Writing Tips/Strategies

[Illidan Stormrage]

As writers, we all know how it feels when we know we should write but decide writing is balls and go play video games. I've been trying to work out how to get past this, as it's my biggest problem (not even writer's block bothers me, it's just getting into gear). So I thought people could post what they do to break out of that funk, or what they do to keep them on track, or any sources that they use to help them out. I would like to be an author who makes money from writing words one day, as I'm sure a few of you here would too, so collating these tricks is a benefit to everyone.

I'd like to share one point I picked up recently, which is a rule called the 'nifty three-fifty.' Essentially you write 350 words, five days a week. It doesn't sound like much, but most people, even when they really can't be arsed with writing, can tap out that many words without too much hassle. It doesn't matter if it's the best writing you've ever done or pigshit, as long as you write it. You can always go back and revise, and that's a lot easier than doing the actual writing.

There's absolutely no reason why you can't go over that limit either. If you find the words flow, then go with it. But the nifty three-fifty is a great rule to make sure you are always progressing with your writing. Like any craft, improving your skills as a writer requires constant, (preferably) daily practice. To put it into perspective, if you wrote 350 words a day, five days a week (so you even get a weekend off), you'll end up with around 91,000 words in a year. That's a medium sized novel. If you write more than that, you'll get there quicker. You could always write less (say 200) and spread it over more days and still get a similar result.

For me, that's really helped me put it into perspective. Years fly by, and 350 words a day really is quite small. I'm about to go on holidays for a week and I still think I can meet this without any trouble.

Have you got any writing tips or strategies that you've found useful?

[Ganondorf]

I just start writing. My biggest problem is like yours: I have trouble getting into gear. I also have an issue with being generally unhappy with what I write. So my trick is to just start and not too look over what I've written after a couple of sentence further along. That way, I still revise a bit, as I look over the last few sentences at any time, but I never get to the point where I just scrap the whole thing because I don't like how it turned out.

[Thaal Sinestro]

The main way that I get motivated to write is to get super excited about the characters or the events I've already thought of. I just get amped up, so as I find myself idle throughout the day, my mind wanders to those characters or elements. The more you think about it, and them more excited you get, the easier it is to pour those thoughts out. Sure, you might have a hard time linking the pieces together, but if you spend enough time brooding, those links will start to form, and weave together in wonderful ways.

[Nanoha Takamachi]

Be perfectionistic, but don't be perfectionistic right away. Write what you're going to write, then worry about going over it and fixing it up. It's very easy to read through things as you go, and get bogged down fixing up grammar and syntax and all that jazz before moving on.

Don't get bogged down!

[Omni]

Write the words.

Edit: To elaborate: All successful authors have written words, whereas currently no successful authors have not written the words.

[Magus]

Write the words.

Edit: To elaborate: All successful authors have written words, whereas currently no successful authors have not written the words.

That's... actually a pretty compelling argument.

The biggest discouragements for me are seeing just how superior caliber writers are simply on another plane. For example, Stephen King goes on a lot about apologizing for how bad his first Dark Tower novel was.

Uh, sorry, what? I thought it was incredible. If I ever wrote something that good I'd be pretty proud of myself. And he's like "yeah, I get it, it sucked." Fuck that!

I would also love to be able to make money writing one day, but I really don't feel I'm talented enough. That's essentially why I've never tried to get anything published. Although I do think about it from time to time.

To get going, I like to have some music, etc, but the biggest thing is to create time. Decide you won't watch that show tonight or whatever, and fucking sit down and write. Ignore facebook and youtube and all that distractioney garbage; it's all timesink drivel anyway, you don't need it. At least not right now. But that's hard. We have so much going on in our lives, plus more distraction-software/hardware than ever before. You really gotta be serious about wanting to turn some pages out.

[Inlumia]

I know I'm necrothreading here, but I'll add my bit.

Never try to write in a certain style. Just write what you want to, and your style will show through.

Me, when I get artistic, and have control of a story, I tend to be dramatic, but by interests are in the direction of gallow humor. I actually have no interest in watching or reading dramas, but I can write some fine dramatic scenes when the time and setting is right.

If I wanted to write something dramatic and plot as such, I would suck at it. When I get a basic outline for a story without style added, I can get dramatic.

[Ganondorf]

I'd be lying if I said that a recent post didn't spark this tip from me, but I'll neglect to mention any details, or even if it was from this site.

What your character knows and what you know are two separate things. For example, Greg may know that Ganondorf is working on a hostile takeover of the Omniverse because he's read my roleplays and the unvoiced thoughts that Ganondorf has had. Samus, on the other hand, wouldn't know about these unspoken plans. Samus, the character, would only know those things which she could see or hear, which thus far has merely been Ganondorf's physical capabilities and his rather pompous attitude.

On the other hand, Link would have every reason to believe that Ganondorf is attempting to do here what he did in Hyrule. Just not the details. However, the character's prior experience with the Gerudo gives Link's player a good reason why his character would feel apprehensive around his old foe.

The whole point of a roleplaying game is to step into the shoes of someone else. If you interject your own observances into your character, without having a reason why your character should know this, then you're not only god-modding... you're cheating yourself of the rewarding experience of these secrets becoming known to your character naturally.

This is all what I've learn through 10 years of writing and playing tabletop games. Metagaming really breaks the illusion, folks.

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

I'd like to share one point I picked up recently, which is a rule called the 'nifty three-fifty.' Essentially you write 350 words, five days a week. It doesn't sound like much, but most people, even when they really can't be arsed with writing, can tap out that many words without too much hassle. It doesn't matter if it's the best writing you've ever done or pigshit, as long as you write it. You can always go back and revise, and that's a lot easier than doing the actual writing.

This is working pretty well for me. I haven't been doing it every day, but when I do sit down and write, I aim to get at least that much done. If I write too little I tend to delete it, but if I get to 300ish, it's basically half a post. So I tend to have a better completion rate. /woo