aisha

What is the greatest writing advice you have ever learnt? Maybe from school, a friend, the observation of humanity or within your own writing? I thought it may help to inspire and sharpen the blunt-minded!

The greatest advice I was ever told, during a lecture, was that: People remember images conveyed by the stories they've read, far after they can recall how they got there.

I keep this with me whenever I'm writing, and I'd be fascinated to see if other people had some advice that has effected the way they write or think....

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[our deepest blues are black]

simon woodhouse

The only difference between a professional writer and an amateur, is the professional didn't give up.

I can't remember where I read this, but it's helped me through some bleak periods.

Mike C

Write what you know.

It doesn't get any more basic, and it doesn't get any better.

My own corollary:

When writing fiction, don't make anything up; write the truth.

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Straylight

My 7th grade English teacher:

Don't try to fill in every blank. Writing is only half about your written word. It's about the story you and every reader will make together. Sketch with a broad brush, and the reader will fill in the blanks and make the story his own.

This concept has been a driving force behind the writing style I've developed.

~SL

Talia_Brie

Show, don't tell.

My CW lecturer, Ross Bennett, used to hammer that into us. Literally. With a hammer. His classes were quite painful.

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cryptika

Murder your darlings.

prabjit

Right........
wonder wat that means...

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Achilles

I love it when the protagonist dies.

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The Palace Flophouse

When Newton closed his eyes beneath a tree
and took the apple from the serpent, he
conceived the urge of humanity, plea, plea,
procreant desire and tendency.

cryptika

Sorry ! I should have explained myself, soo not with it today

Murder your darlings: What I mean is, be prepared to have to chop away some of your favourite sentences, phrases, images and characters. Just because you like a sentence, doesn't mean it's good. If it isn't, it has to go. If a sentence (or anything) doesn't move your story along then it has to go. Sometimes it's hard to be objective when editing our own writing, but we have to be..

Somebody said to me that I needed to have "a less wavering hand with my meat cleaver" when I was editing - I needed to murder more of my darlings, sentences that weren't doing anything for my story. At first it was difficult, but I found this an incredibly useful piece of advice.

Hodge

Obey your thirst.

You have no idea how much water you lose by sitting in front of a computer screen.

Talia_Brie

Hodge, don't tell me Sprite doesn't make you a better writer. I have commited quite a bit of energy on that principle.

I have a huge stack of empty green cans in my study.

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CZ

If you wait for inspiration to hit, you may never get around to actually writing. Put your butt in the seat and write anyway.

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Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit mateiari?

aisha

Write the crappiest poem you can do. God, it makes you feel so much better!

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[our deepest blues are black]

amusinglackoftalent

Write a little each day. I try for at the very least a paragraph. I have often been amazed by the fact that I sat down to do my best to get that one paragraph out and the next thing I knew I was five pages into it.

And NO, I don't follow my own advice, but I know for a fact that it's sound. Someone said that you shouldn't wait on the inspiration. I agree with this one hundred percent. To me, it is the 'inspiration' that usually sparks the 'idea' and the first few pages. The remainder is like Thomas Edison said, 'perspiration'.

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"Writing a short story is like having a tumultuous love affair, while writing a novel is like walking into the sea to drown." Anne Beattie &

suzakugaiden

Don't be afraid of being a pretentious, egocentric, self-indulgent little smartass. Remember. All of the great writers from prior to 1950 were!