Interlude
What makes a writer a “good and successful” writer? In our bookclub, we went through Stephen King’s “On Writing” and found 10 really good and concise tips. Here they are:
1) Even on the days you don’t feel like writing, you SHOULD write. Some of the best things come out of the worst scenes.
2) Have a writing goal. Stephen King is writing ten pages a day (around 2000 words).
3) If you don’t take writing seriously and approach it with the will to really achieve “something”, you won’t get far with it.
4) Every writer should WRITE a lot and READ a lot to get good at it.
5) Playing into this: Try to be as optimistic as you can when it comes to the quality you produce. Optimism is the only good response if you feel like you failed.
6) Don’t let the characters go to waste and don’t let a story simmer for too long. Get going. The first draft of a book should not take more than 3 months.
7) Don’t be afraid to write what you actually want to write (what others think about it, isn’t relevant).
8) Make sure you have a good atmosphere at your workplace and -if possible- a door that can be shut.
9) After finishing a book, let it rest, maybe 6 weeks, before starting to revise it again.
10) Don’t be afraid of the blank page.
A few quotes I loved:
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking all out all the things that are not the story.”
“I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. If one is writing for one’s own pleasure, that fear may be mild – timidity is the word I’ve used here.”
“Every book you pick up has its own lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.”
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.”
“Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”
“When dialogue is right, we know. When it’s wrong we also know.”
And lastly:
“When you find something at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head.”
Let me know your writing tips! Is there anything you more or less agree with? From a personal perspective, as someone who also writes, I also find timing to be important. Some people work better in the morning than in the evening, or in one-hour sessions followed by a break and then the next section. And even as an outsider: which of his points do you find most relatable?
Anonymous
As a journalist sometimes writing about complicated topics I find it extremely helpful to place a notepad in various locations (in different rooms, even in teh bathroom, in your car etc.). Because some ideas which might be helpful concerning your text or research often come up suddenly. You can scribble them down quickly if some piece of paper ist at hand.
L.J.Carver
Your house is full of notes! I do that too though! Helps to remember late night thoughts.
Anonymous
My experience on writing is, even if you have no ideas. Start writing. The ideas come at some point of the process. Then beginn writing notes and go with the ideas that come at that moment. think the story through. let it flow and enjoy the journey. Then if you’re done read the notes. add what you’ve missed in the previous process and add ideas if some pop up again. Then you can start writing a first story. After that you should let it sit for one day and reread it. Then you can polish up and finish whatever is missing.
Often times there is even a new rush of ideas that you can add into the story.
L.J.Carver
I think that ties in nicely with what King said on writing a certain amount of pages! He didn’t put a specific goal like “Write the first three chapters in x hours” or “be finished with that scene by 8” and instead just write what you feel like and it has to be ten unspecific pages that can be fixed and structured later. I like that you pointed out the reread, because that can trigger new points and also makes it easier to decide which elements need more shape after a couple of days. 🙂