Best Advice for Writing!

I have looked through writing guides, how-to-write books, writing blogs, etc.... and so far, the best advice that I have discovered is from a youtube video of one of Stephen King's interview. One of the people in the audience asked him what his best advice was for aspiring writers, and his advice was:


To Read Alot and Write Alot!



And this is the best advice for any writer. ...I'm serious. This is the best advice out there for aspiring writers. I know it sounds simple. And guess what? It is simple. This advice is the magic pill of writing. Just because it's not complicated or super specific doesn't mean that it's not really good advice.

I'm willing to bet that most famous writers out there are people who have read a lot of books since they were little kids. Plus, they must have written some stories as well, before they even tried to get published.

Okay, let's break this down:

Read Alot!
-To someday be a great writer, you have to know that you're writing something for other people to read. So, read some other books. Alot of other books. Learn the rules, get in touch with characters, follow the plot, etc... You see, reading is a lot like... umm... I think baseball's a good example. Let's say someday you want to be a famous baseball player. Well, you can't be a baseball player if you've never seen a baseball game in your life and learn the rules of baseball. So, you can't write a great novel if you've never read a novel in your life (and be sure to read a lot of novels!).

Write Alot!
-To someday be a great writer, you also have to write a lot. Practice makes perfect. I'm not going to lie, your first few attempts at writing will probably be failures. Do you think the first stories that Stephen King wrote or JK Rowling wrote was published. They have written stories that the public will probably never see. It's like that baseball example. In baseball, it seems simple because all you have to do is catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball, etc... It seems simple, just like writing seems simple. If you've read a lot of books, it would seem like you can write a book as well. Guess what? It's harder than it looks. Again... Practice makes perfect.

Since I believe that this advice is the best out there, I'll type it again:

To Read Alot and Write Alot!

May 25.... Towel Day

Today is Towel Day!

It is on this day, May 25, that fans all around the world can pay tribute to the late, great Douglas Adams.

On this day, fans of Douglas Adams and his 'trilogy' of five books, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, can remember him by carrying around a towel with them. As all fans of the 'trilogy' know, the towel is an important and significant item to a hitchhiker.

(*Anyone who doesn't understand how useful a towel is, go back and read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 'trilogy', especially the third chapter of the first book).

So carry around a towel with you today!

May 11.... RIP Douglas Adams

For all those who read this blog on this day, May 11, I would ask you to take a moment of silence for the dearly departed, Douglas Adams.

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One of the greatest authors of all time, Douglas Adams, passed away on this day, May 11, 2001, at the age of 49. For those of you who don't know, he is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is a 'trilogy' of five books (six if you count Eoin Colfer's novel contribution, And Another Thing).

Not only that, but Douglas Adams also did radio, wrote episodes for Doctor Who, made a few other novels as well, and accomplished many more achievements in his lifetime.

I know that Douglas Adams should also be commemorated for others things rather than just his professional career, but honestly, I don't know Douglas Adams at all. I've never met him; and the only thing I know about him is through his work.

Even so, I still see him as a great man. His death left a hole in the literary world, and all we can do now is to take this day and remember him (and pay tribute to him on Towel Day). So (for those who never met Douglas Adams personally) go out there and read or reread his work. When you do, you'll laugh and smile and sort of feel bad for the robot who is older than the universe itself. And during those moments, you'll remember that all those thoughts and ideas that went into his work, that caused you to feel those emotions; they all came from a brilliant and innovative mind.

We will always remember you.

Douglas Adams

Writer

1952-2001

No Time to Read!

If you love books like me, you know that reading is fun. And as you have fun reading hundreds and hundreds of books, you'll one day come across a book that'll make you say:

"Wow, I wish I can write a book like this."

or

"This sucks. I can write better than this."

And on that day when you say those words, you take the first step. Reading books suddenly isn't enough for you. You'll start having ideas forming in your head, and this tiny urge to get up and start writing those ideas down. Congratulations! You've taken the first step to becoming a writer.

However, as someone who has started to seriously write his first novel, I've got to warn you. THERE IS NO TIME TO READ!

Writing takes a lot of time and effort. In fact, it takes so much time that reading books is barely an option anymore. If you're like me, just because you want to be a writer doesn't mean you want to stop reading books. I still love to read books, but now I don't have any time to read at all.

I've come to realize that it's a small, yet important sacrifice to make. If you're going to write a lot, you can't use your time to read anymore. There is no time to read. So focus your time and effort on finishing your novel.

Hook in your Readers with the First Pages

I've just looked over the terrible first eight pages of my novel (but that's okay, because I'll just keep on writing forward, and go back to those pages when I start editing my novel).

So I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you what I've learned so far about writing the first few pages of my novel (and from what I've learned from reading other novels).The first pages of a novel are very important, especially for an unpublished, aspiring writer. These pages are the opening hook for your novel, the purpose of which is to immediately draw the reader into your story.

Now, how do you write a good opening hook for your story.......

umm.......

uhhhhh........

I have absolutely no idea how to do this.

The only thing I do know is what I wouldn't like to read as the opening hook for a story. So, in my opinion, don't put these in your opening pages.

1) It can't be slow paced. The beginning can never be slow.

2) There shouldn't be long descriptions of something, like a mountain or the country, that are several paragraphs long.

3) It shouldn't start out as something happening to the main character, but it turned out to be just a dream

4) There shouldn't be a long narrative that contains a character's backstory.

5) Don't start with "Once upon a time...."

6) Don't talk about the weather.

7) And please, no cliches.

At the moment, these are all I can think of. Though there are probably more things out there that you should avoid when writing your first pages.

JUST DO YOUR BEST AND THINK OF WHAT YOU YOURSELF WOULD LIKE TO READ IN THE FIRST FEW PAGES WHEN YOU START READING A NOVEL. That's the best advice I can give you.

(*There are sometimes exceptions to the rule. A few great novels out there began with terrible first pages and was still a success. I can't think of any of those novels now, but I'm sure there are a few out there).

Blockade Billy

by Stephen King

This novella comes out on April 20, 2010. Go on and read it!

For more information about this novella, click here.

Stephen King is also the author of various other novels (too many to list all of them), like Carrie, Duma Key, and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

Morpheus Road: The Light

by DJ Machale

This novel comes out on April 20, 2010. You've got to read it.

To find out more about the book and also read an excerpt of it, go here.



DJ Machale is also the author of the Pendragon series (which I highly recommend for fantasy/scifi readers). He also wrote other books... which I haven't read (sorry, DJ Machale). Also, he did a bunch of TV shows too, like Ghostwriter and Are you Afraid of the Dark? (which are great shows that I watched when I was younger).