Writing advice

[Putputt]

Give yourself permission to write crap. Crap can be edited, revised, or rewritten, but the page that's blank because you expect to write something decent stays blank.

Oh my gosh, Maryn! This is literally what I say to people all the time! Each morning, when I sit down to write, I actually say out loud: "I am going to write crap." And doing this helps me overcome that nasty little voice that tells me what I write is crap, because YEP, that's exactly what I gave myself permission to do.

My second favorite writing advice is to treat it as a job and write whether or not you feel inspired. I got into the habit of writing 300 words a day, then 600 words, then 1,500, and now 2,000 words is my happy pace and when I start a manuscript, I write 2K a day every weekday, without fail. It's been key to me having a writing career.

My third favorite writing advice is to not compare your first draft to someone else's final draft. I used to get discouraged when I read published novels, until a wise friend pointed out that it's probably someone else's twentieth draft. I don't know why I didn't realize that until she pointed it out, but I'm glad she did.

 

[selfconsciousmystic]

My friend who knows I'm trying to write a book sent me a Steinbeck quote, where he says to abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. To forget the 400 pages and just write one page for each day. Then when it gets finished you are always surprised.

 

[XiaoNuwang]

I write historical based stories, and other than that I wrote about talking animals. I was always worried that something I'm describing would not make sense to the reader, so I ended up over-explaining everything. So the best advice I read and use whenever I feel that yammering urge is: Trust your readers.

 

[Maryn]

An addendum to trusting your readers is to remember that they're not stupid. I used to over-explain until someone in my critique group pointed that out to me.

 

[clover]

Don’t get overly obsessed with editing while you’re writing. Finish your draft first, then go back and focus on revisions. If you get stuck constantly rereading and editing as you create, you might never actually finish anything.

 

[Haley7]

Years ago, I was reviewing a nonfiction article with a mentor and she gave me a piece of advice that is super simple, but has stuck with me ever since: stop repeating the same word over and over again, especially in the span of a few sentences or paragraphs (unless there is an intentional, stylistic reason). Well, duh, I thought. But that unintentional repetition happened more than I liked in my own writing earlier on, and now I see it when I edit or review other people's work.

I've also passed this advice along to fiction writers when beta reading their books because it seems like a common practice for some and can be easy to miss if you're not looking for it, or if you're not familiar with self-editing. That advice has helped me become more creative and intentional about the words I use to convey a message or image (and get rid of filler words) in both nonfiction and fiction.

Other nonfiction-specific advice:

• Know how to interview people, or at least find reputable subject matter experts to provide more information (not writing, but helps with the writing)