on to become one of the best MMA fighters of all time. This could be you as a writer or anything else, but only if you actually start what you've been meaning to start and stick with it.
1. Surround Yourself with Productive, Passionate People
As a writer, anyone will tell you that you should spend time with people interested in writing. People who can critique your works, who can share resources for editing and publishing, who can connect you to their own networks of people, who can fill you in on all the things you never thought about (formatting, finding someone to design the cover for your book, etc), and of course those people good looking enough to write Blogspot posts giving other writers advice. Surrounding yourself with other writers, whether online or in person, is one of the most important and helpful things you can do if you're serious about this whole 'stringing together words and whatnot' thing.
Through my own personal experiences, I've also found that being around people who are passionate about pursuits other than writing are still extremely helpful to be around. A lot of my closest friends enjoy short fiction, but are more focused on other pursuits. One of them, for instance, has quite a few story ideas, but spends more time drawing and playing his keyboard. Another close friend of mine is passionate about too many things to name, but right now is focusing on playing his guitar and writing song lyrics.
People who pursue what they want to do are important to surround yourself with, even if you don't share the same exact passions. Even if you like writing and your friend likes soccer, the process of getting good is the same: study the greats, get advice from people who know what they're talking about, and practice, practice, practice. Surrounding yourself with as many people who have that mindset as possible is healthy, because you're learning those positive habits and outlooks even if you are applying them in different avenues.
Because you share similarly productive mindsets, you can also help encourage and push each other.
What happens when you team up with other supportive, dedicated people.
Yes, when you tell someone who wants to become a sculptor that you're having trouble writing dialogue, they probably won't have much to give you in the way of advice. But if you tell them you feel like you're not getting anywhere, no matter how much you try, that is advice anyone who tries to build their own talents can relate to. There is a chance they might have some words of wisdom to offer you that can help phenomenally. I've had some of my best encouragement come from close friends like the ones I mentioned above, who don't do the exact same things as me.
When you finally do complete a story, your sculptor friend (or violinist friend, or judo friend, etc) can feel genuinely happy for you because they can draw from their own experiences of how they feel when they finish their own creation or finally get down something they've been practicing. There is something special about letting a friend know you finished something you've been working on and they respond with an authentic smile, one that lets you know they legitimately understand the sense of accomplishment and pride you're feeling at the moment.
So surround yourself with committed people. You deserve to be around people who can push you to do better and lift your spirits if you're feeling discouraged. Your stories deserve to be read. There will never, ever be someone in the history of existence who has the same combination of personality, life experiences, aspirations, fears, and world outlook as you. Not a single one. In other words, you have the ability to create stories that no other person will ever be able to create in quite the same way. You bring something to the table no one else can, so don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't do something.
Good luck writing, and I hope these tips help!
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