Chuck Wendig: A Smattering of Stupid Writer Tricks

[A. E. Lowan]

A nice collection of writing advice tidbits. It's Chuck so there's a bit of swearing, but not his usual spectacular creativity in profanity. Probably a little NSFW but I'll let you guys judge.

A Smattering Of Stupid Writer Tricks « terribleminds: chuck wendig

 

[stephenspower]

I love "Create an outline as you go." I'm finding that helpful even as I outline. The novel I'm outlining has more moving parts than my last one, so after I lay out, say a 3-4,000 word outline for an 8-10K chapter, for reference I've been going back and writing a "shape" outline that has just the basic actions (x in the kitchen with candlestick goes to the billiards room. y leaves the billiards room for the study, and meets z). That makes it easier to then shuffle actions around, then I reoutline instead of just plugging in pieces from the original outline. This really helps with compression and figuring out what people are doing.

 

[BWFoster78]

Crap!

My entire book ranks 0 on use of the word "indubitably."

What's a good ranking? 25? 50?

Off to do some major editing...

 

[Svrtnsse]

Get some sleep. I guess I can do that.

 

[Addison]

I have his book "The Kick-#%# Writer", I highly recommend it. I'm checking out his other works right now.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I have his book "The Kick-#%# Writer", I highly recommend it. I'm checking out his other works right now.

Hmmm... Haven't heard of that one. Gonna check it out for my massive craft library.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

He has a pet tiger named Lucius? Cursed with a name like that I'm suprised the little pussy cat hasn't already eaten him!

Some interesting advice, but wouldn't work for me. I'm not writing a summary of my days writing, or plotting graphs. It seems like far too much hard work. And also it sounds like he's trying to span the divide between pantsting and plotting (Panting? Potting?) Me, I'm pure pantster.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I feel like his list is ideas that are worth a try if you're stuck. Not all of them, but start with one or two. For me, maybe the write-for-45'-break-for-15' and DON'T @#$%ING EDIT (if he didn't swear, he should have) are worth a try. I don't over edit as I write, but occasionally, I go back, reread, then get stuck in Edit Mode. Edit Mode is hard to turn off.

 

[ThinkerX]

This is something I do fairly frequently...usually combined with the question 'is the worldbuilding getting in the way of the story?'

- After today’s writing, ask: why do I care? What about this is engaging me? Why will it engage others? Explore the give-a-**** factor. Challenge yourself.

I don't do the post-it note bit, but anymore I ask myself much the same thing before beginning a story. It does require more than one sentence to answer that question sometimes, though.

- Answer the question: “WHAT IS THIS STORY ABOUT?” Answer it in a big way but with a short sentence. One sentence only. What are you trying to say with this story? Not, “what’s the plot,” but the intense, gut-wrenching question of what is this story really mother****ing about? When you answer it, write it on a Post-It note. Stick that post it note from your monitor. Let it remind you as you write. Doodle a dong and/or boobies on another Post-It note. Because why not?

This one resonates with me. Last year, I reached a point on the main WIP where even 200 words a night was a major effort. I finally stopped, looked at what I'd written, and realized I was writing about characters having meetings rather than characters doing things. Several pages worth of meetings got condensed down to a few paragraphs and references, and the action moved forward. When I thought about it, I noticed the same thing with other writing projects: if I was moving in a wrong/boring direction, my word count plummeted.

- Got writer’s block? Skip the section you’re working on. Nobody said you had to work in order. Writer’s block might also mean something is wrong in the story. You might need to cut the last section you wrote because something in there is off-kilter and your writer’s soul can feel it. Maybe go back, stop writing prose and outline the thing. A hasty, chickenscratch, combat-landing outline – zero ****ery, just a quick scrawl of what the story should look like.

 

[Penpilot]

I suddenly realized why my on-the-fly outline isn't working. Every sentence in it is “I felt grave existential dread and suffered unruly crotchsweats.”

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

You're lucky. I suffer grave existential crotchsweats and feel unruly dread!!!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Penpilot]

Hi,

You're lucky. I suffer grave existential crotchsweats and feel unruly dread!!!

Cheers, Greg.

Yeah, I suppose I shouldn't complain. The underwear is always greener on the other side, isn't it?

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

You mean the inside?!!!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Devor]

What did I just read . . . . ?

:confused2:

 

[Svrtnsse]

Try not to think to hard about it.

 

[Devor]

Try not to think to hard about it.

Sometimes the visuals come unbidden.

 

[TheCatholicCrow]

Could she be replaced with a potato being passed around?

This is probably the best way to put I've ever heard. I'm now tempted to find and replace the MC w "potato" just to see.

After today’s writing, ask: where are my pants?

Can't help but read that as a Lego Movie quote.
[video]https://youtu.be/ZhaT7F7lMEY[/video]

Thanks for linking the article. I always love how down to earth his approach to writing seems.