Lots of folks are dispensing writing tips these days. There’s even a Twitter hashtag for such pronouncements: #writetip. I do it, too, though I try to do it from the position of what I see as an editor. (Someone who’d seen my most-read post found his way to my website and—rather than post a comment—sent me a message that was shocking for its vitriol and, well, meanness, the gist of which was I should write a best-selling novel before I offered writing tips. To which I can only say you can’t please everyone.)
As I say, lots of people are doing it. But one of my favorite authors—Frank Delaney—is tweeting a daily writing tip. That’s advice in just 140 characters, kids. Herewith a sampling of recent tweets:
• Give your characters strong opinions—not always or necessarily your own.
• Do an adjective count at the end of each session and halve the number.
• Do terrible things—for example, tell us how blood tastes.
• If there’s a fight we have to feel the blows.
• Make every chapter complete—and a cliffhanger.
• Be sure to like your characters. Hating one or two can also help.
• No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader; no laughs either.
• When you’re writing prose read poetry—it’ll help with rhythm.
• Have your characters talk about each other—we all love gossip.
• Research: Always know five times more than you need.
• Writer’s block: Read aloud comically from a dictionary or thesaurus.
• Hold back the reveal: delay the gunshot. All tension comes from withholding.
• Characters’ names are the oxygen of writing: choose them with the greatest care.
• Above all—read it aloud.
• Give your readers what they expect but not in the way they expect it.
• Establish on a separate page your story’s calendar.
• You already know (I assume) about love—so learn as much as you can about how hatred works. It has great energy.
• Leave gaps in your draft at those moments when the stuff just isn’t flowing; filling them in later is the best fun!
• 1st drafts: Take no advice, not even your own; work on autopilot and when the plane has landed clear the jungle around it.
• In each “act” of the novel, make an extremely short chapter. It can come across as a punch—or a sigh.
• Don’t hold back your imagination—you can always tidy up afterward.
• Short sentences generate tension; long sentences generate a mood of reflection.
• If you say somebody is boring—we’ll be bored, unless you amuse us with their boringness.
• If it’s not flowing the way you want, walk away from it.
• Make sure we have somebody to hate.
• Try and conjure smell—it’s difficult but worth it.
• One detail—of a character or a room—is often enough.
• Never begin successive sentences with the same word—unless deliberately for tension and style.
• If you place your very longest words toward the middle of the sentence you’ll often get a pleasing visual effect. It’s worth the effort.
• Don’t fear to be outrageous.
Man! Each nugget makes you think—and some are completely unexpected. There’s only been one I’ve disagreed with (at least for myself) so far: “Always finish your work session in the middle of a sentence.” I see where he’s going with it—it’s a brain workout, a mental exercise—but it absolutely doesn’t work for me. If I don’t finish it, the whole train of thought will be lost. I’ve even made the Irishman wait on a Skype call while I finish typing a line.
But there’s some good stuff here. If you’re on Twitter, look up @FrankDelaney. If I had time, I think I could just about write a whole post about each one of these. (In some cases, I already have.) What do you think?
By the way, Bloomsday is this Sunday. If you’re in or near Philadelphia, Mr. Delaney recommends you stop by the Rosenbach Museum and Library. One of the museum’s most valuable items is the handwritten manuscript of Joyce’s Ulysses. And they have quite a Bloomsday celebration too.
Tweet: A sampling of 30 brilliant writing tips from @FrankDelaney!
Tweet: Each #writetip makes you think—and some are completely unexpected.
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I love this post, JC!
Thanks for sharing Frank Delaney’s 140-character writing wisdom.
And I, too, have received the un-solicited email from a troll who told me that, not only had I no right to dispense with writing advice, but that my own writing doesn’t pass muster.
In my obsessive thinking over the interaction (because I, like every writer, am filled with self-doubt + -flagellation by turns), I realized the following things: 1) I almost never read writers that a whole ton, or what could be classified as a best-selling number, of readers have heard about or read. 2) I find most books that wind up as best-sellers to be lackluster at best, such that I avoid them. 3)People who are insecure and angry and probably mentally unwell use the anonymity of the internet to bully other people, probably especially women with strong voices. (I don’t know anybody like that, do you?)
I have never accepted writing instruction from a best-selling author, though the instruction I’ve had has been excellent and continues to be. There are a few best-selling authors who HAVE dispensed instruction to writer friends of mine who say that the best-selling writers in question have been less than generous teachers.
My undergraduate mentor wrote three books that he couldn’t sell, and now that he finally has sold two of them, he does not delude himself into believing they will be best sellers. We people who write, who prize the craft, who are in it because of soul-need and art, well, sales numbers are not why we do this.
And if more people listened to advice from people like us, best-sellers would probably get better. 🙂
The reasons books do not sell to publishers are often things that would make them *good* books. I’ve heard of writers I respect and admire being told that their books are “too sad” or “too literary.”
But I HAVE, however, edited best-selling authors (one of my friends + former clients, who is also on my editorial schedule for later this year) just hit #30 in Barnes & Noble’s best-selling romance authors the other day.
I warrant that you have, too, edited authors whose work meets commercial success, however that is defined.
All this to suggest that maybe the best-selling authors aren’t the best teachers, and that there are more fine writers than I care to try to number whose work is molding under a bed, or crystallizing on a hard drive somewhere, but who teach writing full time.
So to your troll, I say, “Shut up, blow hard!” And to you I say, “Power on, woman! You rule!”
xx
-A
I agree: authors don’t necessarily make good editors. And a programmer friend of mine tracked my troll to a no-name college in the northeast (to the specific building!), where he is not on the faculty, and therefore is probably an insecure, angry student. 🙂
GREAT comment. And thank you. 🙂
It makes me a little nervous to post a comment on the blog of anyone who has a programmer friend who tracks comment sources to that degree. Good think I don’t have anything nasty to say. After taking your advice and having read the books you suggested, I’ve decided that, not only can I learn a lot about writing, but also that you are a great teacher.
Oh, Samantha, you just made my day. Thank you so much! 🙂
Lovely post. I have been doing quite a few by accident/instinct (not sure which?) but there are a few new ones to try. Many thanks!
Instinct is a powerful force. 🙂 Regardless, even if you don’t use these tips forever, considering them will shake up your brain (and I mean that in a good way).
Hey Jamie, I don’t know what I would do without your blog. But I would like your advice on something.
I’m currently editing my fourth draft, and I feel really stuck. I took a break from the manuscript and I got back to it and its harder to edit. I’m in love with the story and I don’t want all this hard work to go to waste. Any advice?
Thanks for those kind words! I’m assuming you don’t have a critique group? If that’s the case, why don’t you locate a few beta readers and get some feedback?
Do you think Good Reads is a good place to find beta readers?
To be frank, I don’t participate in GoodReads (not enough time in my day), so I can’t speculate. However, I’ve heard good things about it; it seems to be an active, interested community. So go for it! You might also seek help from your local library—the librarian will know who the serious readers are and maybe even what their reading proclivities are. Perhaps you can post a notice. Another place might be the English lit prof at the local university; students need cash (http://jamiechavez.com/blog/2012/11/everybodys-talkin-at-me-part-2/) and like to have their ideas taken seriously.
Thank you so much! 😀