I am new to writing and I do not know where to begin, advice anyone?
Replies
Experiment!
Sit down with a pen, or pencil, or crayon, laptop, PC, tablet... anything - use a slate and stylus if you like...
Then again - you might find that you write better laying down - I don't think that standing upnis so common...
All of which is not taking the Micky...
In these techno times we have an enormous choice for how we write. It may sound weird to you but you might find that the type of pen you use (assuming you choose that option) will make a difference to how freely your writing will flow. Even the colour of ink and the colour of paper may be subject to selection.
I doubt, however, that you quite meant your question that way - although these are relevent issues.
There have been lots of recent posts on here about planning, just getting started (sans plan) and similar issues - often under anything but "getting started" headings... You will need to dig for them...
The important thing is to start.
It doesn't matter in the least what you start with.
I started writing fiction again (after I had had some non-fiction commisioned and published) when I came home from hospital with a cancer "scare". I sat myself down to write what I was thinking rather than mither about it... From there I have ploughed on through X thousand words over five years or so.
One thing that this site has convinced me about - we should not look to spring into literary life as experts that produce perfect best sellers from the moment we put finger to keypad.
I actually completely dumped my first two starts to write novels - and there's a whole pile of short stories that will never get beyond my laptop.
One great thing about going digital is that you don't have to transcribe your work. Another is that you can use all sorts of gadgets such as spell checks, grammar checks (don't always beoieve the computer - sometimes they are just completely nuts on grammar) and, also, synonim searches.
One thing that I find very odd with "novice" writers is that they often seem to be very reluctant to change anything at all - despite asking for advice. This can be annoying to people who give their time to type out drivel like this.
The biggest "lack of change" that I keep seeing is that people make the (to me) fundamental mistake of letting their writing keep using a word over-and-over-and-over-and-over again and again and...
I suspect that there is more than one problem here...
1. When writing quickly it is very easy to make this mistake in the first place - unless you had the practice whacked out of you when you were at school - but that is no-longer PC.
2. When reading through - and even when editing - the writer knows only too well what is there and where the story is going - consequently they have an "autopilot" flow to their reading... When anyone else reads the work though the repeated words can swiftly become very irritating - like a woodpecker hammering at your head.
3. So there is a need to actually look for too frequently repeated words - once a suspect is spotted a computer's "find" key is extremely useful (and annoying) for doing this. My system is to colour every repeat of a rogue word red as I search before going back through and adjusting as many rogues out of the text as I possibly can... while leaving some, appropriiate ones - and even pairs - in place.
This can be hard work - but it is very much worth the effort.
4. There also seems to be a problem that "novices" just don't want to make any changes at all... I have even had instances in which they didn't want to accept that they would need to practice before their writing was "just right".
The comparison I use is learning to drive - or, really, learning pretty much anything... Why should we anticipate that writing will be any different?
I have found another form of repetition - and I have to watch that I don't do this myself...
This is the repetition of a concept...
This often starts with an early warning of the idea... then the idea crops up... then it is developed... then it is explained... then it is looked back at...
I don't have any idea at all how to avoid this in the initial writing - except to beware of it - but when editing I have to be ruthless about cutting out as much of this error as possible. This can be really frustrating - especially when some of the repeats are "really good".
Then again... Some things are natural repeats within a story... In my main tome the planet has been hit by something that has killed most people off... The natural consequence is that everyone that meets up with others will (pretty much automatically) ask "what happened?" There will also be discussion of what happened - and, later - it will be appropriate to look at reactions to the experience... Even just writing this paragraph makes it sound horrific... What I am trying to do is to approach these three elements in completley different ways each time... I hope that I am succeeding! Maybe I should go and practice a bit?
My own advice would be to start by selecting a writer whose work you know inside out and start by following their style. As you develop your own ideas more and become more confident with your writing you will be able to move past this and develop your own voice.
Experiment!
Sit down with a pen, or pencil, or crayon, laptop, PC, tablet... anything - use a slate and stylus if you like...
Then again - you might find that you write better laying down - I don't think that standing upnis so common...
All of which is not taking the Micky...
In these techno times we have an enormous choice for how we write. It may sound weird to you but you might find that the type of pen you use (assuming you choose that option) will make a difference to how freely your writing will flow. Even the colour of ink and the colour of paper may be subject to selection.
I doubt, however, that you quite meant your question that way - although these are relevent issues.
There have been lots of recent posts on here about planning, just getting started (sans plan) and similar issues - often under anything but "getting started" headings... You will need to dig for them...
The important thing is to start.
It doesn't matter in the least what you start with.
I started writing fiction again (after I had had some non-fiction commisioned and published) when I came home from hospital with a cancer "scare". I sat myself down to write what I was thinking rather than mither about it... From there I have ploughed on through X thousand words over five years or so.
One thing that this site has convinced me about - we should not look to spring into literary life as experts that produce perfect best sellers from the moment we put finger to keypad.
I actually completely dumped my first two starts to write novels - and there's a whole pile of short stories that will never get beyond my laptop.
One great thing about going digital is that you don't have to transcribe your work. Another is that you can use all sorts of gadgets such as spell checks, grammar checks (don't always beoieve the computer - sometimes they are just completely nuts on grammar) and, also, synonim searches.
One thing that I find very odd with "novice" writers is that they often seem to be very reluctant to change anything at all - despite asking for advice. This can be annoying to people who give their time to type out drivel like this.
The biggest "lack of change" that I keep seeing is that people make the (to me) fundamental mistake of letting their writing keep using a word over-and-over-and-over-and-over again and again and...
I suspect that there is more than one problem here...
1. When writing quickly it is very easy to make this mistake in the first place - unless you had the practice whacked out of you when you were at school - but that is no-longer PC.
2. When reading through - and even when editing - the writer knows only too well what is there and where the story is going - consequently they have an "autopilot" flow to their reading... When anyone else reads the work though the repeated words can swiftly become very irritating - like a woodpecker hammering at your head.
3. So there is a need to actually look for too frequently repeated words - once a suspect is spotted a computer's "find" key is extremely useful (and annoying) for doing this. My system is to colour every repeat of a rogue word red as I search before going back through and adjusting as many rogues out of the text as I possibly can... while leaving some, appropriiate ones - and even pairs - in place.
This can be hard work - but it is very much worth the effort.
4. There also seems to be a problem that "novices" just don't want to make any changes at all... I have even had instances in which they didn't want to accept that they would need to practice before their writing was "just right".
The comparison I use is learning to drive - or, really, learning pretty much anything... Why should we anticipate that writing will be any different?
I have found another form of repetition - and I have to watch that I don't do this myself...
This is the repetition of a concept...
This often starts with an early warning of the idea... then the idea crops up... then it is developed... then it is explained... then it is looked back at...
I don't have any idea at all how to avoid this in the initial writing - except to beware of it - but when editing I have to be ruthless about cutting out as much of this error as possible. This can be really frustrating - especially when some of the repeats are "really good".
Then again... Some things are natural repeats within a story... In my main tome the planet has been hit by something that has killed most people off... The natural consequence is that everyone that meets up with others will (pretty much automatically) ask "what happened?" There will also be discussion of what happened - and, later - it will be appropriate to look at reactions to the experience... Even just writing this paragraph makes it sound horrific... What I am trying to do is to approach these three elements in completley different ways each time... I hope that I am succeeding! Maybe I should go and practice a bit?
David
Read as much as possible :)
My own advice would be to start by selecting a writer whose work you know inside out and start by following their style. As you develop your own ideas more and become more confident with your writing you will be able to move past this and develop your own voice.