Go Back to What You Already Know
By Anna Elliott | May 3, 2018 |
At this point in my writing career, there isn’t much writing advice out there that I haven’t heard or read. Which is not to say that I am an expert at implementing everything there is to know about writing, by any means. Far from it. Really far from it, some days. But it’s almost unheard of for me to read a post on writing process or craft and think, I’ve never heard/tried/read that! Sometimes, though, I find that I just need to be reminded of tips and strategies that I already KNOW are good ideas . . . I’ve just somehow lost track of them along the way. So here are two of my favorite tips on writing that I just this past month have needed to take out and dust off and re-learn all over again.
1. The 20 Minute Win. Life gets crazy for all of us. It’s often hard to find time to write, period, but in my current season of life it’s hard for me to find time to write first thing in the morning before the demands of the day need my attention. And yet if I can get my head into the story first thing in the morning before having to think about anything else . . . it helps SO much with being able to keep the story simmering in the back of my mind throughout the day. Which means that I’m ready and able to jump on any pockets of time I have to just sit down at the keyboard and WRITE. So I need to remind myself of the 20 minute win. Or even the 15 or 10 minute win. If I can get just that short amount of time right away, first thing. . just write a few hundred words . . . It’s not a full workday by any means– which can feel discouraging, because it’s easy to think, Oh, I’m only going to get a few minutes, why bother? But those few minutes will make my overall workday so much more successful.
2. Change Your Language, Change Your Life. I think we can all agree that words and stories are powerful– otherwise we wouldn’t bother with writing them, right? But I sometimes need to stop and remember that the stories I’m telling myself about my writing are as powerful as the ones I put down on the page. This can be as simple as owning the statement, “I’m a writer,” as Erika Liodice touched on in her fabulous recent post. Or for example I used to tell anyone who asked about my process, “I can only write in the morning. I have to write in the morning.” Well, who said that was the case? I did. I was literally creating my own limitations. At this point, writing late in the day still isn’t my favorite, but I can do it– and it’s far preferable to the words never getting written at all.
What about you? What writing truths do you periodically need to re-learn?
Anna Elliott is an author of historical fiction and fantasy. Her first series, the Twilight of Avalon trilogy, is a retelling of the Trystan and Isolde legend. She wrote her second series, the Pride and Prejudice Chronicles, chiefly to satisfy her own curiosity about what might have happened to Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, and all the other wonderful cast of characters after the official end of Jane Austen’s classic work. She enjoys stories about strong women, and loves exploring the multitude of ways women can find their unique strengths. Anna lives in the Washington DC area with her husband and three children.
I needed to hear/be reminded of both those truths this morning. Thank you.
As for overall, I have trouble remembering that I write for me. Even if I started out with an idea because it seemed to be what readers wanted, when I actually put words on the screen, I write for me. Anything else, and not only will it be hard to write, it’ll be hard to sell because there’ll be no enthusiasm for it.
That is SO true, Amy! Without the spark of passion for the writing, any story is just dead on the page.
Here’s an old insight that’s always useful: I need less on the page.
Here’s a new insight that has changed my writing: Write from inside.
That last insight works on two levels. First is that “close” third person POV is paradoxically cold. Reporting what we would see if we were a POV character does not by itself bring a story alive. Only the experience of a POV character does that. That is a different way of narration.
Second, scenes recorded from beginning to end tend to fall flat. Better is to write from the middle, the scene’s heart, and work outward.
For instance, much dialogue builds up to something, or tries to. Better is to first write what two characters are *really* talking about. Get right to it. Bring subtext to the surface.
Also, build scenes *around* the surprises they spring. The zing in scenes can get buried in the middle, and when that happens scenes become a muddle.
Scenes aren’t a chronology of 20-30 minutes. They’re explosions. Their impact happens in a second. Everything else builds anticipation. If it doesn’t, it isn’t needed.
I disagree a bit about craft books and blog posts, Anna. While some advice (“story is conflict!”) is too elementary to be useful anymore, I find craft advice can stimulate. That’s why I stop by WU daily to see what’s on offer.
That’s a really good insight about righting from the heart of a scene outwards! And I don’t at all disagree that craft books/blog posts can be inspiring! Goodness, I hope this post didn’t imply that. If I didn’t think blog posts on craft were useful, I wouldn’t be blogging here regularly at WU! I just find that at this point it’s less for me about reading something radically new that I’ve never heard before than it is about reminding myself of truths I already know.
Gotcha. Some writing gems always sparkle–and they’re different diamonds for each of us. Always good to be reminded by that ring on the finger.
(Whoa, wait…what kind of metaphor was that? Whatever. Good post.)
Different diamonds– I like it!
I’ve fallen away from writing first thing in the morning, and that translates into some days of not writing at all. Thanks for reminding me how valuable that early time is. I’ll write those first words right now.
Good for you, Judy! Rooting for you in your early-morning win!
“There isn’t much writing advice out there that I haven’t heard or read. […] Sometimes, though, I find that I just need to be reminded of tips and strategies that I already KNOW are good ideas . . . I’ve just somehow lost track of them along the way.”
Hah, yes. Same for me. One of the things I love most about Writer Unboxed is how it’s a treasure chest of reminders; it’s like constantly getting a refresher on best practices. Also, to your second point, life changes, and so do we, so sometimes things that didn’t work when I read them here back in 2012 might work now in 2018. Always worth a try!
That is super true– writing advice that didn’t work for me when I was just starting out as an author is now definitely worth trying. That’s what makes the journey so amazing, right? Everything about our craft is constantly growing and changing.
When life stops stealing what little energy I have (we’re moving after 37 years in a four bedroom house to a two-bedroom apartment, cross country – enough said), I always go back to the writing.
What makes that possible is that I write EVERYTHING down, as I go, somewhere. So, to pick it up again, I have to read through a couple of files to reload the brain, and we’re good to write.
And it’s digitized. So I can find what I need or remember vaguely.
And while I’m forced to do other things, I just keep dropping the thoughts that come into the appropriate files I already set up. My current Scrivener project is almost 70MB – and it’s all text, all typed in by me.
I don’t lose much; it’s too hard to create.
That’s literally ‘what [I] already know.’
That’s a great strategy, Alicia! Good luck with the move!
I definitely agree that writing in the morning before work, even if it’s just a little, makes me more eager to get back to it when I get home.
I’ve also pretty much heard it all (or most of it anyway!) when it comes to writing but sometimes fresh examples can really make me see those old ways in new ways.
The more difficult thing for me is to stop “wishing for” the time I used to have to write and make a new schedule; a new way of writing. Otherwise, this next book will never be written. It’s not as easy as I’d hoped, though, because I hate those 10-20 minute writing times – that’s just enough time to start to get into the character and then I have to stop? So I tend to wait until I have more time, and that waiting goes long and … lawd.
20 minutes tip also works for me. The other one is not to worry if the first draft will be awful. Everything will become much better after proofreading.