Some Tips and Tricks Inspired by Anne Lamott’s “Bird By Bird”.
Requiring me to read this book for school was the only reason I planned on doing it, but Lamott discusses a lot of essential points to writing. Some of them I found extremely helpful. Here are a few of my favorites:
Pay attention to the world around you. One of my friends writes down every good quote she hears in a passing-by conversation. This is how great stories start: from real life and real people.
Talk about what you want to write, not what you think others will want to read. Similar to the point above, your words will sound fresher and more authentic if you really mean them.
People watch! It will help you understand your characters as people and not figments. Take quirks from the stranger on the bench and incorporate it into one of your character’s ticks.
Write, write, write, write and write until your fingers bleed. You may have paragraphs and pages of complete shit in your writing, but maybe that very last line will be so beautiful and complete that I’ll remind you why you do this. This is where I got my idea for writing in raw thought.
Every so often, take a step back from your writing and make sure this is where your story should go instead of where you want it to go. Same idea with character development. The plot and characters you’re creating cannot grow if you’re cradling them like a mother with her firstborn.
Do not protect your characters. Similar to the above, your writing will feel dry if you protect your favorite character. They need to follow the plot line that already exists and just needs to be put into words, not the one you create for them to stay happy forever. As Lamott says, “Don’t pretend like you know more about your characters than they do, because you don’t...Characters should not serve as pawns for some plot you’ve dreamed up.”
Let your characters hold back some thoughts instead of using so much dialogue, and see where it takes them.
Do as much as you can to make your setting feel authentic. Lamott describes how one of her sets was a garden, so she met with an experienced gardener and they together drew out the setting. A key point to this was that every few months, she would call up the gardener to see how the plants had changed and use it in her story.
Know that there’s always going to be more work that can be done to perfect your story, but “perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.” Know when to stop.
Drown out the voice of your mother when writing. Do not let her dictate how your character want to act, no matter how imbecilic or outrageous. If it is true to their personality, don’t shy away from making them who they are.
“...hypnotize yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly.”
Carry around index cards to write on when inspiration hits you in the middle of a grocery store line or while your in the passenger seat on the way to your great-aunt’s 86th birthday party. It’s easy to forget inspiration quickly, so be prepared! They don’t have to be complex; just a phrase or even one word should be enough to jog your memory.
Use a person who will lie about your writing and tell you how great it is, how you shouldn’t change anything and how you’re the best writer who has ever lived to edit your writing. They will build up your self-esteem.
Use a person who will be completely straightforward with no second thoughts about how it may impact your emotional aspect. They will tell you exactly what to change from a second perspective. You don’t have to make all of their changes
Don’t make other people’s edits if they change it into something it’s not supposed to be.
Do not write to be published. Write because you love it, and sometimes you hate it, but write for the act of it rather than publicity. The best words will find themselves here.
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