rhythm is the most important for conversation. people say, "it's gotta sound authentic like a real person would say", but that is so much bullshit. that's like saying a van gogh sky has to look real. if you can just dig it then it's right.
I edited a film script for a filmmaker i know, and he was happy. i felt pretty happy aobut it too. he never made the film.
I keep a book for ideas. A notebook. But i hate fucking lines. I like sketchbooks. If i have a book with lines, i'll dishonour them deliberately. I use big and small words to remind me how the bits are supposed to feel. my writing is so messy because when i'm writing i'm normally going at 1 million miles an hour, like my whole life. I'll wait til my tea is luke warm, then scull it all at once. Then a random day i'll hit the wall. MY friend says if i just slow down i won't hit the wall all the time, but i don't think he even gets it.
after they get on the computer, sometimes it'll get so messy I'll start again in a new space. Then i'll go back and see the old space and surprise myself at how much the story has changed.
here's an example of how something looked in my notebook.
A marriage is like a [wristwatch...?]. If you pull it apart to get a closer look at it try to get a closer look at it figure out what’s wrong with it it will never you’ll never get it back together again. Stacy and I spent an entire summer deconstructing our relationship. On the fir week of Spring, we found ourselves found us the third day of spring found us standing on opposites sides of the kitchen like two strangers with nothing in common, and that was the end.
(in the final draft it ended up like this)
You can't figure out what's wrong with a marriage by pulling it apart and looking at all the pieces. You'll never get it back together again. Kate and I spent an entire summer deconstructing our relationship. The third day of spring found us standing on opposite sides of the kitchen, two strangers with nothing in common, except perhaps a shared knowledge of how straightforward falling out of love can be if you're methodical about it.
That's how it ended.
....
okay I'll try and turn it into my tips.
keep a notebook handy to jot down ideas as soon as you have them. rework rework rework
write stuff then sleep on it and read it again
strike while the iron is hot, like just don't stop writing while you've got the bug
if it's not working, chop it out. you may have to get rid of your favourite bits, but maybe u can use them in anohter story some time.
NEVER begin starting at a blank page. wait until you've got a seed of an idea, then work in all directions from that seed
don't use adverbs, use good verbs
if it feels right, it's right. if it doesn't change it til it does.
in description, be spare so you don't destroy your reader's mental image. The reader's version is better than yours. many people break this rule with superb results, so it's maybe not such a good rule. remember i'm just making these up as i go sort of
never ever state the emotions the protagonist is feeling. let the reader figure it out by other clues. never say it out loud, it just shit to do that.
have a theme running through it. things that might not seem to fit together suddenly fit together like magic if they are thematically bound.
that's all i got right now. feel free to agree or disagree with anything I've said, or add your own might be a cool thing to. this diary could be a bunch of cool ideas to help people experiment with writing.
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