I remember my first creative writing exercise in Year 1, a full-page adventure about TV puppet characters Sooty and Sweep. I was SO proud of my effort, and I knew there was not one single spelling mistake, something dreadfully important to my solemn five-year-old self. All these years later I still feel the sting of injustice when my paper was handed back to me, clean of all red marks except a ruthless line crossed through the name “Soo”, and my teacher helpfully re-spelling it as “Sue”.
You can check for yourself that the character’s name on the show is, in fact, Soo. Go on, I’ll wait.
I have been writing since before I can remember. I wrote stories all through primary school, and begged my mother for a diary when I turned 10. I wrote in it faithfully every day for years and still have it. I have kept a journal ever since and it’s evident that even when I was very small that I had already found my voice. I still write exactly the same way, only less about boy crushes and parent hate and more about cheese pasta and baby toes. The force is strong with this one – even a semester of creative writing and a journalism degree couldn’t derail me, although it did teach me the value of brevity, and to edit and refine your writing to make every word count. And to not be afraid to hit delete on great swathes of prose. Kill it. Kill it dead, I say!
I don’t know everything about writing, no-one does. But the things I have learned over the years have served me well. I share them thus:
1. Read.
I think this is the first thing everyone says when they are encouraging others to write, and who am I or Annie Lennox to disagree? I absolutely would not be the writer I am today without first reading, and then falling in love with the written word. My mother taught me to read long before school, and I was reading Trixie Belden novels when my peers were sounding out the words to Spot. I was obsessed and voracious and I haven’t stopped since. I will read anything and anything, anywhere, anytime. Except 50 Shades of Grey, I am so not into erotica. Even typing that made me retch a little bit. But hey, if it gets you reading, and enjoying reading, then READ IT and to hell with everyone else. Read things that you’re uncomfortable with to learn why you don’t like it (do as I say and not as I DO, people!), read outside your genre, read what inspires you and makes you want to pick up a pencil. Read people who are so good you vow never to write again, for what is the point when such perfection exists in the world? Thanks a lot, Stephen King.
2. Write.
Duh.
No, seriously. Sometimes just sit and write randomly and a story will make itself clear as you go. Write gibberish, it doesn’t matter, eventually you will hit on something. Then use that to springboard something else. But don’t wait until the “right” time to write, or you’ll never get anything out. Or you’ll be so inspired to write but you can’t because the baby has just hurled, or your train has arrived, and when you sit down to put that flash of brilliance to paper later on, you’ve lost your mojo. Writing is a huge exercise in self-discipline and sometimes you’ve just gotta slap yourself a bit and get started. If you have a ritual, great, get on that shit. I need a cup of tea, Hemingway stood when he wrote, and I dare say Hunter S. Thompson snorted a boatload of cocaine. Whatever. Do it and get writing. Ok maybe not the cocaine, but you know what I mean.
Sometimes I start from the middle. Being a journalist meant I had to come up with first sentences that would hook the reader in, and they were hard. Sometimes they’d come to me in a flash of brilliance and the story would roll out of my fingers. Sometimes I just had to get the story down and by doing that I would come up with a great intro. Just write, dammit. Sort the rest out later.
3. Edit.
This is hard for a lot of people, but it is absolutely imperative if you want to write powerfully. Waffling distracts the reader and often annoys them. Sometimes you even know when you’re doing it but you push on anyway. Well, I have two words for you, Mr/Mrs I Use Extraneous Words And I Am Too Precious To Part With Them: slash and burn. Do not be iffy about it. Chances are, once it’s cut you won’t even remember it was there. Pare right down and make every word count. Want to know why Edenland’s writing feels like a punch in the gut? Because she writes simply. She does not waffle. She finds the heart of the matter and describes it, often with unexpected twists and inspired turns of phrase. There is no florid prose, no flowery paragraphs. Just words arranged effectively. Edit, edit, edit.
4. One style does not fit all.
Please do not try to be something you are not. Like that time I wrote a short story about four orphans locked in a house with infra-red laser sensors on all the windows because I had just read Flowers in the Attic. Although many people have been Virginia Andrews, I was not one of them. Fortunately for me, I went back to writing in my usual style and realised forevermore I would be really crap at fiction. I just don’t have the imagination nor the patience for it. It’s like when you meet a new guy or girl and suddenly you’re into skateboarding and declaring you love mee goreng even though you have no clue what it is. Find your voice and stick to it. People will love you for who you are, not who you wish you were. And you’ll only get better, rather than increasingly panicked that you can’t keep up the pretence.
6. Learn from your mistakes.
When you send an item off for review, there will almost always be changes you have to make. That’s just the way things are. That doesn’t mean you are the worst writer ever and why did you bother anyway, it just means that two people have two different views about what works. Or what the initial brief was. It hurts a little bit, often makes you feel really stupid, and probably will never get easier. But swallow your pride and take it like an adult. If they have seriously misunderstood your point and you need to fight for it, fine. But don’t sulk and manufacture a thousand excuses as to why you wrote it like that, just make the changes and send it on back. And never make those mistakes again! Feel free to pour a wine and vent on twitter, or email your friend and say “can you believe it?!” but at the end of the day, if you want to get paid or published (or both!), you need to be flexible.
8. Surround yourself with like-minded people.
I think this is true of anything you want to do or be in life. To those who do not write, it can be impossible to explain. But rather than let that dissuade you, go forth in search of your tribe. There are plenty of creatives out there, and the internet has made them even easier to connect with. Join a facebook group or sign up to a mailing list. Trawl the #amwriting hashtag on twitter and chat to someone who sounds similar. You need people to bounce ideas off and to learn from and be inspired by. They will in turn support you and make you feel the hours you steal away from your job or life or family to put pen to paper are legitimate and necessary.
9. Keep notes.
This is especially true for train-takers and parents of hurling babies. You can’t always write when you want to, and nine times out of ten your brilliant idea will die, taking with it your chances of writing the next Harry Potter. Keep a little book and pencil in your bag, beside your bed and in your kitchen. Write notes on your phone and email them to yourself. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve sat wracking my brain for the amazing thing I was going to write about and was sure I’d remember. You won’t. Write it down.
10. Give yourself incentives.
Just 500 more words and you can have another cup of tea. One chapter and you get a pedicure. Four blog posts and you get a cupcake. Whatever works. Like I said earlier, writing is an exercise in self-discipline, especially when deadlines loom. Before you know it one day without writing turns into five, then a month and you ain’t done shit. Impose your own deadlines, get three pages of your manuscript done by your 2.30 coffee date with Marge. Do not be calling Marge and telling her you can’t make it. Get cracking. Read bits and pieces of the people you love in between bits that you write. Keep yourself motivated by any means necessary. Except probably cocaine. When you write for a living, you sometimes need to stop vacuuming the floor and cleaning every windowsill with a toothbrush and just start typing. Write however you can for whatever reason you tell yourself. Then edit it. Use the notes you emailed to yourself earlier. Have a break and chat to someone on twitter. Remember with a flush of shame that time you missed a deadline and vowed never to do it again. Find that voice you are known for and just write.
What do you think? What has helped shape you as a writer? As a reader, what do you like to read? Do you know what mee goreng is? And can you put the kettle on, please?
*nb – you will be tickled to know I have missed two points here… numbers five and seven. My eagle-eye number-loving husband spotted them. Writing is my strong point, mathematics is not. What’s even funnier is that number 6, which should be number 5, is “learn from your mistakes”. *dies*
This is very inspiring and has triggered some guilt in me. But I am still trying to learn to find the time. I love reading and prefer to read a good book but a 6mo baby means that I haven’t picked a book up in, lets just say ages. So I am reading blogs when I can, occasionally I get to flick through a magazine which isn’t really reading at all. Mee Goreng, yes please, but what?! I’ll take the cup of tea this early in the morning.
No guilt allowed if a small baby is the thing distracting you from writing. Or in my case, two of them! That is a legitimate excuse to let things slide. It will come back when it’s ready x
A sound ten things list Stacey. I too, have read & written since I was very young, including the keeping of many journals. I have them all lovingly stored away for future cringe sessions! With all of my Uni essays I’d set my deadline 2 weeks ahead & marked it on the calendar in red pen a month, a week one day out! It worked though & I had lots of time to review if my lecturer told me so. With blogging I am often up late, despite planning not to be. That’s another inevitable of the writer, alongside time away from other pursuits: the late nights. Adds to the quiet, contemplative & surly writerly disposition!
Yeah I sort of wish I could still go to the pub and have a scotch and a cigarette then come home, yell at everyone not to disturb me, then tap away until deep into then night. Oh the romanticism of writing!
Most important thing from above – don’t try and write like someone else. It won’t come out well at all … keep writing to find your own voice. Thank goodness for blogging, this was my voice all along but journalism tried to beat it out of me. BTW, that writing the intro thing? I’ve always been an intro first girl (even if I end up changing it) then let it flow.
Oh I always found if I did that, I couldn’t get a proper start and I’d sit there wasting time. I did used to write a shoddy intro and then change it later just to get something on paper. But the times you hit on a perfect intro and everything falls into place straight away is such a high! You’re so right about voice, I have seen a couple of blogs mimic certain styles and it doesn’t come off as genuine. Be authentic, be, be authentic!
Oh this is gold! I have to put my hand up for the “waffling on” crime. I could talk the leg off a chair and write similarly I’m afraid. Bubby number one is at kindy, bubby number two is asleep and rather than pottering around the internet I’m heeding your advice and heading off to write. Bye bye! Thanks lovely Stace…hope your day is grand x x
But your words paint a beautiful picture, and are sort of ethereal and dreamy. That’s what I like about you! I don’t write like that at all, so it’s fascinating to read how others express themselves. There are some who use 47 different words to describe the ocean on their afternoon walk, and that can be tedious, but I don’t come across them very often 🙂
I hope today is productive for you… and for me, I have a ton of things to write!
xo
Love it Stace. Agree with each and every point above … but particularly with “READ” and ‘Slash and burn’ baby!!
If I had to narrow it down to two pieces of advice, they’d be my two! They’ve been my best friends on this journey.
I’ve always loved to read and write. I’ve never been game to send something off though.
Rejection comes with writing, that’s just part and parcel of the game. Send it off and expect nothing but hope for everything… half your work is done for you simply by networking and getting your name out there. By whatever means necessary. Fortune favours the brave! xo
v timely as I head back to my writing class today. although as the classes go on I am starting to wonder if I am really a fiction writer…maybe I am a non-fiction writer in denial. and yes on the reading. (which is why ‘war and peace’ has been sitting on my bedside table open at pg 16 for oh, about a month.)
I am totally a non-fiction writer! Half the reason I made the switch from creative writing to journalism. I definitely deal better with facts. And War and Peace is something I’m not even going to attempt until both my kids are grown, or I’m stuck on a desert island 🙂
This is so fantastic, Stacey! It’s all true. I kind of think writing is similar to photography. A photographer will take hundreds of snaps just to get that one shot they were looking for. So too a writer must write, write, write. It might not all be what you’d share with the world, but some of it will be.
Also, the best advice my high school English teacher gave me was to be mindful of the “economy of language” and that you need to “know the rules before you break them.”
yes! the more you write, the more the chance of getting something good. I also agree with your teacher – I live by those things also!
Oh please don’t mention Mee Goreng. The smell memory is still strong. *vomits*
I was SO not a writer. I didn’t write a thing unless I absolutely HAD TO until I started a blog. And then people told me I was crap at it. And that I shouldn’t swear. And that I shouldn’t start a sentence with and.
And I don’t care. Cause it brings me happiness, and pretty friends with cute little girls.
I will be sharing this with my daughter…
x
And those people can foad. Your daughter is rad x
You are so right about taking notes, so many lost ideas haunt me when I can’t think of something to write!
I had to laugh when I read ‘put the kettle on’ because I just sat down with a cup of tea.
And I’m just getting up to put it on again! xx
This is really great advice. Editing is the thing I have to work hardest at, you are so right about making every word count. You should have seen how verbose this comment was before I slashed it up good 😉 Belinda x
I AM SO PROUD!
Oh such good advice. Blogging has really taught me to just get to it and write something down!. and editing! This is something I’m also learning, so good to hear you say it..it was hard at first to get rid of whole paragraphs I’d written and then just delete them like they never existed. Happy reading and writing days x
Oh yes, editing will be your best friend. Like a friend who says you really do have a big butt in those jeans. Love your edit friend!
My grade 11 teacher told me that something that I’d written was “vomitous”. I’ve never written anything again.
One of my earliest memories is being in grade one and listening while my mum had a parent teacher interview. The teacher was telling mum that I was an advanced reader and writer, and very confident with words, not afraid to give it a good go if I wasn’t sure – as evidenced by the fact that earlier that very day, I had written about something that had happened “the smorning”. That is so cute, if I do say so myself!
The smorning! Oh man! And here I was thinking abby calling Noddy “Poddy” was the cutest thing I’d heard all day. And vomitous is a really good word… pity your teacher was a bitch.
Thank you for a truly inspirational, beautifully written list.
It is my pleasure 🙂
Really great advice! Thanks!
You don’t need it!
Fabulous list! I like slash and burn the best. I’ve had hard battles with myself over words I love, but they didn’t add to the overall story…getting rid of them is difficult but I always feel good when I do. The other thing I’ve learned is to recgonise certian redundant words in my writing, like that, and some.
I love reading, but somewhere down the line, it was pushed right down in my priorities…but I’ve rekindled my love of recently, and mostly because of my daughter. She was telling me about school, and how the teacher says she comes out with facinating facts. I said, “How DO you know this stuff!?” And she said, “Because I read Mum.” #loveher.
Ohhh did your heart just burst?! Reading has taught me so, so much. Sometimes I get anxious when I walk into libraries and there isn’t enough time on earth to read ALL OF THE BOOKS!
BEST list. Even with the omissions. You are so cute, Stacey!
I bet the omissions were great!
Great post, I love it! I find I get the best ideas when I go for a run and I burst through the door to scribble down everything in my head.
Run? What is run?!
One more point is don’t ever be discouraged.
I wanted to be a writer SO badly when I “grew up”.
My English teacher told me it wasn’t a feasible career and I should do something else.
Jokes on her, I am a copywriter – and I blog.
When I feel like I can’t write another word, I think back on that day and pick up my pen, because despite not having seen the woman in 10 years I am determined to prove her wrong.
Thank you for these AMAZING tips x
Ha I agree! I think you’re doing an amazing job. I remember once feeling rather despondent, and then thinking… I am paid to put words into order and tell a story. That cured me right up!
You have made me want to rush out and buy a notebook (a pretty one of course) and fill it up! Great blog.
Great article 🙂 I was so sucked in by your words I didn’t even notice the missing numbers. While not a journo, I did work in media liaison and follow the same rules as you regarding the hook and wasted words. Press releases, the W’s and H are drilled into my head, and I find they still influence (and really help) my writing now. I really enjoy reading your blog, not just for the delicious recipes (and baby toes!), but the writing too.