Best writing advice?

I think I read something once that said if a person you know could win a defamation case against you, it means you've drawn truly authentic characters (or something like that).

But for me personally, the best advice - and it's not really advice - is encouragement. Whenever someone - especially someone experienced in writing or theatre circles - tells me I'm a good writer, it spurs me on to get back into it and write. And because I'm inspired, I write stuff that's really good.

There's nothing like positive feedback!

Keep your pen and chin out and refuse to look down or step back.

Writer's tend to get bitter and discouraged easily, so you have to keep going and going.

Be able to work when no one else is watching or cheering you on from the sidelines.

Positive feedback is wonderful and should be cherished whenever you get it, but it's not always possible to get ANY feedback (good or bad). That's why you have to be able to motivate yourself and believe in yourself. Is it easy? No, at least not for me. But being able to work when no one else is watching has kept me writing through times when I really wanted to just say to heck with it and chuck the whole thing. It's kept me picking at my work when I could just leave it alone and say "it's good enough."

Do it.

"ALWAYS talk about what you do" - True. This has gained me many writing gigs. Almost everyone, at some point in their life will need some writing done. Can't remember where I heard this first.

Oh, and "Why should I care" - what my first college English teacher said about almost everything I wrote. I thought she was being mean but boy was she right. My writing is so much better after I consider these words.

Take care
~ Jennifer

I forget who posted this, but the most helpful advice I ever received, I read here at AW.

Never take yourself too seriously as a writer.

and

Your words are never golden.

Two excellent pieces of advice:

"Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write." - William Faulkner

"I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day." - Ernest Hemingway

That it's okay to write cr*p, at least in the first draft. Helps me keep going when my writing feels really bad.

Best advice I've received: butt in chair, hands on keyboard.

All the other advice is helpful, but it has to start with the BIC!

Follow your passion and have pride in your work!

As a kid various teachers encouraged me to write, but I can't remember much of what they said to me-- I do remember my 9th grade English teacher giving me some very good advice that I need to include more action with my dialog. That was actually very useful, now that I think about it. Most of the advice I've gotten about writing in my life has been negative instead of positive; i.e., "don't do it". The reasons for this advice being given were usually something along the lines of "it's a waste of time" and sometimes with that a further implied or overt caveat was: "All writers are losers." People who I knew that were writers would discourage me from writing because I could never hope to be as good as they were (meaning that they preferred that I support THEM on their campaign to become published, rather than putting myself in the position of possible competitor). And of course a lot of civilians will refuse to believe that one can honestly claim to be a writer if one's name is not (insert name of famous author here).

jenfreedom said:

"ALWAYS talk about what you do"

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Iguess that depends on what TYPE of writing you do. I NEVER talk about my writing to anyone. I write fiction and that's it. I'm not interested in writing for the church bulletin or some office newletter.

But I have to echo meowgirl's advice. Best advice I ever got was "sit down and write." Or in the vernacular of Nike: "Just do it."

Two good lines of advice, from two very smart men, who are both very crusty.

Harlan Ellison says, "Don't write crap."

Mark Twain says "Eschew Surplusage."

You'll do fine following those two, I think.

From Jane Yolen's web site (http://www.janeyolen.com/): "BIC - butt in chair." Esentially, you can't write if you don't put your butt in the chair and do it.

Jessica

Eliminate the unnecessary so the necessary may speak.

Never.... Always check your references.

oh, and

Don't quit your dayjob.

Never use two words where one will do.

I think that was Hemingway's gem.

Scarlett_156 said:

And of course a lot of civilians will refuse to believe that one can honestly claim to be a writer if one's name is not (insert name of famous author here).

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Ha...I was working on my NaNo novel in class, scribbling away in my journal. One kid remarked how weird it was that I wrote for fun, and that nobody did that besides famous authors. I told him that the famous authors had to start writing out for fun, or how did they ever become famous authors?!

I'm going to go with "Put your butt in the chair. Every day."

Don't give up.

- Make sure there's conflict/tension in every scene.
- Don't be afraid to write a crappy first draft. (Still working on this one.)

Have a rich wife, husband or significant other.

Write something every day. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you are writing. My creative writing teacher told us this, and I think it's a good point. I can honestly tell a difference in my writing when I don't write something every day.

More excellent advice I've been given...

1. Read voraciously.

2. Rid yourself of distractions (in my case, the television was the distraction that finally had to go. I have found a vast improvement in my writing since I got rid of the old beast, and that was only a few days ago.)