- Joined
- Jul 3, 2013
- Messages
- 72
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Austin, TX
- Website
- wordsfromdggrace.blogspot.com
Thank you, Sarita. A wonderful, inspirational list.
Going over the replies, here are a few items I didn't see mentioned.
Corollary to Sarita's “hydrate” rule: sleep when you’re tired. I’ve known a lot of writers (poets seem to be particularly subject to this trait) who insist on writing when they’re exhausted. That’s as bad as writing when you’re stoned. It might seem brilliant at the time, but like Orwell, you’ll wake up and see that your genius has somehow been erased from the page.
I know this is part of a popular list on grammar and syntax rules, but it’s an old favorite of mine: eschew obfuscation. Archaisms and ten-dollar words are as dull as weak verbs. Everyone knows you’re just showing off.
Cribbing from Michael Swanwick, if an idea keeps niggling at you but strikes you as too difficult to write about, this is the one you need to work on next. You might have to go through dozens of trial runs to make it work, but if you can’t get something out of your head, maybe your subconscious knows more than you realize.
Be wary of always and never, especially in psychosocial contexts like politics, art, and gender and orientation issues. This goes for writing rules, too. One person’s delicacy is another’s “Christ! You’re going to put that in your mouth?”
Imagery comes in at least seven flavors, and you need to use them all: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, kinesthetic, and emotional. Most writers stick to just three: sight, sound, and emotional. Smell is important because we tend to associate strong memories with strong aromas. For me, Bay rum will forever recall the presence of my Grandfather, who died in 1984. When a car stops, you feel the seatbelt pressing against your body (touch) and the lurch of your internals (kinesthetic). Some think taste only matters when describing something you’re consuming, but I associate long meetings with the flavor of stale coffee—even when I’m not drinking coffee.
Extrovert and introvert describe more than mere comfort preferences. Our thought processes are tied to either external or internal resources, specifically, our problem-solving strategies. Extroverts solve problems by bouncing ideas off of others; introverts solve problems in isolation. So, if you’re an extrovert, you might have no trouble coming up with ideas alone, but the difficult problems will be easier for you to solve in conference.
Going over the replies, here are a few items I didn't see mentioned.
Corollary to Sarita's “hydrate” rule: sleep when you’re tired. I’ve known a lot of writers (poets seem to be particularly subject to this trait) who insist on writing when they’re exhausted. That’s as bad as writing when you’re stoned. It might seem brilliant at the time, but like Orwell, you’ll wake up and see that your genius has somehow been erased from the page.
I know this is part of a popular list on grammar and syntax rules, but it’s an old favorite of mine: eschew obfuscation. Archaisms and ten-dollar words are as dull as weak verbs. Everyone knows you’re just showing off.
Cribbing from Michael Swanwick, if an idea keeps niggling at you but strikes you as too difficult to write about, this is the one you need to work on next. You might have to go through dozens of trial runs to make it work, but if you can’t get something out of your head, maybe your subconscious knows more than you realize.
Be wary of always and never, especially in psychosocial contexts like politics, art, and gender and orientation issues. This goes for writing rules, too. One person’s delicacy is another’s “Christ! You’re going to put that in your mouth?”
Imagery comes in at least seven flavors, and you need to use them all: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, kinesthetic, and emotional. Most writers stick to just three: sight, sound, and emotional. Smell is important because we tend to associate strong memories with strong aromas. For me, Bay rum will forever recall the presence of my Grandfather, who died in 1984. When a car stops, you feel the seatbelt pressing against your body (touch) and the lurch of your internals (kinesthetic). Some think taste only matters when describing something you’re consuming, but I associate long meetings with the flavor of stale coffee—even when I’m not drinking coffee.
Extrovert and introvert describe more than mere comfort preferences. Our thought processes are tied to either external or internal resources, specifically, our problem-solving strategies. Extroverts solve problems by bouncing ideas off of others; introverts solve problems in isolation. So, if you’re an extrovert, you might have no trouble coming up with ideas alone, but the difficult problems will be easier for you to solve in conference.