Creative Writing Tips

    • Elmore Leonard - Just Use Said

    • As Elmore Leonard has said, avoid using anything besides said to carry dialogue. Most other words will just clutter up the dialogue and it's better to let the words and your physical descriptions of people to carry the dialogue.
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    • Actions Speak Louder Than Words

    • Also known as show don't tell, the idea here is that you need to convey your message to a reader in more than just the words. Don't just say "Jon was mean" but instead, allow the reader to conclude that based upon Jon's actions in the story.
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    • Revising - Paragraph Review

    • When you're happy with your piece, a great technique is to do a paragraph review. Read the piece and after each paragraph, write down what the paragraph adds to the piece. This will help you evaluate what information is necessary and what is fluff. Kurt Vonnegut put it best when he said: "Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action."
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    • Revision: Proofread Regularly

    • Proofreading a piece isn't just a simple read through of the piece you're working on. It's important to proofread your writing on several occassions with different goals in mind. Doing so will enable you to catch different mistakes and to look at your writing with different perspectives.
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    • Writing Ideas - Write Whenever, Wherever

    • The best way to think of things to write about is to constantly write. If you push off an idea you have, it may be hard to get it back later, and it will stall your generation of newer ideas. As such, whenever you thnk of something, at least make a note about it. Then, when you get more time, write it out further to help expand your ideas.
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