I know, I know, like you need more advice. This has been niggling in the
back of my mind for a while, and pinches me every time I am exposed to any
form of advice to would-be writers. Thank you for letting me get it off my
chest. And remember, like all advice, it's probably worth what you paid for
it. I am not an expert on anything, and if you disagree with anything
below, you are happily entitled to your opinion. This is mine. Delete at
will. ^__^
1. Learn the basics of style and English. Proper use of words, grammar,
syntax, stuff like that. People will take you more seriously, and you will
avoid being snubbed by those who are obsessed with such things.
2. Avoid becoming obsessed with style. Do it right, but don't become a
style snob. This will make you into a conformist and could rob you of
spontaneity. Don't expect any style snob to agree with, or understand this
piece of advice.
3. Many an author who writes fan fiction may harbor the desire to evolve into a "real,
published author". But you may find yourself in a place where you have two
paths before you: one, to spend your energy attempting to copy the
activities, style and what you think is the practice of a published author,
or two, nurturing your own creative spirit and learning what your inner
soul has to teach you. Try and get yourself into a place where you can do
both, if that is what you want, but if you chose path number one over
number two, you may dry up the stream that feeds your muse. There is a real
danger in trying to make your passion support you - the danger is that you
may lose the passion altogether. It doesn't mean you can't do it - it just
means, watch out. There are no statistics for how many wannabe authors have
lost their creative impulse through this dilemma. We only know about those
few who managed to balance the danger with attention to their own creative
needs, and have become successful. We also know about those who failed to
balance - they are all around us. The English teacher who proclaims you
can't write. The editor who sneers at your prose. The fellow amateur who is
always happy to criticize your efforts.
4. Don't think you have to accept advice from anyone. Accept advice only
from those you trust. Just because someone else may be a passable or even
excellent writer themselves doesn't mean they can tell you how to write, or
know what will work for your story. If you must have another opinion,
listen to someone who is not only educated, but who has heart.
5. Don't be a masochist about your writing. The thing that is in shortest
supply is always going to be your confidence, and lack of it will kill your
ability to write.
6. Give yourself time. You are trying to learn to listen to an inner voice,
and all the external voices will drown it out at first. Practice until you
can hear it.
7. While you are giving yourself time, write. Don't worry too much about
what comes out, just write. Write long letters to absent friends even if
you never send them. Write what you see around you. Write a memory. Write a
dream. You are opening up a creative flow, exercising a mental muscle. The
more you use it, the easier it will get. It does take time, so don't waste
the time going by. And don't expect the first things you write to be the
perfect story, poem, play, novel, etc.
8. Find something you like about everything you write. I don't have to tell
you to find something you don't like, you will do that without any help or
prompting. Find something you like. As time goes on, find more things you
like, make it a progression.
9. Figure out what you like about an author you admire. Don't copy them
slavishly, but try and figure out what you respond to when you read. Try
and figure out why. It says something about you, and you can connect to
that something when you are writing your own material.
10. Once you begin to like what you write, don't get complacent. Don't get
bored. When it becomes comfortable, stretch out. Try something
uncomfortable. Take chances. Fail. If you never fail, you aren't really trying.
FOR FANFIC AUTHORS IN PARTICULAR:
11. Respect your audience. If you are even a slightly talented author, you
have an awesome power - you affect people. Your words can stir emotions.
You reach people instantly in a deep a private way. Don't take this power
for granted. Don't condescend to the reader, don't tease them in any way
that is cruel. Playful teasing is ok, but don't hurt them just because you
can. Don't lift yourself above the reader. Without them, you may still be a
writer, but you lose the extra dimension, the extra-reality that sharing
your creative efforts with others provides and it is precious.
12. Don't become a slave to the audience. Once you begin to write, to
become a writer, the greatest danger you face is your own ego. If it is
crushed, it will take away your will to write. If it is inflated, it will
take away your humanity and make you into something that lives only for
external validation. This is a huge danger to most of us, because most
people who have the urge to write also have some form of an inferiority
complex. Praise becomes a narcotic. A little of it can make you very happy,
but if you learn to live for it, you are on a fast moving downhill track to
destruction of your soul. And your soul is where your creativity flourishes.
13. Write because you have to. Not because someone else said you had good
ideas. The world is littered with people who have good ideas. Write because
you ideas won't let you sleep. Write even if no one likes anything you do,
because, in time, someone will. On the internet, you have access to an
unbelievably huge potential readership. With time and luck, you can find
your audience. This is an opportunity that authors have never had before.
In the "real" publishing world, you are only worth taking a chance on as an
author if you can appeal to a broad enough market to make money for the
publisher, to justify the cost of paper, ink and distribution. On the Net,
distribution is free. You are self-published. Enjoy that freedom. Do what
you truly want to do.
14. By the same token, as your own publisher, you have an extra bit of
responsibility. See #11, and use headers and *warnings*.
15. Never hock your (computer/typewriter/number 2 pencil).
GUITAR AND PEN
(Pete Townshend) (c) 1978 Towser Tunes, Inc. (adm. by Longitude Music Co.) BMI.
You're alone above the street somewhere
Wondering how you'll ever count out there
You can walk, you can talk, you can fight
But inside you've got something to write
In your hand you hold your only friend
Never spend your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
When you take up a pencil and sharpen it up
When you're kicking the fence and still nothing will budge
When the words are immobile until you sit down
Never feel they're worth keeping, they're not easily found
Then you know in some strange, unexplainable way
You must really have something
Jumping, thumping, fighting, hiding away
Important to say
When you sing through the verse and you end in a scream
And you swear and you curse 'cause the rhyming ain't clean
But it suddenly comes after years of delay
You pick up your guitar, you can suddenly play
When your fingers are bleeding and the knuckles are white
Then you can be sure, you can open the door
Get off of the floor tonight
You have something to write!
RESOURCES:
Find a book on style. There are lots and you've probably already had one or
more recommended to you. Strunk and White, Chicago Manual of Style, etc etc.
However, the single most helpful book I ever found is not a book on style.
It is a book called Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. This book helps
you teach yourself to think like and *be* a writer. It is an easy read and
has practical exercises that really help. You can find it at Amazon.com.
Used with permission, Copyright © October 2001 bonnejeanne