Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tips for Young Writers 27: Don’t forget that writing is fun.
Don’t forget that writing is fun. Writing’s not a job, it’s an art, like painting and acting and playing music. So, laugh while you write. Listen to music while you write. Cry while you write – if that makes you happy. Whatever you do, have fun while you write.
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22 comments:
Wow. I've just realized something.
Before I saw you talk, and came onto this website and talked to you and read your tips, my attitude towards my writing was sort of like, "Oh, I'll be happy when I'm done, but it's really hard and I don't really like to do it." (Which I know is not a very good attitude if you want to produce your best work.) But ever since I have seen you talk and talked to you and all that, my attitude has changed completely. Now I'm always like "Ohh yes that's genius and I'll write this in... good good and wow this is going in such a cool direction."
I have to thank you for this. Honestly, I don't know how my story would have turned out without you :)
That's really wonderful Ailish. I'm so glad you've discovered the fun in writing. I spent a lot of years working really hard at writing and completely forgetting that it's actually enjoyable. Now I know that it can be tough sometimes, but mostly it's like playing for a living. These days I wake up looking forward to getting into the world I'm creating and trying to make it as exciting, interesting, intriguing and real as possible. It's a joy!
Too right.
I'm practically living in the world of my story. I spend every spare second thinking about it. Honestly (I need to stop using that word) I can't stand it if I have 5 minutes to spare and I don't use it on my story.
Thanks again :)
I reckon you're a born writer, Ailish. Keep up the good work!! :^)
I'm shocked. That's a real compliment. A real true compliment. A real true compliment for the WIERDO of the school.
Gee thanks. :D
If only I wasn't stuck. HOW DO YOU GET SOMETHING OUT OF AN ALLIGATORS MOUTH? Rawr.
Tickle it? Grab it by the tale and shake it so it spits it out? Use dead alligators as bate to lure it to the shore then attack it with... dangit. That was such a good start. But my characters have no weapons... They could find weapons in dead skeletons of past adventurers I guess... That's a bit melodramatic but that must be my only solution.
Thanks for the help! Wait... Ehh... thanks for letting me bounce ideas off your head... :)
You know I can think of a couple of ways of getting something out of an alligator's mouth ...
Make it sneeze, possibly by usuing the seeds of a native peppercorn tree that's growing beside the river.
Or maybe, the old trick of getting the alligator to attack you, then jamming a stick into its mouth, which holds its mouth wide open while you reach in and grab what you want.
Or even, making the alligator cough (using smoke?)...
Or something like that.
Any good?
Those are all genius ideas but there is 1 teeny tiny problem.
There's nothing around them anywhere except for rocks. Rocks, rocks and more rocks.
Hmmmmm
Could they smash a couple of rocks together until one of them has turned to powder, then blow the powder into the allegator's face - causing it to sneeze?????
Ehehehehe :P Genius.
I'm gonna use that. Definitely. But of course I have to twist it to my own uses. Thanks :P
(By the way, I just listened to 'I am always here.' It's so very prettiful :) )
I'm glad that helped. Please twist any and all ideas your own way. That's compulsory.
Glad you liked that little song. It almost made it into a movie, except that the movie didn't ever get finished!!
Well that's a real true positute shame. I'd have loved to see it.
And I'm glad you helped too (Starting a sentence with a conjuction. YUCK! Why do all my comments have terrible grammar. Gosh.)
So yes. Indeed t'is compulsory to twist and turn other peoples ideas. That's what stories come from, right?
Certainly is!!!!!!!!
There's a Literary Competition going on in QLD right now, and you've inspired the story I'm entering in it actually. It's called 'Identity Crisis' and I got the idea from when I entered my name into your 'I'm in a book' competition. It's about a girl named Ailish, but nobody calls her that name. Nobody really knows her name or uses it except for her best friend Violet, but then Violet dies in a car-crash and Ailish sort of loses her wits for a little while, if you catch my drift. Ehehe.. Coo-coo!
I'm excited about it.
What I'm meaning to say is, thanks for the inspiration! Once again, couldn't have done it without you.
Cya round.
That sounds like a fascinating story, Ailish. I hope it does really well!!
Hey, I didn't know you were in my competition? I don't remember receiving your email. Was it in a name other than Ailish?
It was my name, but I had to use outlook so I wouldn't have a CLUE how to use it.. it probably didn't even send. :)
I think that must be the case, Ailish. Feel free to send it again if you like. :^)
I got your email, so you're in the competition. Sorry I gave your mum a fright. I hope she's okay now?
Oh yes, you only killed her.
Just kidding ;)
Ok I have something important to say...
"Tell me then!" you say.
"Well trust me, if I knew what it was I would have told you by now." I reply.
Hmm....
Hmmm ... indeed. :^)
After 11 days I finally remembered what it was!
I discovered that my story 'Identity Crisis' exceeds the 800 word limit, so I had to write another one and I need your advice on it.
Because it's so short I couldn't do much with it so it's neither funny or moderately exciting. I'm hoping you can help with that.
It's called 'A day at the beach' (because I was at the Gold Coast when I thought of it).
The storyline goes sort of like this.
I run into the beach with my sister, I catch some waves on my bodyboard, my sister challenges me to a competition, I accept, I catch a wave that nearly drowns me, the prize is a hug.
Anything more I can do to that without adding words? It's already up to about 760.
Now if you've already written 760 words, you probably don't want to add anything more. However, you could still change the structure of what you've done if that'll improve it. Here's the structure as you've described it:
I run into the beach with my sister.
I catch some waves on my bodyboard.
my sister challenges me to a competition.
I accept.
I catch a wave that nearly drowns me.
The prize is a hug.
That's a nice, simple structure. The only thing I could suggest is deepening the story, by thinking quite hard about the relationship between the two sisters.
If they like to top each other, and the sister is older than the narrator, the end could be about how, after making her sister do something dangerous (like swim out too far)- then nearly losing her - the big sister feels guilty and much more appreciative of her little sister.
Maybe??
So really, what you want to think about, I'd suggest, is what each character in the story feels about the other character - what they all want. When you know what they want, you can decide who gets what they want in your story.
Make sense?
Ahaaaa.
That's good. I'll use that. Thanks!
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