Hey, would it help anyone if I did a series of daily writing tips? Advice for people wanting to write during the lockdown? I'll try not to disincentivize.
Ok! #1 Go back to a sentence you wrote yesterday and cut out every superfluous word. Make your point in as few words as possible!
I've already got tomorrow's planned! After that I've got nothing, but I'll think of something.
Also - this is connected but it’s got me into trouble once or twice - when you can, let the reader figure out what you mean. Don’t over explain. Trust that they’re smart. The fewer words, the more the reader has to read between the lines.
Example: Randy Newman does it so well. In 'I Love LA', for instance, he lists a bunch of LA streets, and after each one they yell/sing "We Love It!" But every street he chooses is unremarkable. So although he does love LA it becomes a song about jingoism and aggressive ignorance.
See:
What I love about this is that if you allow the reader to figure it out, the story becomes like a partnership between the writer and the reader.
Here's my favorite line about writing. I read it in Raymond Carver but he was quoting Issac Babel: “No iron can stab the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place.”
Ok, God knows how long I'll have the wherewithal to keep this up, probably not long, but here is writing tip #2 (or #5 approx if you count my several connected tweets yesterday). This one is about WHEN you start writing, and it's complicated, so it'll unfold over several tweets.
Some people advocate you just start writing, and figure out the story as you go along. I DO NOT AGREE. In fact, I lost months doing this when I was writing Shamed. I wrote a bunch of things before I knew what the book was, and they were so tangential I couldn't use them. HOWEVER
...If you know exactly what you're going to write before you start writing, that can be deflating and demystifying too. For me, the mystery is the wind behind my sails. So it's wrong to know too much in advance, and wrong to not know enough. So, how to solve this conundrum?
So I think you need to know approximately this much in advance: 'Okay, I *sort of* know where this is going, and it feels intriguing, so I'll make a start'. Okay that's it!
An example! With my book The Psychopath Test, I learned that psychologists think you're 4 times more likely to have a psychopath at the top of the corporate tree than the bottom. That felt SO interesting. Was it true, or the kind of thing psychologists say...?
I thought, 'How do I solve this mystery? I know, I'll learn how to spot psychopaths and the journey into the corridors of power...' I didn't know what would happen, but I figured, whatever unfolds will be interesting.' That was the perfect amount to make a start.
Same with my book Them. I thought: Conspiracy theorists believe in the existence of a Secret Room. So I'll join forces with them and together we'll FIND the secret room and get in and confront the illuminati red handed going about their covert wickedness...
Again, I had no idea what would happen, but knew whatever unfolded would be interesting. Those were journeys - and we currently can't undertake those - but you could do the same with your mind!
