Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

[mithen]

--What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Ray Bradbury has a wonderful passage in his book on writing about how "quantity produces quality"--that you can only get better by doing a LOT of something, so embrace writing huge amounts in order to end up with a little bit of good writing. It's kind of a positive take on Sturgeon's Law that "90% of everything is crap"--that probably includes my own writing so I'd better write as much as possible to make that 10% worthwhile. :)

Speaking of... I got a couple of very good blocks of writing in and am close to done with two more chapters, yay! With my Yuletide fic, I am deep in canon review, getting lots of ideas, and considering writing my recipient a small treat in the same fandom while I do the review (one of her suggestions would be writable now, but the one I really want to write I can't do until I've reviewed more recent canon!) How have things been for you this week?

Comments

[prince0froses]

The best advice I have had was somewhat contrary to yours, but only because of circumstances. Basically it's that people with certain mental illnesses simply can't keep up with the level of output that a lot of writing advice dictates, and that it is better to not hurt oneself trying to live up to that ideal if it means avoiding burnout.

A little writing has happened this week to my great relief, but life continues to happen. Was briefly ill and now I'm worried for my job security. So I'm left taking writing happily when I can make time but trying not to hate myself if I can't bring myself to focus

[mithen]

Basically it's that people with certain mental illnesses simply can't keep up with the level of output that a lot of writing advice dictates, and that it is better to not hurt oneself trying to live up to that ideal if it means avoiding burnout.

"As much quantity as one can safely manage" should probably be the amendment! I'm sure Bradbury would agree, too.

I'll be wishing you health and security with all my heart!

[me_ya_ri]

I think two things: Heinlein's Rules and the Lester Dent plot formula. I use both of them every single day. Heinlein's rules apply no matter if you're writing fanfic or original (just post it instead of mail it, and then leave it up no matter what). Lester Dent's plot formula I heard about last year and wow, great advice for making a good plot.

Writing has gone very well this week! :D You know how I've been tracking my WPM? Well, I've got a solid average now. I write about 1000 words every 30 minutes. Awesome! So... I never sat down and said, okay, so that's 2000 words per hour which means... um, OMG, if I wrote 8 hours a day I could finish a 75K novel in freaking 4.75 days??? WTH is wrong with me that I've been content with a measly 30 to 60 minutes of writing a day? It's not that hard to squeeze a few extra minutes out of my day!

(Picture me being very, very cross with myself)

So yeah, I've decided my goal is to write 2 hours every day (well, weekday--my hubby still has a headlock on the weekends) so that I get 4000+ words every day. And so far I've done it. That's my goal for next year, too. We'll see how I hold out long term.

Good luck on your Yuletide fic! It sounds like fun and at least you get to review canon, right? *grin*

[mithen]

Those are both really great! I'm very taken with how the Lester Dent plot formula can be jiggered to fit other genres and styles, too.

A NOVEL EVERY FIVE DAYS YESSSS. Right now I'm pretty happy with the 300 or so words a day I'm getting from writing on the bus, but Novembers are unusual! You do what you gotta do...

The Yuletide fic is a lot of fun so far! Rough beginning--my beta has mentioned that the first 500 words or so of a new story are almost always a little rough around the edges until I can "relax into the voice" a little bit, feel like I've gotten setting the scene out of the way, and can start having fun. But now that I've got the ensemble together things are starting to bump along nicely, yay!