DividesByZer0
A cunning linguist
Hello again fellow ink slaves. I've seen a lot of people giving advice to so-called “aspiring” writers here, so I figured I'd throw some more dubious spices of wisdom into the broth. Maybe this tastes right to you.
Firstly, there are the two states in which we writers can exist: person who writes, or person who does not. If you write: you are a writer. If you do not write: you are not. "Aspiring" is a meaningless state that romanticizes Not Writing. It’s as ludicrous as saying, “I aspire to clean my room.” Either clean it or don’t. I don’t want to hear about how dust bunnies are mating under your bed. Clean them up, or stop talking about it.
You can aspire to be a lot of other things within the writing realm, and that’s cool. You can aspire to be a published author, or a bestselling author, or a professional freelance writer, or an author who travels to Las Vegas with a suitcase full of drugs writing a memoir about your drug addled trip.
Regardless of what we ultimately aspire to do with our writing, we should always aspire to be a better writer. Nobody is at the top of their game. We can all climb higher; Complacency is the road to stagnant and stale.
So without further ado here is another pro tip: "Kill your darlings."
Now for those who learn a “rule” about writing and proceeded to adopt it literally and religiously, I have to quote Captain Barbossa: “They’re more what you’d call guidelines, than 'rules'.”
That said, “kill your darlings.” is mostly attributed to William Faulkner--reiterated by Stephen King and many more--who probably paraphrased Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, with “Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings.”
I’ve heard some people who cut a whole scene just because they loved it. There are those with this crazy notion that just because they love a scene, it automatically makes it bad. I feel like they miss the point. Bad writing is easy to cut, but what are and how do we cut these so called "darlings"?
The phrase "kill your darlings" basically tells us to cut elements from our work that doesn't serve to further the work as a whole (move the plot forward etc), even if those elements are ones that we love. But what types of things are best to slay and why is killing our darlings an important technique that we should all use?
It may seem like erasing the things you love will make the story less passionate, and hey under some circumstances, that might be the case. However, upon murdering those darlings we actually enhance our story, and create the best possible version of our work. If that doesn't impassion you, I don't know what will.
This process will strengthen our characters and plot, improve the overall quality of our writing, and hone our self-discipline for better writing. Keeping an objective eye while editing is hard. After all we've worked on our story and posts for so long that we are biased and our views subjective. But by forcing ourselves to shoot our darlings in the head, we are practicing objectivity, and improving our editing skills. So take aim and pull the trigger.
The first darling is the weak character. Weak characters are those without strong personalities and purpose. Let's avoid creating shallow characters. Make sure they embody more than one personality trait. And don't be afraid to give them both strengths and flaws. It's important to note not to give them too many of either. Whether they are Superman, or a train wreck with a heroin addiction to feed, a semblance of balance is a mark of a well-developed character. No one is all strengths, or all flawed.
However a character with a well-developed personality is still a weak character if they don't serve a strong purpose. Every character should have at least one of two main purposes; they must either move the plot forward, or reveal something new about your main character. If they don't do either of these, they need to die. So make like an overly obsessed girlfriend and castrate that cheating darling.
Another darling is extraneous plot lines. A plot line is a course of related events that occur throughout our work. Every work has a central plot line that follows the main character as they strive to attain their goal. And many works include sub-plots. These can tell us the actions of the villain, a secondary character, or even the hero as they try to achieve a secondary goal. But just like our characters, each of our sub-plots needs to serve a purpose. To ensure that they do, consider why you've included each one. Do they help readers better understand the main plot line, or present a seemingly inconsequential event that will make a major impact later? Do they foreshadow future events or reveal new information about our main characters? If not, rip these extraneous plot lines from the pages of your work and roast them in the fires of a Nazi book burning.
That said, Pointless metaphors and similes should seem obvious, but it isn't always. Metaphors and similes are figures of speech that highlight the similarities between two seemingly unrelated things in an effort to further reader understanding. Note that italicized text. That's right... I hope it infects the crevices of your mind and lingers like herpes.
Metaphors and similes are meant to provide clarity on difficult concepts, or expand upon what is being said in some deeper fashion, but most writers simply use them to create pretty prose. We all have done it but this is a mistake. It's unnecessary fluff that slows down the pace of the story without revealing anything new. For example, most readers understand basic body language concepts. Writing "her eyes darkened like the sky before a storm." doesn't serve much of a point because readers already understand what "her eyes darkened." means. So save those metaphors and similes for concepts that actually require further explanation, or lend deeper insight to something and they will make a much stronger impact.
Now, I don't know about you, but fleshing out a character backstory can be one of the most fun parts during pre-writing and it helps us better understand them as we develop them into the people they will become. But do our readers really need to know every detail of our character's past? Hell no! We want to read about your character's present story, not their past ones. So unless your back story, or flashback reveals pertinent information about your main character and his present situation, take an axe to it.
Prologues... yes I said it. It had to be said and the age old debate goes on. But don't get up in arms, unless it's against this darling. I'm actually a fan of well-done prologues. That said, there is a good chance that your prologue (or epilogue) is simply unnecessary.
If our prologue doesn't reveal something new about our main character, further readers' understanding of our story world, or introduce a vital plot point, then it needs to go. Make like a bouncer at an upscale club and haul that undesirable darling out on its butt.
Unnecessary Scenes. Sometimes, we like to indulge by including fun but irrelevant scenes in our work. And while fluff maybe entertaining to read, most readers will probably feel like it's an unnecessary divergence from the plot. Save the fan-fiction for the readers who actually ask for it and keep your story focused.
Now here is one that seems quite big on these forums. Pointless Romances. Giving characters a little flirtatious relationship, or even throwing them into a full-blown romance, can be fun for writers. After all, our characters are our babies. We want to see them live out their own personal fairy tales. But just like unnecessary scenes, we can't afford to indulge at the expense of our readers' enjoyment. It's writing masturbation and we're just going to look the other way. That is unless you get into a mutual groove of trying to one up each other. If that's your thing then by all means continue, the rest of us will just be over here somewhere else.
Every one of our characters' relationships needs to develop them--for better or for worse--as human beings, adding layers of complexity to their personalities, as well as complicating the plot. If your romance doesn't make that happen, it's time to throw it in the paper shredder.
Finally for those of us who have been inspired and are developing a novel from your rp. This is a darling you probably want to cut. Your First Chapter. Say Whaaat?! That's right. First chapters are one of the hardest parts of a novel to write because of all that you need to accomplish in just a few thousand words: Introducing your main characters, setting the scene, and initiating the conflict, and making sure that readers understand the context of the story with out getting lost in a bombarded of information. You need to keep them grounded even though they are on a school bus of screaming children caught in the cross fire of a bank robbery, during the midst of an alien invasion.
Most writers begin their novels too early trying to compensate for the complexity of the first chapter. It's the easiest way to fit everything in, but it risks boring readers with drawn-out exposition and we're giving up on the book before we've even gotten to the main attraction, which is why our first chapter probably needs the boot.
That should just about wrap everything up. So onward up yon paperwork mountain fair pen monkeys. Time to slay those darlings. And remember no more aspiring to write. You are a writer, so write. And remember to finish your sh*t. Say it with me, finish your sh*t!
One of the worst habits we can pick up is not writing. If your rp is going stale, it's not just the other person. Sure maybe they aren't the most entertaining writer, compared to your utterly fabulous prose that rivals the greats, but if you were psyched at first and then lost interest, ask yourself what you can do spice it up. You are a writer and co-creater of the world. So make sh*t happen.
Firstly, there are the two states in which we writers can exist: person who writes, or person who does not. If you write: you are a writer. If you do not write: you are not. "Aspiring" is a meaningless state that romanticizes Not Writing. It’s as ludicrous as saying, “I aspire to clean my room.” Either clean it or don’t. I don’t want to hear about how dust bunnies are mating under your bed. Clean them up, or stop talking about it.
You can aspire to be a lot of other things within the writing realm, and that’s cool. You can aspire to be a published author, or a bestselling author, or a professional freelance writer, or an author who travels to Las Vegas with a suitcase full of drugs writing a memoir about your drug addled trip.
Regardless of what we ultimately aspire to do with our writing, we should always aspire to be a better writer. Nobody is at the top of their game. We can all climb higher; Complacency is the road to stagnant and stale.
So without further ado here is another pro tip: "Kill your darlings."
Now for those who learn a “rule” about writing and proceeded to adopt it literally and religiously, I have to quote Captain Barbossa: “They’re more what you’d call guidelines, than 'rules'.”
That said, “kill your darlings.” is mostly attributed to William Faulkner--reiterated by Stephen King and many more--who probably paraphrased Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, with “Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings.”
I’ve heard some people who cut a whole scene just because they loved it. There are those with this crazy notion that just because they love a scene, it automatically makes it bad. I feel like they miss the point. Bad writing is easy to cut, but what are and how do we cut these so called "darlings"?
The phrase "kill your darlings" basically tells us to cut elements from our work that doesn't serve to further the work as a whole (move the plot forward etc), even if those elements are ones that we love. But what types of things are best to slay and why is killing our darlings an important technique that we should all use?
It may seem like erasing the things you love will make the story less passionate, and hey under some circumstances, that might be the case. However, upon murdering those darlings we actually enhance our story, and create the best possible version of our work. If that doesn't impassion you, I don't know what will.
This process will strengthen our characters and plot, improve the overall quality of our writing, and hone our self-discipline for better writing. Keeping an objective eye while editing is hard. After all we've worked on our story and posts for so long that we are biased and our views subjective. But by forcing ourselves to shoot our darlings in the head, we are practicing objectivity, and improving our editing skills. So take aim and pull the trigger.
The first darling is the weak character. Weak characters are those without strong personalities and purpose. Let's avoid creating shallow characters. Make sure they embody more than one personality trait. And don't be afraid to give them both strengths and flaws. It's important to note not to give them too many of either. Whether they are Superman, or a train wreck with a heroin addiction to feed, a semblance of balance is a mark of a well-developed character. No one is all strengths, or all flawed.
However a character with a well-developed personality is still a weak character if they don't serve a strong purpose. Every character should have at least one of two main purposes; they must either move the plot forward, or reveal something new about your main character. If they don't do either of these, they need to die. So make like an overly obsessed girlfriend and castrate that cheating darling.
Another darling is extraneous plot lines. A plot line is a course of related events that occur throughout our work. Every work has a central plot line that follows the main character as they strive to attain their goal. And many works include sub-plots. These can tell us the actions of the villain, a secondary character, or even the hero as they try to achieve a secondary goal. But just like our characters, each of our sub-plots needs to serve a purpose. To ensure that they do, consider why you've included each one. Do they help readers better understand the main plot line, or present a seemingly inconsequential event that will make a major impact later? Do they foreshadow future events or reveal new information about our main characters? If not, rip these extraneous plot lines from the pages of your work and roast them in the fires of a Nazi book burning.
That said, Pointless metaphors and similes should seem obvious, but it isn't always. Metaphors and similes are figures of speech that highlight the similarities between two seemingly unrelated things in an effort to further reader understanding. Note that italicized text. That's right... I hope it infects the crevices of your mind and lingers like herpes.
Metaphors and similes are meant to provide clarity on difficult concepts, or expand upon what is being said in some deeper fashion, but most writers simply use them to create pretty prose. We all have done it but this is a mistake. It's unnecessary fluff that slows down the pace of the story without revealing anything new. For example, most readers understand basic body language concepts. Writing "her eyes darkened like the sky before a storm." doesn't serve much of a point because readers already understand what "her eyes darkened." means. So save those metaphors and similes for concepts that actually require further explanation, or lend deeper insight to something and they will make a much stronger impact.
Now, I don't know about you, but fleshing out a character backstory can be one of the most fun parts during pre-writing and it helps us better understand them as we develop them into the people they will become. But do our readers really need to know every detail of our character's past? Hell no! We want to read about your character's present story, not their past ones. So unless your back story, or flashback reveals pertinent information about your main character and his present situation, take an axe to it.
Prologues... yes I said it. It had to be said and the age old debate goes on. But don't get up in arms, unless it's against this darling. I'm actually a fan of well-done prologues. That said, there is a good chance that your prologue (or epilogue) is simply unnecessary.
If our prologue doesn't reveal something new about our main character, further readers' understanding of our story world, or introduce a vital plot point, then it needs to go. Make like a bouncer at an upscale club and haul that undesirable darling out on its butt.
Unnecessary Scenes. Sometimes, we like to indulge by including fun but irrelevant scenes in our work. And while fluff maybe entertaining to read, most readers will probably feel like it's an unnecessary divergence from the plot. Save the fan-fiction for the readers who actually ask for it and keep your story focused.
Now here is one that seems quite big on these forums. Pointless Romances. Giving characters a little flirtatious relationship, or even throwing them into a full-blown romance, can be fun for writers. After all, our characters are our babies. We want to see them live out their own personal fairy tales. But just like unnecessary scenes, we can't afford to indulge at the expense of our readers' enjoyment. It's writing masturbation and we're just going to look the other way. That is unless you get into a mutual groove of trying to one up each other. If that's your thing then by all means continue, the rest of us will just be over here somewhere else.
Every one of our characters' relationships needs to develop them--for better or for worse--as human beings, adding layers of complexity to their personalities, as well as complicating the plot. If your romance doesn't make that happen, it's time to throw it in the paper shredder.
Finally for those of us who have been inspired and are developing a novel from your rp. This is a darling you probably want to cut. Your First Chapter. Say Whaaat?! That's right. First chapters are one of the hardest parts of a novel to write because of all that you need to accomplish in just a few thousand words: Introducing your main characters, setting the scene, and initiating the conflict, and making sure that readers understand the context of the story with out getting lost in a bombarded of information. You need to keep them grounded even though they are on a school bus of screaming children caught in the cross fire of a bank robbery, during the midst of an alien invasion.
Most writers begin their novels too early trying to compensate for the complexity of the first chapter. It's the easiest way to fit everything in, but it risks boring readers with drawn-out exposition and we're giving up on the book before we've even gotten to the main attraction, which is why our first chapter probably needs the boot.
That should just about wrap everything up. So onward up yon paperwork mountain fair pen monkeys. Time to slay those darlings. And remember no more aspiring to write. You are a writer, so write. And remember to finish your sh*t. Say it with me, finish your sh*t!
One of the worst habits we can pick up is not writing. If your rp is going stale, it's not just the other person. Sure maybe they aren't the most entertaining writer, compared to your utterly fabulous prose that rivals the greats, but if you were psyched at first and then lost interest, ask yourself what you can do spice it up. You are a writer and co-creater of the world. So make sh*t happen.
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