Omit unneeded words. This is a famous piece of writing advice from The Elements of Style by William Strunk, and his little manual on writing might be the most famous book on writing to exist. But is the advice above good advice. On Today’s episode of How to write good, I am going to talk […]
Should You Omit Unneeded Words? Read More »
We write from two different viewpoints in English. We either write in first person or third person. And some people have very strong feelings about writing in one or the other of these tenses. I don;t really care. I think they both useful, and I am willing to write in either. In this episode of
Cowboy hats. Metal walls with rivets. Redshirts. Duels. Towering skycrapers. There are many tropes that show up in stories. Where these show up depends up which type of story they are in. Because these things have been used over and over again, people have learned to hate them. But if you are one of those
Should you use tropes? Read More »
What shoot you shoot for when writing? What is the goal of the writing? My first answer to that question would be to make someone understand what you are thinking. Another way of saying this is that you are trying to express things as clearly as possible. Besides this goal, I have another goal that
I stumbled on a piece of writing advice that rubbed me the wrong way today. The piece of writing advice was that you should write for the sake of writing. Now, this got on my bad side because I believe writing has one very clear goal. That goal is to take what is in my
Writing for the Sake of Writing Read More »
I used to write on a boom and bust model. I would write a lot. Maybe I would stay up most of the write. I would have a surge of inspiration, and then I would have long periods where I would not write. And I can tell you, it is not a very effective model
I think it is very important to know that if you want to be successful in writing, you will need others around you for support. I don’t know how you could do it alone. And if you think you could be successful as a creative all alone, just try doing it without any fans. That
It is hard to pick which direction you want to go in your life. For some of us, picking our direction can be excruciating. If you are someone who is thinking about being a writer, this episode if for you. Maybe you are thinking that writing would be a cush job (I kind of think
Should I be a Writer? Read More »
Long, long ago in a world that is still under our feet, people did not write. They had no writing system at all. All communication was conveyed either through the spoken words or odd hand signals. At that time, when a person wanted to tell a story, they needed to speak that story. Over the
Fiction is Based on Oral Storytelling Read More »
Once you get to the first draft, it feels like you have finished your book. Doesn’t it? Doesn’t it? You want to run through the streets. You want to tell everyone that you’ve written the book. You want them to congratulate you, but I am going to burst that bubble you’ve created for yourself. You
But How do I Edit that Dang First Draft? Read More »
