Daniel Kaye's Blog, page 6

Use Plain, Simple Language

I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English—it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.
MARK TWAIN

To Be a Writer is to Sit Down and Write

To be a writer is to sit down at one’s desk in the chill portion of every day, and to write; not waiting for the little jet of the blue flame of genius to start from the breastbone—just plain going at it.
JOHN HERSEY

Treat Writing As A Job

Treat writing as a job. Be disciplined. Lots of writers get a bit OCD-ish about this. Graham Greene famously wrote 500 words a day. Jean Plaidy managed 5,000 before lunch, then spent the afternoon answering fan mail. My minimum is 1,000 words a day – which is sometimes easy to achieve, and is sometimes, frankly, like shitting a brick, but I will make myself stay at my desk until I've got there, because I know that by doing that I am inching the book forward. Those 1,000 words might well be rubbish–they often are. But then, it is always easier to return to rubbish words at a later date and make them better.
SARAH WATERS

NaNoWriMo Day 1

National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo as we all know it has finally begun.
Day one went very well for me, I am well above what I intended to write so every extra word was a bonus.

I did find it hard to turn off my internal editor though, and had to fight going back countless times to change what I'd written or check for mistakes. I suppose we just get used to the way we write.
What I'm hoping to achieve, is to get back into the practice of writing everyday and not looking for excuses to browse the internet, and of course be on track for that magic 50,000 word count in just 30 days.


How did Day One go for you?

NaNoWriMo 2012

November is National Novel Writing Month or to many NaNoWriMo. During this month many take up the challenge to write a 50,000 word novel. As you can see I have my coffee suplies ready for the challenge.
I'd just like to wish all those taking part all the best. You can find out more about NaNoWriMo here http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard

Fiction Writers Don't Understand What They Do

Most books about writing are filled with bullshit. Fiction writers, present company included, don’t understand very much about what they do—not why it works when it’s good, not why it doesn’t when it’s bad.
STEPHEN KING

There Is No Rule on How to Write

There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Stuff Yourself Full

If you stuff yourself full of poems, essays, plays, stories, novels, films, comic strips, magazines, music, you automatically explode every morning like Old Faithful. I have never had a dry spell in my life, mainly because I feed myself well, to the point of bursting. I wake early and hear my morning voices leaping around in my head like jumping beans. I get out of bed to trap them before they escape.
RAY BRADBURY

Take On Anything

Be daring, take on anything. Don’t labor over little cameo works in which every word is to be perfect. Technique holds a reader from sentence to sentence, but only content will stay in his mind.
JOYCE CAROL OATES