250 Things You Should Know About Writing Read Free

Is About Life
    Everybody tells you that to be a writer, you have to read and write a lot. That's true. But it's not all of it. That'll get you to understand the technical side. It'll help you grasp the way a story is built. But that doesn't put meat on the bones you arrange. For that, you need everything
but
reading and writing. Go live. Travel. Ride a bike. Eat weird food. Experience things. Otherwise, what the fuck are you going to talk about?
     
21. Everything Can Be Fixed In Post
    Stop stressing out. You get the one thing few others get: a constant array of do-overs. Writing is rewriting. You know the saying, "Drink till she's pretty/till he's handsome?" This is like that. Edit till she's pretty. Rewrite until it doesn't suck. You have an endless supply of blowtorches, hacksaws, scalpels, chainsaws, M80s, and orbital lasers to constantly destroy and rebuild. Of course, you can get caught in that cycle, too. You have to know when to stop the fiddling. You have to know when to get off the ride.
     
22. Quit Quitting
    It's all too easy to start something and not finish it. Remember when I said you were legion? It's true, but if you want to be separated from 90% of the other writers (or "writers" depending on how pedantic you choose to be) out there, then just finish the shit that you started. Stop abandoning your children. You wouldn't call yourself a runner if you quit every race your ran halfway through. Finishing is a good start. Stop looking for the escape hatch; pretend your work in progress just plain doesn't have one.
     
23. No Such Thing As Bad Writing Advice
    There's only: advice that works for you, and advice that doesn't. It's like going to Home Depot and trying to point out the "bad tools." Rather, some tools work for the job. Most don't. Be confident enough to know when a tool feels right in your hand, and when it might instead put out your eye.
     
24. Though, Nobody Really Knows Shit About Shit
    We're all just squawking into the wind and nobody really has the answers. Except you, and those answers are only
for
you. Everybody else is just guessing. Sometimes they're right. A lot of times they're wrong. That's not to say such pontification isn't valuable. You just gotta know what weight to give it.
     
25. Hope Will Save You
    The hard boot is better than the tickling feather when it comes time to talk about the realities of writing, but at the end of the day, the thing that gets you through it all is hope and optimism. You have to stay positive. Writers are given over to a kind of moribund gloom. Can't let the penmonkey blues get you down. Be positive. Stay sane. The only way through is with wide-open eyes and a rigor mortis grin. Don't be one of those writers who isn't having any fun. Don't let writing be the albatross around your neck. Misery is too easy to come by, so don't invite it. If writing doesn't make you happy, you maybe shouldn't be a writer. It's a lot of work, but you need to let it be a lot of play, too. Otherwise, what's the fucking point? Right? Go push a broom, sell a car, paint a barn. If you're a writer, then write. And be happy you can do so.
     

25 Things You Should Know About… Writing A Novel
1. Your First And Most Important Goal Is To Finish The Shit That You Started
    Let's get this out of the way right now: if you start a fucking novel, then plan to fucking finish that fucking novel. Your hard drive is not a novel burial ground. It's like building your own Frankenstein monster -- robbing a grave, stealing a brain, chopping up the body -- and then giving up before you let lightning tickle that sonofabitch to life. The true author finishes what he begins. That's what separates you from the dead-beats, from the talkers, from the dilettantes. Don't let dead metaphysical weight slow you down.
     
2. That Means Momentum Is Key
    Say it five times fast: momentum-momentum-momentum-momentum-momentum. Actually, don't say it five times fast. I just tried and burst a blood vessel on the inside of