This is non-fiction

This is a bit different from most of the work I've been putting on here, but hopefully you will still enjoy it.

ADVICE TO HOPEFUL WRITERS

            You may have read this title and thought to yourself Yeah, right. Who is he to give advice? He’s never even been published, that’s why he has a blog.  If you thought this about most bloggers you may well be right to be skeptical. This time however, you’re wrong. Ha ha ha ha ha! (Note to readers: that is not my imitation of The Shadow, everyone knows that the best amount of times to laugh through text is five :D. Unless you are writing “lol” then it’s a totally different story.)

            For your information I have been published. I have been published in my college newspaper twice, in two different college literary magazines and in a community newspaper. I admit it is not the most impressive resume, but it’s better than nothing.  I also dream of being an author (best-selling if possible), so I have read and heard numerous tips on writing, In this I will just be imparting some very basic tips.  I can’t imagine that I will be able to impart all of my knowledge within one blog.  There may be several installments of this.  (If you enjoy this and want some more in depth tips I strongly suggest The Craft by Stephen King. It is his own advice on writing.)

            First you have to decide what you want to write about.  Some people tell you to write what you know. I disagree. I say if you enjoy writing it then it will show through. If you have some facts wrong, big deal.  Each time you write your skills will increase. Do you have a topic? If not choose one, I’ll wait . . . . Got one? Good! Okay how do wish to write about this topic, through poetry, a short story or are you ambitious and you want to write a full-length book? For novice writers I would not suggest a full length book.  If you attempt a full-length book on your first try you are likely to get frustrated because it is not long enough or it’s taking too long.  If choosing poetry, what kind of poetry?  Free form and rhyming couplets are the most popular, but not necessarily the easiest.  I find pantoums to be quite easy because you only need two new rhyming couplets for each stanza (Google it), but there are also sestinas, sonnets, villanelles, etc. The possibilities are endless. (Caution: villanelles are not the easiest to write, but once again, if you are feeling ambitious more power to you.)

            Maybe you want to write a short story.  I have found that, for me, it’s the easiest to write a short story if you already the beginning and end mapped out, in your mind if nowhere else.   If you have the middle mapped out as well even better, but that has only happened to me once.  I can’t really offer a lot of advice on short stories.  A lot of it depends on your style of writing. Do you like to outline your stories on paper before actually writing them? Do you like to write out the whole thing and then edit and revise? (That’s what I do.) Do you like to write down a lot of random words and then see if you can form a story out of them?  If that last choice is your style then writing may not be the best choice for you ;).

            Some of the biggest advice I can offer is do what works for you.  Don’t let people tell you that you are doing it wrong.  If it works for you, why change?

 One more minor piece of advice, don’t try to be funny (unless you are compiling a joke book), if you are funny it should come naturally. If you force humor into your work it won’t work.  I’ve done it once before and, looking back, I realize that it wasn’t all that funny.  So humor is fine, but let it come naturally, if at all.  When I first heard that you shouldn’t try to be funny it confused me. I have often heard that the humor is part of the best things in my writing. It took me a while to understand what the man was truly trying to say

            And that about does it for my first installment of: Advice for Hopeful Writers.