Comments on: Writing Advice 1

By: scribbling damselfly » advice and curriculum

scribbling damselfly » advice and curriculum — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 22:52:44 +0000

[...] h. Sadly, I never got very far with the idea — I scribbled down the url’s to Scott’s writing advice articles, then looked at my clarion notebooks and thought …ahm… maybe a bit late [...]

By: Jana

Jana — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 21:04:48 +0000

Hello,
Finishing what I write isn’t the problem. I just recite like a mantra some cheesy but effective bookmark quote, ‘It’s never too late to be what you might have been.’ Then the inner dialogue starts up. This is crap, the inner jana says, why finish? Then I backslap the procrastinating, never can finish anything inner jana and say, ‘ha ha, but if you don’t like what you’re doing in life right now, then it’s only crap if you don’t finish. Besides, you are only 23, whereas I am older and wiser. Do as I bid.’

My wiser inner jana usually wins, but her problem is that she’s a perfectionist, and I end up going over my drafts again and again, trying to add layers to it, tying things together, trying to make everything as perfect as I can. So, thought So, though I finished my First, second, and third draft, my inner perfectionist won’t let me send it out until my fourth, fifth, or seventh draft is done.
Aggghhhhh!!!!!! When will it end

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 00:07:23 +0000

Hello,

I currently go to UNIS (you came there to talk about your book the Uglies!) It was very interesting. In fact, im working on the reading assignment for your book right now I recently finished the book, and it was very interesting. I really enjoyed the whole sci-fi thing going on, as well as the hoverboards!! I wish that there was some pill invented or some drink that we could drink to make us live forever so i could experience what riding on a Hoverboard was like!!!!!!
Finishing is my biggest problem- i have tons of stories uploaded on my computer that i never finish. Well, if you’ll excuse me, i need to get back to my assignment.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 22:19:21 +0000

Finishing is my biggest problem. I started writing a book my sophmore year in highschool and I’m still only half way through the first draft…ugh! I like to stick mostly to poetry and short stories…it gets my thoughts out quickly. Maybe when I’m older I’ll be able to concentrate more.

By: scott

scott — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 03:24:53 +0000

Unpretentious, moi?

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 00:48:15 +0000

I really like this advice. It’s practical, and unpretensious.

By: scott

scott — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 22:31:24 +0000

And interesting trackback: David Moles was inspired by this post to put up a few newly written endings to old stories:

http://www.chrononaut.org/log/archives/000608.html

The overall effect of reading many story endings in a row (and without their beginnings) is an odd one, however. Sort of like watching cherry blossoms fall with a hangover.

By: Justine Larbalestier

Justine Larbalestier — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 07:33:01 +0000

And, I reckon, that’s exactly the way to do it, Soni. A friend of mine, Sylvia Kelso, shared this great aphorism with me when I was struggling to finish my phd thesis: “You can’t edit nothing but you can edit crap.” It’s so true.

By: Soni

Soni — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 04:01:02 +0000

Possibly – I, too, have a love and talent for rewriting that is only matched by my month-long-commodity-cheese-binge-degree of constipated inability to get the first draft out in the first place. Eventually, I give up and just write yards of pure crap in the hopes of turning a writing problem into an much-easier-to-live-with editing problem.

By: James Goodman

James Goodman — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 18:04:02 +0000

Re-writes fun??? Wow, I must be doing something wrong.