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This Instructional Begins Here On Page #1 - Click To Begin

 

By author Of Black Road 2012, a book about doomsday, 2012

 

Fast, and  Dirty Free Tips For Writers, Page 3

(Double-click any word you want defined.)

Free tips and advice for writers: Beware the Evil Cliché--the hackneyed, the trite, the commonplace--words and images. You will lose your soul to them, and the momentum of your story.

 

Book About 2012

 

You can check your work here for clichés.

Cliché Killer

Click Me

 

Just tell it the way you visualize it and keep the story moving forward--don't go for a swim in that pool of stocked phrases.

See? That ^ up there?

"...stocked phrases." You can always take a cliché (like, "stock phrase") and make it your own--coin something new, or just avoid it.

Again, OK, no Pulitzer, but I will cheerfully refund twice your money if not satisfied, mate.

Double click on this word: CLICHE.

Constantly ask yourself, "What is this book about; what does the character want; what is this scene for; what do the characters each want in this scene."

What the hell am I writing about?

This will go a long way in helping you round the characters out and keep them and your story on track. It will find their qualities for you. Think about it.

If they don't want anything, then make them want something. It's a terrific way to motivate them and get them to help you write the tale. It's amazing. Try it.

Just write the story and don't stop for hell or high water.

Strike that.

Write the story and don't stop for anything--volcano nor flood.

Get it down no matter how bad it looks. You can pretty it up later. The important thing is to Write. Double click on this word: WRITE.

The part of the above that interests me is this:

"...an Indo-European root *wreid- meaning to cut out, scratch, tear, sketch..."

Don't do a big backstory on a character. Just give the reader what s/he needs to get started. Then, you leak the rest of it--what's important--into the work as needed. Use dialogue as much as possible. Show me, don't tell me. Have the character Do things or have something say things that give the necessary facts.

 

Bernice peeked through the blinds. They sun made her squint, but she could see it was still there on the lawn.

Her mother never got rid of the old swing set she and Bunny Lake put up that summer. Before Bunny vanished.

"They never did find her," Bernice's mother said, somehow suddenly in the room, right behind her.

Bernice turned to look at the woman, how she'd aged since Bernice was graduated from pre-med.

"Sheriff said, you were lucky that day, Bernie. Could of been you that day."

"I know Mom. Thank you reminding me," Bernice said, shoulders tight.

"But you had it wrong, Mommy. Bunny and I were never lovers.

"And we didn't steal your cocaine.

"Happy birthday, Mommy," Bernice said, and pulled the trigger.

 

See?

Backstory. Dialogue. Action.

The story's the thing. Remember that. It's not about the research or the facts or how bloody clever and poetic you are.

Never get sidetracked into a performance, because it could be a freak show. Stick with only what you need to advance the action. And keep the action moving. Keep the ball bouncing down court.

 

I'll have these players Play something.
I'll have grounds More relative than this...
The play's the thing...

                                            Hamlet | Act II, Scene 2

 

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