Writing Tips
Scott Westerfeld's first NaNo-related post for this year's NaNo offers a great suggestion:
"Many writers use the so-called “dialog spine” as a way of mapping out a scene. As a sort of “zero draft,” they write just dialog, with no setting, action, or even attribution. It’s a quick once-over of conflict and resolution in a scene, without any tricky bits to slow you down. This, of course, assumes that you find dialog easy. For some people, writing the action/description/whatever first might make more sense. In any case, you don’t have to make your dialog (or whatever) perfect. It’s just a way of mapping out the main beats in a scene. But there’s another trick that I use the dialog spine for: blowing out the cobwebs. And by cobwebs, I mean “writer’s block,” “general ennui,” or “an idea that just needs to be written down, but I don’t have time.”"
NaNo tip number 7 lists some craft-related ideas from Raymond Chandler (who used the word Google way back when, albeit as a name). Chandler's not my favourite author by far - his cut and dry method doesn't impress me - but his advice to lock one's self away and write is sound!
NaNo first week update: I'm keeping up! Except for yesterday, when we were up north, I've managed to stick to a write-every-day-and-type-on-the-days-you-don't-write schedule. I have about five scenes left to type up, after which everything that comes will be new words. Where's my coffee/single malt again?
"Many writers use the so-called “dialog spine” as a way of mapping out a scene. As a sort of “zero draft,” they write just dialog, with no setting, action, or even attribution. It’s a quick once-over of conflict and resolution in a scene, without any tricky bits to slow you down. This, of course, assumes that you find dialog easy. For some people, writing the action/description/whatever first might make more sense. In any case, you don’t have to make your dialog (or whatever) perfect. It’s just a way of mapping out the main beats in a scene. But there’s another trick that I use the dialog spine for: blowing out the cobwebs. And by cobwebs, I mean “writer’s block,” “general ennui,” or “an idea that just needs to be written down, but I don’t have time.”"
NaNo tip number 7 lists some craft-related ideas from Raymond Chandler (who used the word Google way back when, albeit as a name). Chandler's not my favourite author by far - his cut and dry method doesn't impress me - but his advice to lock one's self away and write is sound!
NaNo first week update: I'm keeping up! Except for yesterday, when we were up north, I've managed to stick to a write-every-day-and-type-on-the-days-you-don't-write schedule. I have about five scenes left to type up, after which everything that comes will be new words. Where's my coffee/single malt again?
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