Thread by @thomasjbevan1

//THREAD\\ In which we discuss how to develop your talent as a #writer Part 2

(vital for all #writinglife #amwriting people, but applicable to anyone wishing to improve at a skill)

CC @pathtomanliness @AJA_cortes @CraigJamesTFA @samuelthews

H/T to @tellyousonthis

This is day two of our analysis of our application of the lessons from Daniel Coyle’s work on talent to the discipline of #writing.

(Aspects of his number system are not relevant & will be marked N/A.)

Click link for day 1

On with the show...

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13/ Find the Sweet Spot

The sweet spot is where you learn best and fastest. It is a zone right on the edge of your ability.

It is one of three zones:

Comfort Zone
Sensation: ease, effortlessness. No struggle.
80%+ of attempts are successful

Sweet Spot

Sensation: frustration, difficulty, aware of errors.

Fully engaged in intense struggle. Reaching for goal with everything you have and brushing it with fingertips, then reaching again.

50-80% of attempts are successful

This is where you want to be. And not in...

Survival Zone

Sensation: confusion, desperation. Scrambling & guessing. When you're right it's mostly due to luck

<50% of attempts succeed

Einstein: 'One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one's greatest effort'

^This is the sweet spot

14/ Take Off Your Watch

The idea behind this is to count reps rather than time.
However, for #writing I think that time at the desk is a better variable than word count

Quality of words usually goes down when someone sets a hard target of reaching say 1000 in a day

Therefore

Set an alarm while you write

(any more than 4 hours in a day will lead to seriously diminishing returns in my experience)

But ignore all clocks while you are typing.

Full screen word processor, clocks turned around etc.

Creativity is not an exam. Don't clockwatch...

15/Break every move down into chunks

Think off your great story as a whole. Then ask:

a) What is the smallest single element of the skill I can master?

For #writing this incs. dialogue, pacing, capping off a scene, description &c 1000 things

Naturally more proficient at some

b) What other chunks link to that chunk?
(hint- they are all interrelated)

Practice one chunk by itself until you are good at it and then combine more chunks one by one.

Dialogue combines with pacing combines with plotting combines with theme etc.

Form connections...

16/ Each Day, try to build one perfect chunk

A daily SAP: Small, achievable perfection.

Unlike other skills this is virtually impossible to define in terms of writing.

But it is still a handy idea to keep in mind as an ideal.

17/ Embrace Struggle.

It's an instinct built into most of us to avoid the uncomfortable nature of struggle.

But it is vital

Strengthening the brain is like strengthening a muscle

No pain, no gain

It is better to accept this rather than expect your prose to flow effortlessly

18/ Choose Five Minutes a day Over an Hour a Week

Possibly one of the most important tips of all.

Consistency is absolutely key to developing as a writer.

It seems to conform more to the

Kaizen rule of 1% daily improvement= massive dividends

than almost anything else.

19/ Don't do 'Drills' Instead Play Small, Addictive Games

For the writer this would take the form of #poetry

Forcing yourself to use certain words and certain rhythms and meters improves your general facility with words massively over time.

Also an excellent way to boost vocab

20/ Practice Alone.

Goes without saying for us introverted #writers.

On to the next...

21/ Think in Images.

The idea here is to create metaphors for the effects you want each 'chunk' (i.e subskill) of your writing to have.

For example I always think of writing in terms of music

And focus heavily on the rhythm of the scene and dialogue.

Your metaphors may differ

22/ Pay Attention Immediately After You Make A Mistake.

(And I don't mean a spelling mistake, because if you're like me this would paralyse you)

If you condition yourself to attend to errors right away you can learn from them.

If you don't you may well reinforce bad habits...

Journaling can be a good way to do this.

After your writing day is done just take a few minutes to jot down what you did-

What you were aiming to do with the scene
What went right
What didn't
Things to do tomorrow

Few will do this.

But I swear that it cures 'writers block'

23/ Visualise the wires of your brain forming new connections

Paying attention to mistakes &fixing them will form more of the *right* connections in yr brain

Visualise the process like this as a mistake happens so that you seem a mistake for what it is: a tool that builds skill

24/ Visualise the Wire of your brain getting faster

A nuance on point 23 above.

Self-explanatory. Just interpret the slight headache of effort as your brain growing stronger and faster.

Because that *is* what happens when you devote all of your efforts to improving yr writing

25/ Shrink The Space

For writers this includes things like the formal restrictions of poetry and #haiku

In this vein, Twitter is also a good medium to hone your writing skills.

(Some fools even take what should be giant blog posts and turn them into a long series of tweets!)

26/ Slow it Down (Even Slower than you think)

Speed often creates sloppiness. Precision is often traded for the satisfaction of hammering out a draft as quickly as possible

I don't buy the 'shitty first draft' cliche

Yes, your first draft will need an awful lot of work but...

Why would you label something as 'shitty' before you begin?

I've never understood this

A newly formed squad of football players don't all collectively accept they are going to have a 'shitty first game' because they haven't had time to gel yet.

Your metaphors & mindset matters

27/ Close your eyes

This removes distraction and engages the other senses.

If within a scene you are describing a non-visual sensory experience

(& you should be doing this all the time- E.g. One thing that makes Orwell powerful is his acute sense of smell)

Close your eyes.

28/ Mime It

You write alone (presumably). No one can see you.

So move around, pace, and perform the action you are trying to describe if you cannot visualise it in sufficient detail.

This works. If you can see it, and then write it clearly, then the audience will see it

29/ When You Get It Right, Mark The Spot

This goes back to the idea of journaling about the writing process. When you get it right, record it.

This is the new start line for perfecting the skill.

'Practice *begins* when you get it right.'

It's a process of refining skills

30/ Take a Nap

Napping= good for the brain. Connections formed during writing session will strengthen as u sleep

In an ideal world you would write all morning and take a quick lunchtime nap

But whatever yr routine remember that the sleeping brain will work on what you tell it

*That's it for part 2*

Well done if you made it this far!

RT this thread & tell all of yr #amwriting friends to follow along& learn

(#NaNoWriMo is coming up & people need help)

Also S/O to @TellYourSonThis (whose handle I screwed up at the start here) for the support

Plus

Here's an obligatory plug for @StoicGoatFarmer #99things book, which I feature in alongside such amazing contributors as:

@SteafanFox
@ryanstephens
@startupdaemon
@JamesClear (whose Atomic Habits is out soon)
@drbabelovelife
@HunterDrewTFA
@PaulMDomenick

And many more...

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