{"id":9771,"date":"2015-10-17T10:34:35","date_gmt":"2015-10-17T10:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/visakanv.com\/1000\/?p=9771"},"modified":"2019-09-25T19:28:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T19:28:13","slug":"0474-do-you-have-any-writing-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visakanv.com\/1000\/0474-do-you-have-any-writing-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"0474 \u2013 “Do you have any writing advice?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was written direct to Medium.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

For you? Of course!\u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Before anything else, you have to know what you want to say. No, seriously.<\/p>\n

You have to really, really know what you really, really want to say.<\/p>\n

It sounds simple, but most people screw it up. It doesn\u2019t even really occur to them.<\/p>\n

School doesn\u2019t teach you this. School teaches you grammar and vocabulary and syntax. Because those are the things that you can grade on a test.<\/p>\n

What you can\u2019t grade is how sincere a piece of writing is.<\/p>\n

So we have this frustrating situation where people are educated to write in a way that\u2019s \u201cexaminable\u201d.<\/p>\n

As I examine your writing, for instance, I can tell that you have a masterful grasp of grammar. I can tell that you have a spectacular vocabulary.<\/p>\n

But I have no idea what you actually want to say. Because you don\u2019t either.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not really your fault. Nobody taught you.<\/p>\n

Most bad writing happens when the writer vaguely knows what she vaguely wants to say. The unfortunate thing is that we often respond to such writers with, \u201cWow, you\u2019re a shitty writer. Maybe writing isn\u2019t for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because we have a poor understanding of how good writing happens.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unfortunate because anybody who actually sits down to write something probably has something in them that\u2019s worth developing. We should encourage them to persist and try again.<\/p>\n

Good writing comes with practice. It comes with rework. It requires editing, rewriting, rethinking, refinement.<\/p>\n

When you encounter a weak piece of writing, there\u2019s one simple question you should ask the writer:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you really trying to say here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ditch the script. Screw the big words. Forget about \u201cstyle\u201d and \u201ctone\u201d and \u201cvoice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tell me, honestly, what you really want to say.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the point of the entire piece? What do you want me to feel? What do you need me to know? Say it in as few words as possible.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know where you want to take us, no road will be good enough.<\/p>\n

If you DO know, however, you\u2019ll find that we\u2019re a lot more forgiving about the bumpy road. Because you got us somewhere.<\/p>\n

(If you\u2019re a casual writer, you can stop here. If you\u2019re a psycho, though, keep reading.)<\/p>\n

In the world of drawing and animation, there\u2019s a concept called the Line Of Action. It\u2019s the backbone of a piece. It\u2019s utterly critical.<\/p>\n

If you get it wrong, all the details and color and photoshop and such won\u2019t save you.<\/p>\n

If you get it right, you can get away with being sketchy and simplistic and your viewer will still understand what you\u2019re trying to say.<\/p>\n

Do a Google Image Search for \u201cLine of Action\u201d and you\u2019ll see hundreds of examples.Similarly, you need to figure out what the Line of Action is in any piece of writing that you do.<\/p>\n

My personal favorite way of doing this is to explain it to a smart friend over IM. Let\u2019s a get a little meta here, and pretend I want to tell you about a piece of writing I want to do.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t get better at writing without\u2026 writing. In my personal experience, there are about 5 stages that you go through.<\/p>\n

IMITATION: With writing, as with language and with any other creative act, we learn through mimcry.We start with bad imitations of what we encounter. It might be cute in its badness, but mostly it\u2019s embarrassing.<\/p>\n

ACQUISITION: Over time, we develop a body of knowledge. We use that knowledge to modify our output. This is where we begin to develop a \u201cstyle\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200aevery person has a unique vocabulary, and draws from it in a unique way. You develop your unique style not by trying to be unique, but by constantly expanding your body of work.<\/p>\n

PATTERN-RECOGNITION: After a while, we start noticing patterns and develop hypotheses about what works and what doesn\u2019t. This allows us to review our older work and go \u201cHmm, that\u2019s why this was good, and that\u2019s why this didn\u2019t work.\u201d This is the sciencey part of art, and it\u2019s a lot of fun. There\u2019s a lot of learning to be had, and you feel a lot more powerful each time you understand your craft better.<\/p>\n

CONTEXTUALIZATION: As we go deeper, we start thinking about our output in a more nuanced way. Initially, it\u2019s a victory just to have some words on a page. Later, we begin thinking about how those words might sound, what they imply. Even cooler is when you begin to see where your writing fits in within the greater body of all writing that exists. And then once all of that is second nature, you start thinking about what is really, really important.<\/p>\n

EXPRESSION: Eventually, you internalize all of the earlier parts\u2013 all of them are like \u201cengines\u201d that keep running, and they make you better in a myriad of ways. They become a part of the way you see the world, and it\u2019s really joyous. Finally, you experience the magical state of Flow. This is when the choir of angels sing and beautiful sentences march out of your fingertips, fully formed. You can\u2019t wait for this to happen, though. You have to work really, really hard for it.<\/p>\n

So my advice is\u2026<\/p>\n

1: Read like a shameless lovesick junkie. Don\u2019t force yourself to read things you hate, or things that people tell you are \u201cimportant\u201d. That\u2019s a fast-track to self-loathing. (Some people are kinda perversely into that. If that\u2019s you, that\u2019s fine\u2026 just be mindful about it.)<\/p>\n

Either way, read whatever brings you joy.<\/p>\n

Off the top of my head, I recommend Ray Bradbury\u2019s \u201cZen In The Art of Writing\u201d and Ogilvy\u2019s \u201cConfessions of an Advertising Man\u201d. Also Steven Pressfield\u2019s \u201cWar of Art\u201d.<\/p>\n

But really, just find good stuff that resonates with you, and inhale deeply. Reading is a mind-altering pursuit that\u2019s actually safe and legal. What are you waiting for?<\/p>\n

2: Write like a stark-raving lunatic. I recommend that you measure your progress as a writer by sheer volume of output. You WILL be a different writer at the 100,000 and 1,000,000 word marks respectively. Hell, you\u2019ll be a totally different person.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t try to write well. Just write. Why? Because you can\u2019t write well before you know what good writing is. And you can\u2019t know what good writing is until you\u2019ve done a lot of reading and writing.<\/p>\n

So if you want to write well, you have to let go of the perfectionistic death wish of trying to write well.<\/p>\n

Instead, accept in advance that a lot of it will suck. Embrace the suck. Make love to the suck. Don\u2019t try to avoid it or outsmart it. Acknowledge it, face it, and get used to it. Day after day after day.<\/p>\n

3: Revisit and edit your work like\u2026 a responsible adult. You know that amazing book that you love?<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t written on a magical day struck by divine inspiration. It went through countless drafts and and a hideous process of carving, culling, restructuring and rewriting before it became something beautiful.<\/p>\n

The book you see was probably 10% of what the writer had actually written, maybe less.<\/p>\n

This is the least sexy part of writing, but it\u2019s also probably the most critical. It\u2019s project management. You have to keep track of your work, review it, analyze it. Doing this is something you\u2019ll probably have to schedule and develop a routine for.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re serious about writing, though, you\u2019ll grow to enjoy it. It\u2019ll look boring from the outside, like a teacher grading papers. But you are your own teacher, and you\u2019re grading your own papers, and you\u2019re helping yourself become better. It closes a feedback loop.<\/p>\n

4: Enjoy yourself. This is where I\u2019m going to get a little prescriptive, but hey, it\u2019s my piece so I\u2019m allowed.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t write for awards.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t write for accolades.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t write to impress people.<\/p>\n

Write what you wish somebody had written.<\/p>\n

If you get attached to thinks like Likes or Shares or your position on a Bestseller\u2019s List, you\u2019ll never be satisfied. And you\u2019ll never really do your best work.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019ll be a damn shame, after all that work.<\/p>\n

As I say even to the casual writers, what do you really, really want to say? Write that. That\u2019s what I want to read.<\/p>\n

With love,
\nVisa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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