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necessarian) wrote2016-06-09 10:39 pm
necessarian) wrote2016-06-09 10:39 pm
know your enemy
a personal manifesto, inspired, like all my writing posts, by something aroceu did.
know your world. there is no point in taking off if you don't know where you're going to land. research, research, research. think about all the questions you'll ask and answer them before you can open your mouth. plan, think about structure, think about form. think about what sort of tone you want to capture and what sort of words you'll need to achieve it. think about the season, the weather, the colour of the sky, the temperature of the air. think about the day of the week, the month, the year. firmly place your story in space and time. then, you can begin.
know your characters. writing is tension, action and reaction. think about the players on the stage, how they feel about each other, how they act around each other. how well they know themselves. think about where their hands are, their feet, their gazes. think about how they fit into the world and how they move. think about the intensity of their reactions, the consequences of their actions. if you can't envisage them in the scene, you should scrap it. but that doesn't mean you should stop trying.
know your story. where have you come from? each scene, even it is the first scene, has something that came before it. and where to next? each scene, even if it is the last scene, is the precursor to something. endings and beginnings serve only to frame. start in the middle of the action. end with hope, openness. don't tie up the loose ends. leave spaces in the lines so people can read between. but don't leave threads hanging, either. confusion must be answered, but emotions, less tangible, can be left wanting.
know your limitations. look in a mirror. stop, take a deep breath, do something else for a while. come back to it, eventually. read it again. edit it. ask a friend to read it, to edit it. stop. it's okay to give up. when you know it isn't working, you know it's okay to leave it. for however long it takes, maybe forever. rite something else. come back to it, eventually. stop thinking about that word. just write it. you can find a better word when you edit it. i promise. it'll be okay if it's not perfect the first time. you are a perfectionist, you are your own worst enemy. know yourself.
aroceu did.know your world. there is no point in taking off if you don't know where you're going to land. research, research, research. think about all the questions you'll ask and answer them before you can open your mouth. plan, think about structure, think about form. think about what sort of tone you want to capture and what sort of words you'll need to achieve it. think about the season, the weather, the colour of the sky, the temperature of the air. think about the day of the week, the month, the year. firmly place your story in space and time. then, you can begin.
know your characters. writing is tension, action and reaction. think about the players on the stage, how they feel about each other, how they act around each other. how well they know themselves. think about where their hands are, their feet, their gazes. think about how they fit into the world and how they move. think about the intensity of their reactions, the consequences of their actions. if you can't envisage them in the scene, you should scrap it. but that doesn't mean you should stop trying.
know your story. where have you come from? each scene, even it is the first scene, has something that came before it. and where to next? each scene, even if it is the last scene, is the precursor to something. endings and beginnings serve only to frame. start in the middle of the action. end with hope, openness. don't tie up the loose ends. leave spaces in the lines so people can read between. but don't leave threads hanging, either. confusion must be answered, but emotions, less tangible, can be left wanting.
know your limitations. look in a mirror. stop, take a deep breath, do something else for a while. come back to it, eventually. read it again. edit it. ask a friend to read it, to edit it. stop. it's okay to give up. when you know it isn't working, you know it's okay to leave it. for however long it takes, maybe forever. rite something else. come back to it, eventually. stop thinking about that word. just write it. you can find a better word when you edit it. i promise. it'll be okay if it's not perfect the first time. you are a perfectionist, you are your own worst enemy. know yourself.
THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS.
Re: THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS.