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Writing from life’s experiences
No Comments »29th December, 2010; Category: Quotes, Short Story Starters, The Writer's Life, Writing Hints
“When a writer is born into a family, that family is doomed.” Czeslaw Milosz
Write what you know.
Generally that is good advice, especially for writers starting out on their writing journey. Draw on your life experiences and use those in your writing. Your life is what you know best, so it’s a good place to start. A big part of those experiences revolve around your immediate family, so write about them and draw on their experiences too. In your formative years as a writer, especially when you are young, this might be all you have to draw on for your inspiration.
I know that my early stories and novels I drew heavily upon my own experiences and those of my family. Much of this early writing may never see publication; it is part of your apprenticeship in the craft of writing.
As I developed my writing skills I was able to cast a wider net. Now I find I am able to let my imagination soar and take over more and more. I am now less reliant on personal experiences and more on imagination.
Writing exercises:
To help you develop your writing skills, try one or more of these ideas:
- Start writing a journal about your every day activities.
- Write a page or so about your favourite toy.
- Describe the place you went for a holiday when you were young.
- What happened on a camping trip when you were still at school.
- Think about your least favourite relative; describe why you don’t like that person.
- Write about the events leading up to an accident or tragedy in your family or friendship group.
- Write about your favourite teacher at school.
Good writing.
Walking is an essential writing exercise
No Comments »15th August, 2010; Category: Articles, The Writer's Life, Writer's block, Writers, Writing Hints
I came across an excellent article recently and thought I’d better share it with my readers. It seems that many writers are also walkers. They use taking a walk as an essential part of the writing process. I’ve been advocating this from time to time on this site, especially in those times when you seem not to be making progress with a piece of writing.
The article “On walking and writing” is well worth reading.
Then go out and take a walk.
I would – but I’m writing this post late at night!
Good writing – and walking.
I’m back: Editing my novel
No Comments »7th July, 2010; Category: Master of Arts course, Novels, The Writer's Life, Writing a novel, Writing Hints
I’m back!
It has been a while since my last entry here.
Sorry about that.
I’ve been a little overwhelmed with life for a while now, but things seem to be getting back on track again, one step at a time. I have several large projects on the go which are taking – no – demanding my attention. I’m starting to chip away at them but the task sometimes looms far too large.
Having one of the coldest periods on record here in South Australia is not helping either. It is very tempting to linger in bed on these crisp, frosty mornings… and then linger some more. And my good wife spoils me by bringing me a hot cup of tea in bed some mornings. Bless her.
One of my major projects at present is finishing off my novel for children (I’ve written extensively about the process here.) I am currently working on the 7th draft and it is getting near to the final shape and form.
The editing and rewriting I am doing in the 7th draft comes from the comments made on my manuscript by my supervising lecturers. Both are experienced writers and editors and their help has been invaluable in shaping the novel into its present form. One thing I have found interesting is that their comments and suggestions are remarkably similar, even though they read the manuscript independently. They have been very picky, very critical of every word, sentence and even the whole structure of the story. This is good because it is helping me to produce the very best writing I can achieve.
Find a good critiquing friend
I would recommend that every writer find a trustworthy friend who knows about writing and how to do it well. Then get this person to critique your work. It could be a fellow writer, a neighbour, a member of a writers’ group or even someone who does this for a living. Paying someone to do this can be money well spent. I haven’t had to do that yet, but I have received much help from my lecturers (who get paid to do this) and from my writers’ groups (They do it because they like me! And I “pay” them by commenting on their writing).
Find a good editor
Along with finding someone to critique your writing I would suggest that your writing will benefit from good editing. You need to find a good editor. It can be the same person who critiques your work doesn’t have to be. I’m not talking about editors who work for publishers here. That stage comes later, after you’ve submitted the very best work you can do, and the publisher has accepted your piece for publication. I’m talking about someone with a good eye for picking up typos, spelling errors, punctuation boo-boos, grammatical blunders and structural flaws. Such a person can help you polish your work until it is perfect – or as near to that as you can. Publishers are more willing to accept your work if you make the effort to get it near perfect – so their editor has as little to do as possible.
Further reading:
- Writing a novel - the process I went through to write a novel for children as my thesis paper for my Master of Arts.
- Editing - more articles from my archives about the editing process.
Good writing.
Using the apostrophe
If anything gets my family riled up, it has to be the misuse of the humble apostrophe.
My daughter, an English teacher, calls herself “The Apostrophe Nazi”. She delights in correcting errors wherever and whenever. My son even uses an apostrophe to abbreviate his name – Simon has become Sim’. It also annoys me when I see this poorly understood form of punctuation abused.
Imagine my horror, then, in reading this sentence in an email from a bookshop recently:
“Xxxx Booksellers would like to thank its’ regular and new clients for their support.”
That is a shocker!
I should be fair though; the humble apostrophe is probably the most misunderstood and misused form of punctuation in our language. Furthermore, the meaning of the sentence is still quite clear, so I’ll just let it rest. I make mistakes too – plenty of them.
Further reading:
- Use apostrophes correctly – an amusing article with many comments from my family.
- Writing hints – a list of writing hints from my archives.
- Apostrophes – the Wikipedia article on how to use them correctly.
Who said that? Some thoughts on dialogue
Dialogue is one aspect of writing fiction on which many inexperienced writers stumble.
I know I did.
In my early years my dialogue was… well… to be frank, it was appalling. I didn’t know what I was doing. Years later I still struggle, but it comes more easily and, I hope, sound more natural.
Some thoughts on dialogue
- Dialogue is tricky – it takes plenty of practice to get it right.
- Dialogue is not like conversation, so don’t record everything a character says.
- Make dialogue authentic and realistic – this takes practice.
- Dialogue must move the plot along.
- Dialogue can show character in a more powerful way than mere narrative.
For a longer discussion on this aspect of writing, Joanna Penn on her blog The Creative Penn has an article called My Dialogue Sucks: tips for improving dialogue in your novel. It’s well worth a read.
‘Good writing,’ said Trevor. ‘I hope you get the dialogue right.’
‘Thanks,’ said his readers. ‘That was most helpful.’