My Best Advice

  My blog is now a journal rather than an advice column, but there is a few pointers that I  cannot pass up. Here's what works for me:

1. Finish your first draft before seeking advice. Your book should be your own work, and should not follow the plot line that your crit partners think it should follow. Your style should be your own style, and not that of the person who wrote the book on how to write a book. I know from experience that it's very stifling to try and follow all the rules while you try to get your ideas out there. Your brain should be running while your pen (or your pencil, or your crayon, or that little blinking thing that's in front of my words right now, or whatever) is trying frantically to keep up. When it's finished, then you can break out all those writing self-help books and seek out your crit partners. But for the first draft, forget the rules and follow your head. Save the advice for the edit. Chances are, the next time you start writing, you'll either have forgotten the rules in the flurry to get it published, or they'll be ingrained in your mind so that you  follow them without thinking about it. Go ahead and keep reading. These suggestions are designed not to cramp your style.
2. Find an environment that inspires your creativity. Are you inspired by nature? Or do you find your best ideas come from a walk through the mall? Every person is different, so find what works for you and seek it out. For me, this environment is the dark, whether at night in my bed or during the day in a windowless room. Most of my best ideas come from this environment.
3. Read. Most of you already do this, so I don't need to elaborate much. Read widely, and read a lot.
4. Train your ear. How do you do this? You read. But don't read just anything. Read the best. The classics. Why do you think they've been around so long? For most, it's the way they read. They sound good, they have excellent rhythm, and they don't just scratch the surface. They go down deep, thoroughly exploring their chosen subject matter. Some of you may have noticed that I make grammatical mistakes in my writing. I started a sentence with a conjunction at the beginning of this paragraph, for example. "The classics." is a fragment. Sometimes I use a preposition to end a sentence with. (That was a joke, by the way.) I know how to break the rules for the sake of rhythm, because I have a trained ear. I began reading the classics in 2011, and since then my writing style has drastically improved. Seriously. READ! I don't care where you start, just start, and don't stop! There is a list of books that I've read and found outstanding in the "My Favorite Books" tab. (not all of them are classics though in my opinion, they should be.) WARNING! Once you start reading the classics, you won't be satisfied with the run of the mill, the ordinary stuff. Reading the classics is great for your writing, not so much for your enjoyment of others novels. You also might have to bite your tongue if you're a crit partner with somebody.