Writing Advice, Test & Tell.

It's high time I thought of a game we could play. I think I've devised one that's both intriguing for players and beneficial for aspiring writers. Exempli gratia, you.

I call it Writing Advice, Test & Tell.

I will offer what I believe to be genuine writing-related advice. The next person tests it for themselves and lets us know whether it was useful to them or not, and afterward offers their own advice.

Ahem.

Create a space that is yours - and yours alone - to write in. No exceptions! The dinner table and the lounge aren't appropriate as they invite distractions. Fill your desk or surround your bean bag with objects that belong to you, objects sacred to you. Burn your favourite incense, light a candle to set the mood. Wear noise-cancelling headphones and listen to some atmospheric music at a volume that works for you, to immerse yourself in your little world. Make the space your happy place so you want to return to it each day, and do the better part of your writing there. Make notes and jot down ideas elsewhere, but always return to your happy space before writing.

This worked really well for me. I turned my office into a zen den for the night: I used a desk lamp rather than main light, ganesh incense and a bit of meditation music. The actual atmosphere was at odds with the piece I was writing but it helped me focus.

It also helps when you don't have a two year old pouring water into your shoes.

My advice is to visit places or observe events that may bear relevance to your writing in order to absorb creativity. We had massive thunderstorms the other night so I spent ten minutes observing them to use in one of my threads. Sometimes, if I see a building or place I really like, i'll take a picture of it on my phone so that I can refer back to it later and use it.

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Create a space that is yours - and yours alone - to write in. No exceptions! The dinner table and the lounge aren't appropriate as they invite distractions. Fill your desk or surround your bean bag with objects that belong to you, objects sacred to you. Burn your favourite incense, light a candle to set the mood. Wear noise-cancelling headphones and listen to some atmospheric music at a volume that works for you, to immerse yourself in your little world. Make the space your happy place so you want to return to it each day, and do the better part of your writing there. Make notes and jot down ideas elsewhere, but always return to your happy space before writing.

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I basically already have this going on, with the exception of noise cancelling headphones, which I may consider grabbing as it seems handy especially when there's construction going on. I don't usually burn incense while I write though, so I tried that and I thought it was nice. Good tip!

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My advice is to visit places or observe events that may bear relevance to your writing in order to absorb creativity. We had massive thunderstorms the other night so I spent ten minutes observing them to use in one of my threads. Sometimes, if I see a building or place I really like, i'll take a picture of it on my phone so that I can refer back to it later and use it.

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Before my morning writing session today I watched the rain for 10 minutes. Despite the fact I wasn't writing about rain, this appreciation of nature did help me bring the setting to life. Good tip!

Mine: Make it a game!

Choose an amount of words as a goal (I recommend 500-1000, depending on how fast your write and how much time you have in your daily writing sessions). Start a stopwatch and then start writing. The stopwatch keeps running no matter what, even if you procrastinate, make a cup of coffee, or anything else. It doesn't stop until you've completed your goal.

Bonus: Every fifteen minutes, you have the option to stand up and perform some light aerobic activity for 30s-2mins. This could be shadowboxing, dancing, jumping jacks, or anything else that will get your blood moving a bit.

Keep track of how long it takes you to complete your chosen amount of words each day in a notebook or an electronic document. Don't pressure yourself to write faster, just observe the trends and think about what you may be doing differently when you're writing more efficiently.

(I've just recently started doing this and it seems to work very well)

Breaker, this might actually be what I need. I've started a new book, based partly upon what happened in my life the past two weeks. I've been needing a way to do some thing to set goals and this might work.

Thanks. I'll let you know.

Breaker, I gave your advice a go the last time I wrote a post. I tried not to let it pressure me to write faster, like you said, but I definitely felt an urgency to avoid distractions. I often take a break from writing about two thirds of the way through my post - once I have it all figured out in my head - to make coffee and give myself that last push. My partner tried to persuade me to watch Netflix and I was all No, the timer is still ticking. I must away and write.

The great Stephen King spoke thusly:

"If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time - or the tools - to write. Simple as that."

Have you read any books that you can look back on now, and think; I learned a great deal from that book - I'm glad I took the time to read it? What books would you recommend for aspiring writers to add to their collection? Not for merely collecting dust on the shelf, for reading cover to cover!

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Originally Posted by Yvonne

Breaker, I gave your advice a go the last time I wrote a post. I tried not to let it pressure me to write faster, like you said, but I definitely felt an urgency to avoid distractions. I often take a break from writing about two thirds of the way through my post - once I have it all figured out in my head - to make coffee and give myself that last push. My partner tried to persuade me to watch Netflix and I was all No, the timer is still ticking. I must away and write.

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Awesome. Avoiding distractions was actually the main purpose of this exercise. Since using this method I've been able to almost double my writing speed when I successfully avoid things like opening new tabs. I actually wrote my second thousand words today ten minutes faster than my first, despite the fact that during the second set I got up to make a coffee. In general, I've noticed that the more times I do this in a day, the faster I get.

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The great Stephen King spoke thusly:

"If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time - or the tools - to write. Simple as that."

Have you read any books that you can look back on now, and think; I learned a great deal from that book - I'm glad I took the time to read it? What books would you recommend for aspiring writers to add to their collection? Not for merely collecting dust on the shelf, for reading cover to cover!

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I'd recommend the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, although it's probably not fair to recommend a thirteen book mega-epic series for something like this. I think Stephen King's "The Gunslinger" is a great one, and almost anything written by Lee Child as he does the best job of demonstrating the power of proper phrasing of anyone I've ever read, and is also one of the great thriller writers of our time.

And my stuff. Everyone should read my stuff :P

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I'd recommend the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, although it's probably not fair to recommend a thirteen book mega-epic series for something like this.

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So, got news for you buster. The Wheel of Time is now a fourteen volume mega-epic, not counting the prequel novel New Spring or the companion book The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time.

It's a good read for disciplined ones. I remember trying to tackle it about a decade ago, but only made it to book six, Lord of Chaos before petering out. These days it's a collection of audiobooks so I should listen to it before I go to sleep at night, get it done.

I'll look into Lee Child, I don't think I've read their books. Sounds like I would know if I had.

Advice today sounds a bit hard to swallow, but if you can forgive how blunt it is it'll help you with your writing.

• Know your message.

• Find your voice.

• Write every day.

• Forget about how good you are; just write.

• Let go of your perfectionist tendencies.

• Practice and repetition make art effortless.

• Without discipline practice is undone. Persevere.

• There will be resistance. Write through it.

• Enough with excuses and do it, do it, do it.

• Believe in yourself.

That’s good advice. Very long-term-keep-at-it advice, ^_^

Starting the writing is the first step to finishing it; and yet, it’s the easiest to put off! So speaking of beginnings... start from the end. I don’t mean doing that thing where the beginning of the story is like a sneak of the future, a tease of what’s to come. I mean straight-up writing the last part of the story before anything else. That way, you know exactly what you are building toward with the rest of the story.

I love this thread.

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Originally Posted by Yvonne

• Know your message.

• Find your voice.

• Write every day.

• Forget about how good you are; just write.

• Let go of your perfectionist tendencies.

• Practice and repetition make art effortless.

• Without discipline practice is undone. Persevere.

• There will be resistance. Write through it.

• Enough with excuses and do it, do it, do it.

• Believe in yourself.

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Great advice! Seems like the kind of list one comes back to in times of trouble.

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Originally Posted by FennWenn

Starting the writing is the first step to finishing it; and yet, it’s the easiest to put off! So speaking of beginnings... start from the end. I don’t mean doing that thing where the beginning of the story is like a sneak of the future, a tease of what’s to come. I mean straight-up writing the last part of the story before anything else. That way, you know exactly what you are building toward with the rest of the story.

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Also great advice. I've heard this before, I think it was in a book about plotting, but I haven't tried it yet. Mayhaps I'll write the ending of my next thread first.

Looks like I've got homework from both of you.

Here's my advice for the day: Seek out feedback from writers who hold your respect, or even just who have more experience. Strongly consider their advice, but don't apply it unless you understand and agree with their reasoning. (Everyone is probably already doing this, but it's been particularly relevant for me recently).

Update: I have since come back to Yvonne's list in times of resistance, and found it quite helpful. I also used Fenn's advice in my solo Hanging Softly - I haven't finished it yet, but writing the last line (and a few additional lines of dialogue form the climax) first has really kept me excited about finishing it.

I love The Gunslinger and the entire Dark Tower series. I wind up reading more nonfiction now when I have time, but would love to have the time to go back and reread that whole series.

Reading is always a wonderful motivator for writing. Experiencing genuinely skilled work always challenges me to get better. I'll never be a prolific published author, but I can write things that I enjoy reading and get a kick out of, which is its own little reward.

There's been a lot of great advice here that I'd echo without reservation. I'd always suggest changing gears whenever you hit a bind; try writing in first person if you usually write third, or inserting some poetry (or even blank verse if you're a complete masochist like Breaker ;) ).