# Writing tips that stuck with you



## Waz (Jan 29, 2015)

I've heard and read a lot of great writing advice, and occasionally simple statements have a big impact on me. How about you? Any words of wisdom that continue to influence how you write?

I'l give 2.

#1: "Learn to love rewriting." I have no idea why I even remember this statement, and it's an even greater mystery why it completely changed how I view the hard slog of rewriting.

Editing always seemed like such a chore, a necessary evil that doesn't advance the story. Somehow that statement, and that class in general, lit a fire in me to view editing as a different kind of creativity.

#2: "Every overnight success takes at least 7 years." 'Nuff said.


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## skip.knox (Jan 29, 2015)

I've read tons of advice, but none of it seems to stand by my chair while I'm writing. I read the stuff, nod or shake my head, then promptly forget it.

There's one that has stuck. It's not a big one, nothing profound, but it sticks. I don't even remember who made that comment, except that it was a published author. He (it was a he) said that when he was editing one of his stories he realized a section dragged because he was "walking his characters" to the next scene. As soon as I read it, I realized I was doing that. Something happens at Point A and something happens at Point B, but that doesn't mean I have to walk my characters from A to B.

I know. I told it you wasn't profound.

The only other thing I'll offer here isn't advice, but it's experience. I have come to realize that my first draft of a story is me telling the story to me. I have to explain all kinds of things to myself because I don't know the story yet. When I do the first major edit, I consciously shift my perspective, trying to be conscious that I'm telling the story to someone else. Quite a bit gets cut that way.

Sorry, that was rather more of a ramble than I'd meant it to be.


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## Tom (Jan 30, 2015)

The best piece of writing advice was the one I got from my mom:

"Write what you _don't_ know."

I think I was about twelve or so, and this very well-meaning but misguided person advised me to write realistic fiction instead of fantasy--their reasoning being that you should "write what you know". So I was all upset and asked my mom about it, and she looked at me and told me that I should write what I don't know--because, she explained, that's where you learn who you are as a person and a writer. It allows you to explore and nurture your curiosity.

Then, being my lovable Irish-tempered mom, she went off on a rant about that person having clearly never heard of Narnia or LoTR...

Someone also told me once to write every day--no matter what kind of day I was having, whether I felt like it or not, whether I thought I could write something decent or not, whether I was having problems focusing or not. That advice has helped me so much on my writing journey.


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## cupiscent (Jan 30, 2015)

There are infinite variations on "the only way to have written a book is to write a book" - my current favourite is Susan Dennard's The Writing Is All That Really Matters. You can read every how-to process-guide to writing a book, but unless you put one word after another until you have the story written, it's not happening.

That said, my favourite piece of "how-to" advice comes from Al Zuckerman's "Writing the Blockbuster Novel", and it is basically: tightness of focus promotes escalation of conflict. (Got two duellists facing off for the Virgin Queen's hand in marriage? Can they also be brothers? Can they both be working for her as well? The more connections you can make between the elements of your plot, the tighter together that story is bound, and the more the conflicts resonate.)


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## Penpilot (Jan 30, 2015)

This is a general piece of advice for life in general. It was just some offhanded comment from one of my computer science professors from college, but it struck the right note at the right time.

"You get what out of something what you put into it."

It's not all that amazing, but it's simple and I found it to be very true. 

Another thing that stuck with me was part of an interview with Neil Gaiman. He told how many people go up to him and say that they have all these ideas and just can't find the time to write them down. Gaiman said something to the effect that they don't have to. There's no idea police that will come to punish you if you don't do anything with your ideas. You don't need permission to not write. 

This is something I think of when things get tough. It runs parallel with what I used to tell myself when I was slogging through school. I can walk away any time I want. If this is something I'm not prepared to commit to with all my heart then I might as well go off and find something I really want to do instead of wasting my time.


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## Terry Greer (Jan 30, 2015)

Best advice I ever got was to not worry about the first draft - just finish it! Worry about fixing it up later. Most authors fail because they don't finish what they start. 
(Oh and I agree about writing every day - I set myself the target of a page a day - and graph the wordcount  daily in excel - the graph shows me how fast i can work when i want to and shows up the periods when I don't write - it's also great motivation.)


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## KC Trae Becker (Jan 30, 2015)

I'm still a novice, so there is much insightful advice in my future, but the one thing that opened a window of understanding  for me is :

The magic of story telling is not in the telling but in the not telling. When the readers fill in the gaps the writer purposefully leaves, the magic happens.


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## 2WayParadox (Jan 30, 2015)

I collected the ones that stuck with me in a file I call me writing bible, I based it on The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield, On Writing by Stephen King and Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury.


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## Penpilot (Jan 30, 2015)

KC Trae Becker said:


> The magic of story telling is not in the telling but in the not telling. When the readers fill in the gaps the writer purposefully leaves, the magic happens.



Oh, yeah that's a good one. My College writing teacher use to say, a story is like an iceberg, only 10% of it is visible. The rest is under the surface.


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## thecoldembrace (Jan 30, 2015)

I've had several great writing instructors. The advice that has stuck with me through all the years is:

"Write. Don't think, just write. Thinking comes later." I don't know why but I've always trusted in this, it just works. Let your fingers do the thinking and let your mind lay dormant. 

Other things have stuck with me, but I can't remember them at the moment, maybe when they strike I will add them to our thread.


-Cold


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## Svrtnsse (Jan 30, 2015)

Don't worry about having an original idea. Idea's are worthless - it's what you do with them that matters.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Jan 30, 2015)

Track your work.

I say that a lot, but this advice has been essential for my writing. Not only did it help me develop writing into a habit, but it enabled me to see how small increments add up quickly.

Habit, in my opinion, is an essential ingredient for success.


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## Delwyn (Jan 30, 2015)

I'd like to echo Terry Greer and the cold embrace, by saying that worrying over every sentence or paragraph - in essence, trying to review and edit as you go, slows the whole process down and stems the flow of writing itself. I believe in the stream of consciousness of free flowing writing, as I used to be a worry-wart - agonizing over just about every word, until I read about Allen Ginsberg saying "first thought, best thought". Now - we all know that good editing is worth its' weight in gold - but that comes after the first draft.

I could never finish anything due to being too much of a perfectionist - until I heard the best writing advice - for me. Just write! Don't read over what you have written until you've got it all out - whether the scene, the chapter or the whole book. When I took that advice and started flowing - I was amazed with what came out of me! For structure, I'd plot and plan - using excel spreadsheets, powerpoint, mind maps etc. Then I'd just go nuts writing like a demon and putting the pieces together after it was all out on the page. For me, it was the only way to get anything done!


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## Devor (Feb 2, 2015)

There's a piece of . . . well, I don't know if it's advice I've received or a phrase I made up based on stuff I've read, but there's a phrase that I consider that helps me make better creative choices:

_Just pull the trigger and run with it._

That is, don't hold back, don't worry about making choices, just do it and go with it.  Have an idea?  Don't debate it, just throw it into the mix.  Find a way to make it work.  Yeah, it can be a bad idea, or unwieldy, or wrong.  But you'll know that more if you try it than if you shuffle it aside.  The more you work at making all your ideas work together, the more you'll understand what those ideas are capable of becoming.

But it works with the little things, too.  You have no idea what to put on the page?  Just pull the trigger on the first thing that comes to mind and run with it.  Even if you have to throw it out, at least trying to get it to work will tell you more about what you're looking for.


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## Svrtnsse (Feb 2, 2015)

Something I heard years ago, and which originally came from someone writing comedy shows for TV has stuck with me: "trust in and stick to your plan"

The way I interpret this is that once I've written the outline for my story, I stick with it and I don't make any radical changes on the fly. My outline is how I've imagined the story to flow and it will - at least in some way - make a certain amount of sense. It's got the elements in it that it needs to have in it and I shouldn't add or remove anything that might affect the outcome of the story further down the line. 
If I do, I risk losing the focus of the story and having it run off in a completely new direction I previously hadn't foreseen. I'd then have to either force it back towards my original vision or scrap that vision and let the story be another story than I'd thought it'd be.

I still add a lot of little minor details, but the main story remains unchanged. 

This advice may not work very well for those who like making up the story as they go along, but in my case it's very helpful.


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## Velka (Feb 2, 2015)

My favourite nuts and bolts advice is from Ernest Hemingway:

"The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it."


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## jbmarkes (Feb 3, 2015)

Velka said:


> My favourite nuts and bolts advice is from Ernest Hemingway:
> 
> "The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it."



This is counter-intuitive, but the man has a point. How often have I been stuck because I wrote straight through the exciting part and then called it a day?


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## 2WayParadox (Feb 3, 2015)

but if you do that, doesn't it suck the fun out of writing?


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## Penpilot (Feb 3, 2015)

2WayParadox said:


> but if you do that, doesn't it suck the fun out of writing?



I used to use that trick, and sometimes still do. For me, it actually helped maintain excitement for the story. Part of it is about maintaining momentum. When you sit down for the next writing session there's no dicking around trying to figuring out how to begin. You already know, and you get back up to speed quicker. 

Also if you have a part that you're dying to get down on the page, it helps pull you back to the chair quicker. In addition, while you're away from the chair, as that unfinished part bounces around in your head, it can spark ideas for what comes next.

When you wind something down, there's a definite stop, and mentally, it can give you a little too much satisfaction, so you're no longer hungry for more. It's like cliffhangers. With them, there's more urgency to get back and find out what happens next.

IMHO it's a nice mental trick if you have trouble maintaining momentum.


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## 2WayParadox (Feb 3, 2015)

Hmm, that explanation has a lot more depth to it, and I can see where you're coming from now. I'll keep it in mind.


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## Guy (Feb 3, 2015)

Like a lot of things, advice is subjective. The reasons for getting the whole story down before revising and editing are good and logical. I also know it's impossible for me to follow that advice. When I know I have a glaring mistake in the story, it's an itch I can't ignore and will distract me from finishing the draft until I fix it. The story doesn't have to be perfect and I don't feel the need to correct every little detail, but when I know a scene isn't working or there are some major plot holes or problems with the flow of one scene to another, I have to fix them before finishing the first draft. Trying to ignore them while I'm finishing the draft is like trying to ignore a wasp stinging me while I'm driving a car.


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## Ayaka Di'rutia (Feb 3, 2015)

In an advanced English class in High School, the teacher taught us that if writing has violence, the violence needs to be there for a purpose.

I've applied this advice to my own writing ever since, and it keeps me from going overboard with violence and gore in my storytelling.


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## Tholepin (Feb 9, 2015)

One remark that managed to stick is: Start your story as close to the end as possible. Editors love it!


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## goldhawk (Feb 9, 2015)

Svrtnsse said:


> Don't worry about having an original idea. Idea's are worthless - it's what you do with them that matters.



All original stories have been done before. 

Here are some tips that stuck with me although they're about screenwriting, they can be applied to any storytelling.

Andrew Stanton of Pixar (WARNING: strong language) -- The Clues to a Great Story: Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story - YouTube (20 min)

Michael Arndt of Pixar -- BEGINNINGS: Setting a Story in Motion: BEGINNiNGS: Setting a Story in Motion - YouTube (8Â¼ min)

John Truby, screenwriter -- How To Make An Audience Care About Your Characters: How To Make An Audience Care About Your Characters by John Truby - YouTube (3 min)


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## Fyle (Feb 15, 2015)

T.Allen.Smith said:


> Track your work.



This seems good. About halfway through, I made a notes file that contained information such as character names, where they live, physical descriptions, speech traits etc (and places too).

I also made notes next to them if they lived, died and who they got killed by.

Is this what you mean by track ?


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## Bluesboy (Mar 25, 2015)

Three pieces of advice stuck with me:

a) Characters, at least the main ones, have to have simple or familiar-sounding names, otherwise the reader will have a hard time connecting with them. Take Eddard Stark for example - it sounds similar to Edward, in the book they call him "Ned", nice and simple, his son is Robb, the bastard is named Jon, his wife is Catelyn, best friend is Robert. GRRM often uses the "Y" trick - he replaces a vowl in a name with "Y", but the sound of the name isn't changed much at all - Martyn, Petyr, Brynden, Lysa, Alyce, Alyn, Alyx, Denys. In the Lord of the Rings you have Frodo, Sam, Gimli, Bilbo, nice and simple. If you spice it up with more exotic-sounding names, that's okay, but some of them must be familiar and relatable.  

b) Publishers don't like books that are more than 150,000 words long, because foreign publishers won't buy them - translation and printing costs are too high and if you have a book that needs to be translated into let's say Czech, there are only 10mil Czechs and fantasy is still a small market compared to the population as a whole, the potential sales would be too small for a country where maybe about 10,000 people actually read fantasy books. Translating and publishing a mighty tome of a book of 200,000 or 250,000 words is too costly for countries that have small populations. A published fantasy author told me this. 

c) Though I still can't bring myself to it, this is what Bernard Cornwell says about writing - he doesn't believe in the writer's block. He gave an example of a nurse calling to the hospital she works in, saying "Oh sorry, I can't come to work today, I have a nurse's block"...that it's utter rubbish. There are people in the world that do far more important work than writing stories and they're not allowed to have a break when they're not feeling 100% okay. But he does list two instances where it is acceptable to not work so hard - 1.) If you have a drink for lunch, it may make you unable to write in the afternoon (Cornwell's case) and 2.) If you're writing your first or second book and you're consumed by self-doubt. 

In this way, Cornwell wrote more than 50 historical novels since the early 80s, writing 6,000 words a day, often publishing two books a year. 

I am all to often consumed by self-doubt, question like "can I actually do this?" are driving me crazy all the freaking time. Sometimes I write 4,000 words in 4 hours, then I don't write anything for a month, or write 5,000 words in a week or so. It makes me feel I'm not going anywhere with my writing.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Mar 25, 2015)

If you believe in Cornwell's assertion about writer's block, and it seems you do, then I advise you to put yourself on a schedule. 

Pick a time of day where you can dedicate an hour or two to writing. Set a daily word count goal. Start small. Make it a number that's easily achievable....say 300 to 500 words. Then, track your daily production & watch how it adds up.

Now here's the trick, force yourself to write to that goal for 3 to 6 months. If you can commit and achieve that goal, you'll slowly develop your writing into a habit. Good habits are crucial, in my opinion. Steady production adds up over time and eventually results in more writing than you'll ever achieve with infrequent binge writing...4,000 words here and 2,000 words there.

If you can write 250 to 300 words a day (one double spaced, 12 point font page), you'll write a draft manuscript in one year.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Mar 25, 2015)

I think "writer's block" is easier to ignore (/discredit) if you're a strong outliner in which case you already know what needs to be done and just need to sit and do it (of course easier said than done) but if you don't outline (or don't do it extensively) figuring out how to fill the gaps or where to take the story can be more stressful (and you can get "blocked" from seeing the direction you want to take). 

Another bit I like (idk if you can call it advice) is to have a series of prompts/suggestions [I keep 300 on Popsicle sticks in an old tea tin] and when you get stuck pull three (or five) and and figure out which works best. You can (of course) take it out later but it gets keeps you writing ... It can be anything from"use the word laconic and or deluge", "add a color", "add a scent", "how would his/her mother feel about this?", "Kill a minor character", "Add a minor character", "They go to the zoo/beach/bus stop and while there, they see _____" etc. 

You can keep different bundles of questions for the different genres you write in (my noir ones suggesting they go out to dance or play the trumpet or that they fought in WWII really aren't helpful in Fantasy so I need to make some new ones discussing magic and such). 

Another one that's helped me quite a bit is to cut the first 300 - 500 words from each chapter (which somehow always seems to start w weather and exposition for me) and about the first 10 opening pages. I don't just sit and write miraculously wonderful content and this seems to be about how much it takes for me to write through before I get into that weird transcendental mode where I stop talking about the clouds outside and the smell of the slave's stew on the fire. Rather than telling me not to write these at all, (bad advice in my opinion) I feel free to tell the story EXACTLY how I want to and to set the scene up for myself (in a more Victorian Lit fashion) - I know the reader doesn't want to trudge through two pages of this so I when I finish a scene (or chapter) I go back and highlight the portion in blue. During my 50 page edits I go through and try to figure out if any of the information in blue is actually necessary (usually it's not) and I cut it accordingly. 

Which brings me to the advice of 50 page edits- this is really something that makes the difference between how willing I am to take it from a first draft to a second / third / fourth draft. Reassessing my work every 50 pages makes me more aware of where the story is heading, whether it has gotten off track and of course it makes that 2nd draft SO MUCH EASIER!    

I also like the quote (you probably all know the one I'm referring to) which says writing a first draft is just telling yourself the story ... this has really helped me to let go of it and work on getting it all down on paper rather than obsessing over rewriting my sentences until they are perfect. I now add notes in for myself (in red) which remind me (during 50 page edits) to go back and check this or that or to consider rewriting a scene from a different perspective, in a different setting or whatever else I'm thinking about. Sometimes I put in placeholders for myself (add a Foreshadow here) or whatever because the first draft is just for me.


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## Bluesboy (Mar 26, 2015)

T.Allen.Smith said:


> Set a daily word count goal.



At this stage, my writing is starting to finally pick up. What caused my problems and unwillingness to write until recently was the fact that I felt like my story was moving forward in a way I didn't feel comfortable with. I felt the story was rushed, because obviously, I want to move on to the part where the story doesn't need more setting up. 

My main character has a certain arc that I've set up for him and I want him on that path as soon as possible and now I see I have to write scenes that will push my main character embracing his arc into a later part of the book, maybe around the 50% mark, but I'll see. The main point for doing this is that once the main character finally decides to walk that path, his decision has to feel natural, it shouldn't feel rushed or that he decided to go that way just on a whim or out of the blue. 

And for a long time I didn't know how to stretch out the pre-arc story, to build up the character's mindset so that he would indeed want to take the road I set out for him. I have a real problem with descriptions, they're usually short and lack any poetic style, at least in the first-draft stage. I'm "a man of few words" when it comes to descriptions of settings and English is not my first language so I lack sufficient vocabulary in certain areas. What usually happens is that if I have a chapter that's 9,000 words long already, I end up _adding_ about a 1,000 or more words into it _through rewrites_ - that means I delete the initial descriptions almost altogether, replacing them with new ones that are longer and more colourful, or I rewrite a dialogue that I felt was too rushed into a longer one. 

On Tuesday this week I wrote around 1,300 words, yesterday I planned to write but I found this forum and read through a lot of the threads (which took me all afternoon), today I wrote almost 2,100 words and I know what to write about in the next close to 1,700 words that will end the chapter (I'm aiming for chapters that are 9,000-10,000 long) and during editing I may end up adding more, if I feel any part of those 5,000 words I will have written by the end of this week is rushed. I _never_ feel that I overdid it with descriptions. It's all about the flow and pacing that feels natural to me and that makes me add more things rather than cut them out.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Mar 26, 2015)

Best advice I have ever received is butt in chair and hands on keyboard (BICAHOK).


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## T.Allen.Smith (Mar 26, 2015)

Fyle said:


> This seems good. About halfway through, I made a notes file that contained information such as character names, where they live, physical descriptions, speech traits etc (and places too).
> 
> I also made notes next to them if they lived, died and who they got killed by.
> 
> Is this what you mean by track ?



No. I meant to track your daily word count production so you can see how quickly it all adds up, if you're disciplined and consistent.

Even small amounts of daily writing add up fast.


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## Bluesboy (Mar 26, 2015)

This is not advice I learned from an external source, though it certainly stuck with me 

This works only if you have an e-book reader - you put your book onto your Kindle or Kobo or Nook, whatever it is you have, and read your book with the mindset that you're reading an actual published work. It gives you distance from your story, a more objective look at your work, because the different medium makes you think it's an actual book and you're deciding whether you wanna stick with it or not. You notice grammar mistakes, words that shouldn't be there, you pay attention to pacing and all that. 

Once you're done reading it like that, you can go over it in the morning again, this time with the open manuscript on your laptop and going through all those mistakes you're noticing.

It's cheaper than printing everything out and better than reading it off your laptop or a computer screen. It helps me so it might be something worth considering.


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## Reilith (Mar 26, 2015)

As I can't say for myself to be an accomplished writer, I don't really have the 'go to' advice to share. But there are a couple of things, actually three, that I believe are most important when writing.

1. Don't be afraid of what you write - it looks hard, and it seems as a big mess, but it is your writing, and you have control over it.

2. Write the story that you want to read - I have actually heard this one somewhere, and it helped me evolve enormously and I think it is pretty straightforward.

3. Love your writing/what you write - I think that this is the most important one. If you don't love what you've written yourself, that's gonna show. And others most likely won't love it either.


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## eposic (Mar 26, 2015)

I once had the privilege of meeting Michael Stackpole and asking him for writing advice. Naturally, his advice has stuck with me more than any other I've received or read. To paraphrase, since I don't have an eidetic memory, his advice was to "above all else, know your characters."

For my current WIP, I've taken his advice to heart. I have character sheets for all my main characters and many of my supporting characters as well. When I'm writing, I listen to my characters. I try not to write the story I want to tell, but the story the characters want me to tell. The story is, after all, their story, not mine. I'm just putting it into a readable and hopefully publishable form for them.

I also created a shared timeline for events in their pasts that goes back nearly 40 years before the story begins, noting birthdays, deaths of loved ones, moves from one locale to another, and other important events in the lives of my characters. Some of what's on the timeline will appear in the story, either as flashbacks or in dialogue, but not all of it will. That's okay. It helps me to understand where my characters are going when I know where they are coming from.


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## Philip Overby (Mar 27, 2015)

Best advice I've seen over the years?

"Screw it." 

This doesn't mean don't care about your craft, but try not to worry so much about everything being perfect or liked by everyone. Also, I take this to mean so many different things in a succinct two words:

1. Don't be afraid to try new things.
2. Don't edit yourself into oblivion.
3. If you screw up, try something else.
4. Finish your novel and submit it (or self-publish) it. 
5. Do crazy stuff now and again. It may be your best work.

Anyway, "Screw it" sums all that up nicely.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Mar 27, 2015)

Bluesboy said:


> This is not advice I learned from an external source, though it certainly stuck with me
> 
> This works only if you have an e-book reader - you put your book onto your Kindle or Kobo or Nook, whatever it is you have, and read your book with the mindset that you're reading an actual published work. It gives you distance from your story, a more objective look at your work, because the different medium makes you think it's an actual book and you're deciding whether you wanna stick with it or not. You notice grammar mistakes, words that shouldn't be there, you pay attention to pacing and all that.
> 
> Once you're done reading it like that, you can go over it in the morning again, this time with the open manuscript on your laptop and going through all those mistakes you're noticing.



I like to use it w Kindle on the computer. I find it easier to highlight & you can add your notes right in. 
You're right though - this is excellent advice that everyone should use (and there's the added bonus of seeing if you're properly formatted)


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