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| Oct 01, 2008 6:25 pm |
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Tips for young or beginning writers... |
Meredith Greene
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My English teacher's favorite word was 'TRITE'; all of us students would see it scrawled across the tops of our papers in bold, red ink. For punishments and for missing assignments, we'd have to write out sections of the thesaurus, then use ten of the words correctly in sentences.
I admit, though, she knew her stuff... as tedious as it was to exert the effort of expanded writing, eventually we were able to wield the written word with far more confidence and in ways never before imagined.
Make your work stand out with a broad, varied vocabulary. No one wishes to read the same, common words over and over again.
Though they may not be aware of it, your readers want to be intellectually stimulated; the human brain is a very complex organ and begs to be fed.
Regarding characters, make them simple to describe and have them possess real traits, real faults and real thoughts. For example, almost everyone has some hope for the future and mostly behaves in the way they were brought up to. Bear in mind that most people will not want to read about a 'perfect' person.
It is just fine to base your characters on someone you know well. This makes said characters more 'believable' in my opinion.
Most of all, make your book good. You may very well reply 'what a stupid, obvious thing to say'... not really considering that minimal effort creates a minimal, hollow book. Write a good, interesting book, for all our sakes and the sake of literature itself.
Cheers!
Meredith Greene Private Reply to Meredith Greene (new win) |
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