The most important choice a writer can make
Happy Writing Advice Wednesday,
Here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to explore this week...
3 Ideas From Me
I.
"When you want to convey an important word in a sentence, it should come last. This gives the word maximum impact.
Consider: on the day that Maria died, the air smelled of smog. Here, focus goes to the smog.
Consider, instead: the air smelled of smog on the day Maria died. Here, focus goes to Maria’s death."
II.
"The most important decision a writer can make: to tie your self worth to whether you are consistently writing stories that excite you.
Aim for publication, sales, and critical praise, if you want - but only tie your sense of happiness to things that you control. And what do you control? Whether you sit at your desk and write something you enjoy each day, and whether you're growing as a writer."
III.
"The three essential requirements of a character: they want something, they face obstacles in their pursuit of this goal, and they change because of their journey and their choices.
If you don’t have these three elements, you probably don’t have an interesting character. This applies to secondary characters as well."
2 Quotes From Others
I.
"In the most silent hour of your night, ask yourself this: must I write? Dig deep into yourself for a true answer. And if it should ring its assent, if you can confidently make this serious question with a simple, ‘I must,’ then build your life upon it. Your life and even the most mundane and less significant hour, must become a sign, a testimony to the search." – Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet.
II.
"The world is screwed up and awful and miserable and scary and terrible…what’s the path through [this]? What’s the prescription that we can give to people who are interfacing with this art? Where we can say, ‘we know, we’re on your side. we acknowledge your anxieties about the world’ [...] and we are going to try to say, here’s something you might do to make yourself feel better. Here’s a path through the maze." - Michael Schur, writer for The Office.
1 Question For You
How would you tell your story in half the words? How would you tell your story in twice the words?
Enjoyed this newsletter? Please share this on Twitter.
I'll see you next week,
Jed Herne