Writing Tips

Tip #1: Balancing your Sentences.

It's a heckuva place to start doing Writing Tips, but here's something I was working on today. It's a passage from Part II.

"How do I know for sure you're being honest?"
He scrunched his face. "Honest about what?"
She looked at him. He looked away for a moment to gather his thoughts. Then he folded his hands on top of the table. "Well, I guess I must be a glutton for punishment." He looked directly at her. "I'm not hiding anything. What more could I possibly be up to?"

I thought that, "a moment to gather his thoughts" plus "Well, I guess I must be a glutton for punishment" was a mouthful, an earful, a mindful. It dragged the pace of the paragraph.

But there was more to it than that. I tried different variations until I realized that the sequence of the action didn't fit the words. The "glutton for punishment" line should come from the character's musing when he looked away. After I immersed myself in the scene, I came up with:

He looked away for a moment to gather his thoughts. "Well, I guess I must be a glutton for punishment." He folded his hands on top of the table and looked directly at her. "I'm not hiding anything. What more could I possibly be up to?"

And the whole clip:

"How do I know for sure you're being honest?"
He scrunched his face. "Honest about what?"
She looked at him. He looked away for a moment to gather his thoughts. "Well, I guess I must be a glutton for punishment." He folded his hands on top of the table and looked directly at her. "I'm not hiding anything. What more could I possibly be up to?"

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Tip #2: Validity.

Becoming a good writer is all about reaching your validity. Notice I didn't say "realizing" your validity.

What you say and express is valid. Period. No two ways about it. You don't have to sneak up on it to know it's there. It's there. Period. Reach for it.

I was sitting in a writer's group a couple of years ago. Actually, I had barged in. I was in a bookstore at the time, and I found this going on. I was curious about the conversation, so I asked if I could sit in.

The group was interested in the keys to becoming a good writer. I told them those last 6 words don't work. You don't need to "have to become" a good writer. That comes with practice. Like the violin and Carnegie Hall.

I told them what they were looking for was something they already had. All they needed to do was to validate it.

Again: what you say and express is valid. Period. No two ways about it.

I remember telling them -- after apologizing sincerely to the lady who was leading the discussion -- that the scene we were in, what was going on right at the moment, was all quite literary. Each group member has a unique personality, a color, and all that was said had a certain weight to it. And the environment, surrounded by the words of a thousand books, and a thousand writers, formed the breathing walls of our conversation. And the proof in the pudding.

Ya just gotta train yourself to notice. That's practice.

I struggled with getting the creative spark -- that great feeling where expression just starts to flow from you.

You get it by understanding you are valid.

This is not empowerment. Sorry, Oprah. One employs competitiveness, the other, cooperation through sensitivity. When you reach your validity, don't bask too long in the self-esteem sunshine, because when you get this awareness, you realize that everyone else is valid, too. Everyone. And that's a good thing!

Unless you're an essayist, one-sided validity isn't going to help you write dialog and develop characters. It ain't even gonna help your essays. When you are fully valid, you have the confidence to accept what others say and do as valid, too. You may not agree with them, they may speak crazy talk, but their words and actions are valid. Just like yours.

I told the group members that if you could write like you talk, you get a prize. A Pulitzer prize. Round of smiles. However, I added, if you could write like you THINK, ahh! Then they'd put you in jail! Big laugh. I've since found that not totally true. My editor, who I think the world of, has taught me that sometimes more formal words -- depending on the situation -- in narrative, but often even in dialog, are translated by the reader's mind into informal language that would be like talking. The mind interprets. But that's another lesson.

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Tip #3: Get a Plot.

Don't be a writer to write. You'll wind up doing something else.

Instead, come up with a story you can't refuse. Something you're passionate about. Passionate people are the best writers. Often, writers make the worst writers. This isn't my opinion. Friends of mine have told me this in explaining why they don't like to read. Fortunately, they weren't talking about my writing.

They'll start a book, put it down and never come back to it. My guess is that the author was a writer of words.

The book that sticks, the one you'll die for to read, is the one written by a person passionate about that story or, if it's non-fiction, that subject.

That's why I like biographies. I love reading about people who are driven. Edison, for example. The guy couldn't sleep more than four hours a night because the wheels of his inventive mind were constantly turning. Sleep wasn't important. He got just enough to let his creative energies take over. And, zoom, next morning he was off, inventing the record player, motion picture camera, AC, and on and on and on.

I want to know what gave him that spark. Apparently so did the author, and though I don't remember the author's name, his/her passion about Edison sparked mine. Most likely it was Edison himself. But that's good, because I forgot about the words and got into the man himself. Now that's good writing!

Back to fiction. If you're looking for a story line, get one that'll stop at nothing. Something that'll put a smile on your face and make you go to bed singing after you put in a good couple of hours fleshing it out. Trust me, if you find what I'm talking about, it'll do that to you.

Don't hate me, but the writing will take care of itself. Learn how to write, fine. Study, practice, read, get some fundamentals. Then start sketching. Write little observances of people, places, things that happen. Little things. Just do. Did you hear what I just said?

What did I just ask you to do? Observe, listen, watch, participate. Talk to people. Experience life. That's the key. Once you do, you may just reach a point where the writing just starts to happen. Best of all is when you have something you just HAVE to communicate. That's what will really drive you. And that's what will make you a good writer.

Let me warn you and also encourage you. It's a humbling process.