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Giftorcurse
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10 Aug 2011, 7:11 pm

1. Write what you can and take your time.
2. McKee's law: DO NOT use a deus ex machina.
3. Your characters don't just get happy endings. They have to earn them.
4. Likewise for downer endings. Not everything in life ends No Country for Old Men style.
5. Every line goes by the three D's: Direction, Development, and Description.
6. If you're having troubles with a pov, change it. You may find that your epic is more suited to a third-person narration than a snide first person commentary.
7. The first draft, despite its chaos and crappiness, must make at least some sense.
8. Don't be afraid to change the story.
9. When your computer fails, get a typewriter or write by longhand. The Internet's probably the worst nightmare of desperate, easily-distracted writers.
10. Save your ideas. They'll return the favor later.
11. If you feel strained to write within a certain genre, write your WP as something else. A sci-fi thriller having its setting changed from the future to the present might open pores, for example.
12. Have a schedule. Write during the day or afternoon. Think about having fun during the evening. Or vice versa, depending on your schedule.
13. When in doubt, take a break from your WIP and free write. A wise nihilist named Ledger once said: "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order."
14. If you see your WIP making fun of you, make fun of it. Make caricatures of your characters, satirize your story.
15. If your work is an abomination, hide it. With a little reprogramming and discipline, your Frankenstein monster might become an Adam or Eve.
16. WRITE, MOTHER*gunshot*, WRITE!! !


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BrandonSP
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10 Aug 2011, 9:08 pm

Thanks a lot, these will be useful! Did you learn these from experience?


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