3 Great Writing Tips No One Ever Talks About

Got a favourite unusual writing tip? Leave it in the comments!

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:28 - Only tell us a plan that fails
1:17 - Listen to audio as a jump start
2:24 - Use scene when your character is active

FIND REEDSY HERE:

[johnfinck]

My best tip: when you come to a point in your story where you don't know what happens next, embrace that moment. If you don't know what happens next, neither will your readers. This adds tension and drama. Even if it goes against your outline or preconceived ideas, embrace this moment, and let the story unfold from there. I find that writing myself out of unexpected corners often makes my story much better than my original ideas.

[Waedmenalnass]

One great tip I received from a poet was: it's all right to have weak lines, people do remember a line or two from your poem that being said weak lines make the powerful ones stand out.

[andyweb]

I thought of a tip 🤔 if you're writing briefly about a character in a work place that you've no experience in then focus on the things you do have experience in, like colleague relationships, hirarchy etc. They can be similar everywhere. I used to work in a night club, then worked in an office. They're totally different environments but the way people get on is exactly the same.

[Flame-rpyq]

Here’s a quote by famous Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky
“Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy”

[thereseember]

Thank you for your tips. I feel so proud of you—how confidently that you carry yourself.

Tips:

*Type direct dictation of how different people talk while they’re actually talking or relaying aspects of their own life story. Add dots for when they pause. Include when they laugh or when they get a lump
in their throat...or when they’re close to tears... Study afterwards their cadence and how they weave their words together. How they hem and haw... Include different age groups, cultures, etc. This is an exercise to help dialogue.

Read one paragraph from
different people (aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbors, strangers, the elderly, different professions, kids). Can others recognize who it is? Or do some sound too similar to perhaps be believable as a different character’s dialogue?
Closely observe why their patterns are different.

*Keep a notebook of solely words that you absolutely love the sounds of...that have a loving, peaceful, whimsical or blissful effect upon you. Then you can turn to this notebook when you’re searching for words or certain phrases.

[pokemonfanthings]

I love how you are straight to the point and concise, humble, and those ideas are creative. I never heard those three before.

[MrDrumGodsey]

Having a consistent writing routine was the key to me finishing my first draft. Writing has to be an almost compulsive habit. A routine makes writing become that habit!

[jacket]

I heard of one great tip, it was pretty harsh but it was really good.

"Dont take it to heart if your book doesnt get bought off the shelves. They're is a lot of great stories that dont do well in marketing. Some if not everyone would usually walk past them and not know they even existed, so be prepared for that and know that you accomplished something".

[NIKONGUY]

I use white noise, such as rain storms, snow storms and the like. It keeps me focused and balanced and I get an amazing amount of work done. That and I keep a simple gate that I have where I write in the closed position so no one bothers me. Can't say that enough. Getting pulled off your flow is painful.

[blueplague]

Oh. I didn't expect this to be the exact kind of helpful I wanted.

[StephanieOplinger]

I love that first tip! I'd never heard of that one before either.

One of my favorite writing tips for creating tension for a character both internally and plot-wise, is to make their (Maslow) heirarchy of needs conflict. An easy example is Titanic: Rose finds love and acceptance with Jack (a need on the hierarchy scale) but it directly conflicts with her social and familial acceptance (another need in the scale).

[adriang]

Writing tip. Watch these videos. Even if the subject is axiomatic. They're actually great motivation to smash through road blocks. So, thanks for posting.👍 (Most things are helpful though)

[onen]

Regarding not clueing people into plans unless the plan fails, that’s an extension of another common piece of advice, “Don’t tell readers the same information twice, because it’s boring.” Still good advice to mention because a lot of people fall into that trap at least once, but it’s also good to know why.

[jonathanvilario]

"Only tell a plan that fails, never tell a plan that succeeds." One sets up expectations just to knock it down, the other surprises the audience with its success.

[leif]

Thanks for the great writing tips : - )
My favorite tip *was* to read my draft aloud ... but *now* I find it much more efficient to let Word read it to me because even though it mispronounces my characters' names, it catches things I'm reading (and have subvocalized) incorrectly, like breath and breathe, et cetera.

[essentiallygone]

Listening to audio is a super underrated tip. Audiobooks are the only thing that consistently give me inspiration and ideas to write about. Listening to To Kill a Mockingbird for example, the descriptions of southern summer heat and the way Harper Lee builds the world and characters through observations and encounters. Same with The Bell Jar, the way Plath writes about thoughts and builds imagery, something about listening to that always makes me want to write.

[kingjulian]

holy cow! the first thing about the characters plan succeeding has literally opened my eyes to most action packed, dystopian, superhero and underdog movies where the character is always asked “so what’s the plan?” and it just cuts! you’re a genius! thank you! I’ll always keep an open eye for that now, so cool! I now know what to expect in movies heheh when me, my friends and family stop to discuss and theorize during a movie I’ll have so much power riding on the tip of my lips!

[josephdemaree]

When someone feels your pain, they speak your language. If they speak your language, you have found your critique partner

[russellrecords]

When I have a complex plot with characters coming and going, I build a timeline to clue me if one part of the story depends on something like an event or a conversation that hasn’t yet happened.

[figueiroaloureiro...]

writing tip: "drink water"
life saver