More Tips, Hooray!!

This week, with a big thanks to B.E. Sanderson and the Roar for Powerful Words Award, we're blogging about writing tips -- three to be exact. How cool is it to be recognized by such cool people?! Thanks y'all (Maveneers, maybe?)! And this is an awesome meme -- I've been thinking all day about writing tips and trying to whittle them down to only three (we all know I like to give advice and we also all know what I think is *most* important changes at whim). Erica's tips from yesterday rocked and I can't wait to see what the other Mavens come up with this week!

Carrie's tip #1 (stolen from Jenny Crusie, I think): Skip the boring parts.

I know that sounds funny, but how many of us have been writing a scene and realize we're describing everything? How many of us write the character leaving the house, locking the door, walking to the driveway, getting in the car, starting the car, adjusting the mirrors, buckling the seat belts, putting the car in reverse, twisting in the seat to look out the back window only to realize it is blurred by condensation, etc etc etc. For those of us who *see* the book in our head, we see all of this. Because we just finished writing a scene at Point A and now we need to write a scene at Point B and so we have to get the character from A to B.

The thing is, unless something really important happens in that car, the reader doesn't care. No one cares. It's boring. Cut it. Stop writing it. Hit the delete key. Every time you sit down to write a scene and think "I really want to write this awesome fight scene, but first I have to lay the groundwork for all this motivation and to do that I need lots of backstory..." stop and think: is this the boring stuff?

Yes, every scene needs set-up and fights need foundations, etc. But at the same time, you want to keep the reader interested (plus, you want to be excited about what you're writing) and so skip the boring. Then, if you need to, go back and layer in everything else.

Carrie's tip #2: Write.

Yes, I know you all think I'm joking - haha. But seriously, how many of us talk about writing? Think about writing? Daydream about writing? Create plot boards, draw diagrams, interview our characters, go to conferences, write blogs and post on other blogs and belong to Yahoo groups.

And yet never write.

All of those things are important and many make us better writers. Many of those things we need. But at the end of the day, if we're not writing, we're not getting anywhere -- we're not reaching our goals. If we want to be writers, we need to actually write.

Again, sounds like such basic advice, but so easy to forget.

Carrie's tip #3: Remember why you write.

Perhaps there's a theme going on here... but my third tip is to remember why you write. Remember that you love it, that it captures you. Remember the writer's high -- that feeling you get when it all goes right and the words pour from your fingers and when you read it weeks and months and years later it still speaks to you (and you think "damn, I'm a writer after all!").

So often, I find myself saying "Garrr, I have to write today," or "Why am I not writing?" or just generally whining about not wanting to write. Finally, I realized one day what I was saying, I listened to these words and the effect they were having on my attitude. I wondered: why am I not coming home excited about the story and saying "Yay! I get to write now! I get to play in this world and wreak havoc on my characters' lives!"

I remember Suzanne Brockman talking a while back about how your thinking impacts your writing and your attitude. She's has tons of great ideas about this stuff, but one of the stories that stuck out to me was that she'd been getting into fights a lot with her teen-age daughter. Every time they were around each other they bickered and fought. And then, one day her daughter walked into the room and before anyone said anything, Suzanne felt this anger towards her daughter rush over her. She realized that by fighting so much, she'd actually trained herself to expect a fight!

Now, think about all the times we say we don't want to write, we say we *have* to write (in a "I don't wanna" way) and think about the impact that has on our attitude. We train ourselves to not want to write!

So remember that you love to write, remember what your goals are and what you need to do to reach them and try to remember that you love writing, you look forward to writing, and writing is a pretty cool/fun/awesome/amazing thing to be doing.

How do you reconcile Tip #2 and Tip #3? Well... that's what we're all trying to figure out :)

More from the interwebs:

Just like it was nearly impossible for me to limit myself to three tips (yes, I could have prattled on forever), I had a terrible time only listing one writer who rocks. But I think for me it has to be Diana Peterfreund -- her blog is an awesome mix of industry knowledge, writing tips, and just the life of a writer. It's the first blog I read regularly after taking up writing again and I don't think think I'd be where I am today without it. I also recommend her archives -- tons of great stuff in there (and inspiring!).

AND, I'm going to steal Erica's sign-off because it's appropriate here :)

YOUR TURN: What are your favorite writing tips? What are your favorite writing sites? Did you vote for us over at the Preditors & Editors' Readers Choice poll? (Oops, how did that shameless self-promo get in there?!)