writing advice
The cliché is to have a character inform another character with an info dump or a quote and have the other character react to hearing it as if they are hearing it for the first time or learning something. What is more interesting is to have the second character already know what the first person tells them. This imbues the second character with
... See moreWhen looking for details or fresh, unexpected ideas to add to a piece you are writing re-read notebooks.
Treat people like they are smart, not like you’re smarter than them.
Tim Denning • How to Reach 300K Views on a Single Piece of Writing
Share stories we can’t google.
Tim Denning • How to Reach 300K Views on a Single Piece of Writing
Notice how in the beginning, the number of items reduces: 4, 2, 1, 0. Then in the end, the number of items increases: 1, 2, 6. Not only do the cascading numbers create momentum, but they add context, scale, and curiosity to the items that follow them.
4 Bloody Mary's ... he's looking to get wasted?
2 Grapfruits ... why two?
A pot of coffee ... by
... See moreMichael Dean • Hunter's Breakfast Myth
It taught me a lesson too. The difference between a “writer” and “somebody who writes” is the difference between showing up on a schedule and only showing up when you’re inspired. If you insist on always loving the craft, you’ll quit in the face of turmoil.
David Perell • I Hate Writing
If you’re not like them, however, if you’re not (sad to say) a rare genius, and you wish to, gradually, over time, raise the level of the (more or less limited) talent you do have, and make it into something powerful, I believe my theory might be of some value. You toughen up your will as much as you can. And at the same time you equip and maintain
... See moreHaruki Murakami • Novelist as a Vocation
For the most part, novelists are trying to convert something present in their consciousness into a story. Yet there is an inevitable gap between the preexisting original and the new shape it is spawning. That creates a dynamic the novelist can use as a kind of lever in the fashioning of his narrative. This is quite a roundabout way to do things,
... See moreHaruki Murakami • Novelist as a Vocation
I wake up early, brew fresh coffee in the kitchen, pour some in a big mug, sit down at my desk, and boot up my computer (there are times, I must
admit, when I miss the days of manuscript sheets and my fat Montblanc fountain pen). Then I sit there and muse about what to write that day. Such moments are pure bliss. To tell the truth, I have never
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