My Top 12 Writing Tips! | Advice That Changed How I Write
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:50 - Skip scenes the reader can imagine
2:11 - Use strong verbs
3:33 - Avoid '-ing' and 'to be' verbs
4:40 - Describe, don't explain
5:31 - If your story is boring, slow it down
6:46 - Be specific
7:45 - The push and pull of hope and despair
8:23 - Character yearning
9:06 - Character contradictions
10:08 - Use the fewest words possible
11:17 - Artistic incongruity
12:15 - How can this be more interesting?
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My favorite piece of writing advice is to write about the things you're afraid to talk about out loud.
WOW! Just wow!
Soooooooo smut?
@@arayahope9295 lol More like personal traumas and fears. But I like where your mind went.
I try to do that, but with me, if I can't talk about it, I find it difficult to write about as well.
See my problem is that I’m way too comfortable talking about everything. You wanna hear about my trauma? Where should I start 😂
My favourite is “write as if no one will ever read it.” That’s what makes great stories. Raw. Vulnerable. Real.
I love that...
My favorite piece of writing advice came from a screenwriting teacher of mine and he said, to paraphrase, “Write the first draft for yourself. It’s where you tell yourself the story for the first time.” I would always get so hung up on making things perfect, that I wouldn’t even be able to get the words down at all. That bit of advice, to allow for that safe space, knowing no one else would ever see that first draft other than myself, helped so much. I know now that that has been said in many different ways by others, too, but that was the first time I heard it and it made such a difference.
Thanks for sharing; every little bit helps.
This is truly liberating advice. Thanks for sharing. I will remember this one along with the 12 from this video!
SUCH great advice! When I write brainstorms plans I have to hand in, I tell myself if I really don't want it to be shown I'll just rewrite it. After I write it and look back I realise it's fine and hand in the first copy.
I tend to do this in general. Haha. I like to word vomit -anywhere of the story that's playing in my head. If it's a scene at the end of the story, word vomit, if I have to go to the middle, let's jump there, and then just kind of do that and stitch them together messily to have one good read through. And fix up things on a second. And slowly until it's something I like.
Buuuuut I also don't publish or put my work anywhere. I just occasionally write because I have the want to at the time. Sometimes I don't get to the part where I stitch everything together because I've found a new project that I wanna do and it won't be writing at all. It'll be with paint or plants or beads. So ... You do what makes you happy
Yes! Anne Lamott called it a "shitty first draft". ^_^
*kick-flips on skateboard and smiles into the camera*
“Verb. It’s what you do.” *pose with arms crossed and cap turned sideways*
this comment took me on a journey and i loved every second of it
...I just got all the layers of what this comment meant now, and it hit me like a _t r u c k_
Even though you didn't say, I could totally picture the outfit by this person as well.
th-cam.com/video/IrfZCvTe-Ko/w-d-xo.html
Did you just make an ad for verbs
"... except that this isn't a verb." "It is now, my guy. Let this be the first day of the rest of your life."
Holy shit. My sides have officially split.
😂
I forgot about that jewel. Hail to Shaelin.
I legit laughed out loud. Today is the first day this phrase is a part of my lingo.
:oo hehe
This is the part I came here to comment on as well...I love it! I do this all the time for fun in daily verbal conversations - Now I have permission to do this in my writing as well! Thank you! 🥰
1. If a reader can imagine it happening without being told, you don't need to tell them.
2. Use strong verbs.
3. Cut "ing" and "to be " verbs
4. Describe, don't explain. (Show, don't tell.)
5. If your story is boring, slow it down instead of speeding it up.
6. Be specific
7.Find the despair in the hope, and the hope in the despair.
8. What does your character yearns for?
9. A character's contradictions are what makes them interesting.
10. Use the fewest words possible.
11. Artistic incongruity.
12. How can this be more interesting?
Thanks for writing this so I can screenshot lol
@@KaliTakumi haha you're welcome
HELP!
I want to learn more about known Writing-Rules like Show, dont Tell
and Chekovs Gun. I know many, but i dont think i know all. Can someone
make a quick List about those Terms/PHrases he knows,
so i can counter-check which of them i know?
And an odder request: Anyone knows some 'Motiviational Posters' that remind one of them?
I want to hang-up Pictures onto my Walls that remember me of Chekovs Gun and such,
ya see.
@@loturzelrestaurant If you can, play with sentence structure. It gets extremely boring if your paragraphs are structured like "he did this. he felt this. He then did this." Instead, use different structures. "He did this. Feeing this, he did this" is MUCH more interesting.
@@horrorscope8146 ??
You literally have the best writing content in all of authortube
@Mateo Rolle I subbed to Abbie Emmons since she had 700 subscribers.
AAAAHHHHHHHH. NOOOOO
You are right. You ligit have no life. How do you always beat me. But things are about to gt interesting. I just finished my exams. So I could just beat you!
@@sumayyahkhan8897 Well, I have my priorities set. Shaelin first, life later
@@rev6215 😂😂
And Film Courage!
I’m obsessed with “describe don’t explain”. It just makes so much sense! Simple yet effective!
Yeah I think "show don't tell" works great for screenwriters but "describe don't explain" is an amazing tool for authors!
I don’t ever know how to apply that in my writings 😭 it’s either I’m being ‘too secretive’ or ‘I’m explaining a little bit too much’
@@imeaiwteh7540 Okay, I struggled with this for a while. So, for an example instead of saying "the wall was old." you could say "the wall was cracking and crumbling, with moss clinging to the red brick." Not only does it sound more elegant, it really helps the reader to imagine the scene on their heads.
how do you describe? it was so hard for me
@@maemalabanan8218 let them imagine it exactly how you would like. Like for example, instead of saying, "she was very sad", maybe you could say "her face was covered in tears, filled with a kind of despair she never knew existed." It sounds more poetic and lets you imagine that "she" was sobbing, instead of being in a bad mood. take my statement with a grain of salt, i also struggle with that too.
"Slow it down..." I really wish I got to have this discussion with someone lol... This phrasing really clicked just now. This happened to me in my first project and I tried reducing the pacing and looking at the story from a much wider lens. I began adding things like back stories, flashbacks, more intense scenes, and it actually seemed very much more interesting
It really clicked with me with I first saw it too!
This resonated with me sooo much
Honestly, this advice is excellent and makes so much sense, I totally unexpected
I agree with the character having contradictions.
One of my contradictions is that I'm an atheist, but I love studying religion.
Lol
The exact same for me. I just find beliefs that developed over centuries so interesting
That's not a contradiction though, you're just interested in religion, a contradiction would be if you were ashiest but bought chakra stones (unless it's just pure interest)
@@Hypie582 I guess you are right because my interest doesn't mean I believe in anything, but having another belief while claiming to be an atheist would be a contradiction.
@@Maidaseu yep
My favourite writing advice is "write from your f****ng heart!". One that always follows it: "write no holds barred; edit later". The final one is Mallarmé's reply to Degas: "But poems are not made of ideas, they are made of words".
Good advice.🥰❤💯
"Slow it down instead of speeding it up" literally never thought of this tip, thank you so much for this whole video
I think this piece of advice blew my mind too
This video already makes me want to write, even during a severe writing slump! You're a gem, Shaelin!
Love it when Shaelin likes my comment
It's weird how she does that, right? Every time I finish one of these videos I'm like; "Let's get some work done."
How’s your writing going now Nabila? lnkd.in/drNwxuK4
Thought this would be a helpful link for fiction writers out there - it’s an excellent platform for those seeking to write fiction.
Not so much for non fiction.
But if you’re a story writer and need research and plot points for stories specifically, you really ought to try this link out !
Also, think link gives you 10k free words to try !
❤️❤️
“Describe, don’t explain” is excellent
One of my favorite pieces of writing advice is to not overthink it. It's such a conflicting statement because you have to think and develop and edit, but for a first draft I was always told "Don't overthink. Just imagine and write." Thank you for coming to my ted-talk.
I think the main difference between goal and yearning is that a goal is something the character is necessarily conscious of and has thought about and defined, while yearning needn't be. A character (or a real person) can have implicit and unconscious yearnings. So yearnings go deeper in a way, it's what you truly want, while goals can be mistaken or based on what your parents want or whatever. Perhaps they've made you set a goal to become a doctor, while you actually want to be a painter, or whatever.
In my mind, goals are subsets to yearnings. They're the attempts a person makes to satisfy a yearning, and often change when they don't do what the protagonist expected them to do, or when someone else in the story subverts them. Then the protagonist has to figure out a new way to satisfy their yearning, when then becomes a new goal.
I think this plays really neatly into the contradictions of want and need
Facts.
Another difference is that a goal is either acheived or not acheived, and the writer has to explain why in either case.
A yearning is an emotional state that probably informs actions, but not directly or deliberately or even consistently.
I like the idea of conscious goals versus subconscious yearning 👍
Once my teacher told me - your writing missed the "smell" - actually I wrote about villagers who lived near the jungle - while my emotions and story were right but staying in a metropolitan I just painted a story missing the essence of their day to day life. It was quite an eye opener.
Just loved your advice - definitely it will help me in my writings 😊
The best writing advice is something I tell myself now after I noticed that not enough authors do in fast-paced books: make your characters sit down and have a conversation. Even if the conversation doesn't make a lot of sense for the plot at the time, it can work wonders for your story with character development. I've read many books that were action packed and kept me on the edge of my seat, but I didn't end up caring what happened in the end to the characters because the author never gave us a chance to see who they were. The conversation could reveal a yearning or an interesting part of their personality. It's a fatal flaw that even the best books have, like The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games. I think I would've cared more about the deaths of some characters in both those series if they had been better developed.
I like writing dialogue so I’m in total agreement. You can take a lot of exposition and frame it within dialogue too. That conversation between two characters can be used to tell the reader tons of information without it feeling like an info dump. Info can be layered in this way and then followed up on later - maybe as exposition at that point but at least it wasn’t all exposition.
Saw a video last night about character development via interrogation. A director had a method to talk to actors as if they were the character and to ask them questions to ignite the emotions and motivations he wanted for the scene by taking the actor out of the equation to get a more genuine performance. A writer was in the talk as well and added that the technique could be used to develop a character you’re writing as well. Obviously it would be a different process not involving an actor or another person but it could get one thinking about specific details to include in a character’s makeup.
As crazy as it might sound maybe an author could come up with a list of pertinent questions and have a trusted friend “interview” them as the character. There’s probably something about having to “wing” answers to questions because it unleashes the creativity needed to answer them as the character. Could probably even use some kind of stock personality test and see what shakes out.
I know. It’s “out there.”
Your teacher was just like, "I'm not a fan of the term 'oxymoron,' so we're going to call it 'artistic incongruity.'"
I don’t think oxymoron and artistic incongruity are necessarily synonyms. Are they? Oxymoron demands a contrast of words that mean the exact opposite - dark light, dry tears, ancient youth (knowing baby lol) etc. Whereas artistic incongruity is just about finding word combinations that aren’t often used and will give the reader a pause. That doesn’t mean the words have to contradict each other, unlike when it’s an oxymoron. I’d struggle to come up with an example even in my native tongue, let alone English, but say - whispering steps, to describe a situation when you hear someone walk but only just. Here, ‘whisper’ and ‘step’ aren’t antonyms, but they’re also probably not the first association you’d make in your head if you tried to describe someone treading softly.
@@kangaroo9816 I will have to disagree with you. I've never heard of the term "artistic incongruity," and there are existing words for most styles of writing that exist. You gave the example "whispering steps," which is simply a personification. In addition, a "knowing baby," which is the example Shaelin gave, is definitely an oxymoron, because clearly babies are not known for their 'knowingness." Other examples of oxymorons include: big baby, open secret, deafening silence, alone together, and clearly confused. These are not "exact opposites" as you stated, but simply incongruous-aka, an oxymoron.
@@arianaharvey961 I had never heard of that term either, prior to watching the video. My comment was about how I understood the term based on the explanation.
Admittedly, I shouldn’t have said oxymorons have to be EXACT opposites - but the examples you’re giving kind of do consist of words of opposing meanings. You’re either alone or you’re together with someone else; you either do something in the open or secretly; etc. Logically, they go against each other; hence they’re oxymorons. According to the video, as I understood it, artistic incongruity doesn’t have to have this conflict, it only has to be jarring for its novelty. Knowing baby could be both oxymoron and artistic incongruity. Whispering steps are both personification and artistic incongruity. ‘Behind me, I heard the whispering steps of a passer-by, silent like a cat’s’ would be personification, artistic incongruity and a very dim simile.
It is possible that I have misunderstood the definition provided by the video, but so far I don’t think so.
@@kangaroo9816 Let's just agree to disagree. There isn't a reason to have the term "artistic incongruity" since more accurate terms exist. I'm sure her professor is an amazing person, but people are not infallible, and using this term is of no use and a bit pretentious. By your definition, everything is "artistically incongruous" as long as it isn't boring.
But hey, if you like the term, then use it! :)
@@arianaharvey961 I actually disagree with your disagreement. And I think you will, too, when you stop to really thinking of it. Is "knowing baby" an oxymoron? Nope. Neither is "big baby" or "whispering steps"--although "whispering steps" is wonderfully and artistically incongruous/unexpected.
Nevertheless, I did chuckle and Like on your initial comment "Your teacher was just like, "I'm not a fan of the term 'oxymoron,' so we're going to call it 'artistic incongruity.'"
P.S. To say "Let's agree to disagree" is most often said by those who refuse to consider what the other person is saying and who has firmly planted their flag proclaiming "I will not be moved because I cannot be wrong!"
You can't fix a blank page!
Also, read this in an article somewhere: Quantity over quality
A pottery teacher split their class into two groups. A were assigned to make one perfect pot; B were to make as many pots as they could.
In the end, guess who made the better pots?
If us writers keep tinkering our one 'pot', we won't gain much experience for becoming better writers, is what I firmly believe :3 So go forth and write. Have fun with it
We writers.
Quantity helps only if you recognize your mistakes and correct them on the next try. Repetition in and of itself is useless.
Stephen King said that his first draft is non-stop output. He doesn't slow down and fix things. He doesn't stop and try to figure out specifics. He knows the importance of getting as much marble as possible out so that you can then chisel it down into the statue you want. My first draft looks straight out of Mad Libs. "(Name) started his (car type) and headed off to (location)."
"It is now, my guy," Shaelin said, and assuredly. I laughed. It was too real a relevance of sentence phrasing in my world.
About the slowing it down: I agree so much. I noticed you can get really fast paced with short descriptions of everything, but it’s very easy for it all to feel the same and become dull, even though it’s “shorter”. But, if you slow it down, you can really home true on a scene and almost completely skip the superficial stuff with a sentence or two, and this can give way more energy to the story when you have this narrative push and pull.
yesss so true!!
A piece of advice that stuck with me is...your character starts by trying to get what they want, and ends with getting what they need. Thanks for making this video.
Your efforts are much appreciated! :)
This was a really useful list of tips. The one that resonated with me the most was the first one. I vividly remember discovering that myself in a scene. I had first written:
'She took the coin from her pouch and extended her hand with it and he reached out and took the coin from her.'
Which read so ponderously. So I changed it to:
'She handed him the coin.'
And doing that was like slamming a door open, and I realised I could do this with not merely sentences, but whole scenes, simply cutting away all the 'step-by-step' details.
Otherwise known as “on the nose writing”. I just had my eyes opened via a video I was watching last night. I thought that kind of writing was some of the best stuff I had written because it was so descriptive. But it was descriptive in an obvious and unnecessary way without advancing the story at all.
It was hard for me to give those passages up but the poster of the video (a very well known published writer with over 200 books) said it was an amateur mistake. He said people think editors and such will be impressed by our ability to write about the minutiae of real life but they won’t. He gave an example of writing all the steps to show a woman answering her phone - She slid the purse off her shoulder, opened it and grabbed the phone, flipping it open before she pushed the button to take the call.
I’m embarrassed to say that I thought I was showing and not telling by writing like that. The example was funny and effective in showing me the error of my ways. Most importantly, since it’s the kind of thing that screams “I’m not ready” I’m glad I got the memo before I embarrassed myself in front of anyone else.
@@nikkinewbie6014 I'm glad to see that it helped you realised a way that you could write better.
A lot of us makes discoveries like that, which helps is grow as writers ^^
@@akernis3193 Yes. The other thing I realized is that writing those kind of extra words just takes up word count. Don’t writers usually shoot for a certain length of words depending on whether it’s a novella or novel? So if I’m wasting fifty words to describe a woman’s process in taking a phone out of her purse to answer it I’m eating away at my word “budget”. That ties in with another tip too about economy of words. So that leaves more words in my budget to talk about things that matter without inflating my word count.
I like what you said about growth. That is exactly what has occurred for me watching videos like this. This is the kind of video that really highlights the fact that writing truly is a craft. I’ve now moved away from a nonchalant “wing it” approach and I’m excited to come at this much more intentionally with structure and increased knowledge of what it takes to tell a compelling story and tell it well. Thanks for your comment.
@@nikkinewbie6014 Happy to help ^^
Yes, absolutely. Word economy is important to me to.
I often go through my story after I have written and try to cut about 5 - 10% of the words, which both tightens the prose and reduce the word count.
Writing is really a craft and personally I think that it is important to hone your skills at that, but but just writing a lot, but also by working on specific things like your word budget, or any of the many other aspects of writing.
That advice makes me think of an "Art" film where we see a character walking down a street, step by step, for the whole five minutes it takes him.
As a retired Producer, one of the things I really like about screenplays is that the story can be told only through action and dialogue.
Characters don't think - because we can't film that. They can only speak or do things.
And all scripts are in the present tense; even flashbacks and flash forwards, because in the film, we are always in the "now".
"Despair in hope, hope in despair." Brilliant. I'm a painter and sculptor, attempting to expand my creative world by tackling the art of writing. As in my paintings, where I simply start with some nondescript brushstroke and let the subject reveal itself, I find writing to be the same. I create a character and then sit back and enjoy the ride. To my surprise, these characters all have keys to rooms I had no idea I owned. The emotional roller coaster has me laughing and crying and sometimes walking away to digest it all. I'm entering the final chapter of my life which has taken me to many places. Now it is time to travel within. Your tips in this video are helpful and will surely add to the honesty of what has been held captive until now. Thank you Shaelin and keep enjoying life in a creative mind.
You describe exactly how I write too. :)
This one video is better than my entire MFA program in creative writing
(Just kidding, I'm tired of school)
I'm so glad you mentioned character contradictions! I've found myself writing my (evil) POV character contradicting herself regularly, and while I've always thought it added to her charm, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks it can be good for characters to have contradictions. :)
Learn about internal family systems therapy. It would give you a decent model to kinda design the egos of your characters. I also find it helpful for myself. It’s as good as you use it, but even not activley using intensley I find it helping me understand things about my self better
It can be the same thing with good characters too. Just look at the comic relief or idiot savant or even mad artist archetypes. they are all over the place there.
Love this. I like the following advice: Every "scene" should contain have a goal, conflict and disaster. And every "sequel" to a scene should have a reaction, dilemma and decision. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks again.
I've learnt the "every scene should have a goal" when I went to writing class and it really helped me. For me it makes the story not so boring because everything happens for a reason. It also made me think more about the purpose of the scenes and what I want to show.
A KNOWING BABY. THAT ONE HIT ME.
SAME
IS THIS HOW U DO MAGIC REALISM???????
I figured it would make just as great of a horror story as it would make of a poetic marriage family drama. Is this concerning? 👀
@@lochiness. I was just scrolling through old comments and saw this and the 'poetic marriage family drama' idea is chefs kiss jfc i love that. the projection of anger and shame and everything involved in a troubled relationship onto the child is just ugh so good and it'd be such a good exploration of intergenerational trauma
Now I will follow up with this:
I was most intrigued with the advice of, "If your story is boring, slow it down instead of speeding it up."
I've never heard that before and it was extremely thought-provoking!
Holy crap I could cry! The slow down advice for boring stories is exactly what I needed to hear! Tysm!
Watched this again 11 months later, as I've now written my 1st book, and I'm editing and perfecting it. Always great advice from shaelin
I loved the "if a story is boring, slow it down" 🥺🥰🥰 great advices!
"It is now..." Living languages change, only dead languages and French are static. Thank you for standing up for new and vibrant word and ways to use English. 🤗
@@halimazahri6203 selon l'institut français, oui apparemment hahah
@@halimazahri6203 marocaine?
Spoken like a true stereotypical Anglosaxon lol
I really liked the "slow it down" because I often feel the exact same way. I find that the most compelling stories are the ones that take time to let the world unfold before you at a crawl.
I KNOW! I tend to find those the most compelling as well! And yet the majority of advice for authors seems to insist that the story's opening needs to be as brief as possible and the pace must always be rocket speed. Something about the attention spans of today's readers getting shorter and shorter or something (which sounds awful patronizing to me, honestly.) But the thing is, "fast" doesn't necessarily mean "interesting" and "slow" doesn't necessarily mean "boring". I've read several fast-paced books which were boring because they only seemed to skim the surface.
This is a long rant in appreciation of your advice Shaelin. I started writing again in September of last year and this channel has been great for helping me tune up my writing.
So, accept my long rant of thanks :)
I'm so happy you started writing again!!
Great advice. I couldn't read until I was 18 (bad parenting basically). I plucked up the courage to write my first book/short story, later in life which I self published on Amazon. It's a journey that has allowed me to shake the illusions and dig deeper into reality. Many of my characters were also instrumental in challenging my egotistic tendencies, profoundly.
Writing really has unlocked a whole new way of thinking for me. It has been a revelation and the beginning of a journey of self discovery in a way I’ve never before experienced. It’s work learning the craft but it doesn’t feel like work. So I can relate to both the later in life aspect and the whole inner journey writing has inspired for you. I admire you for what you’ve accomplished and I cheer you on to keep going!
I'm sorry about your experience. Were you "unschooled" too?
Ha that's awesome! I'm a writer and I could certainly read but I actually never liked reading until I was in my 30s. I read my first book cover to cover in college. Currently I'm going back to read YA novels like Outsiders, Catcher in the Rye, and The Giver. Stuff I should have read in high school. Just finishing up with Holes. That's a fun read! Bravo on your journey!
@@EnglishRose_ yes! Didn’t appreciate the value of learning until I became a creative director at 22.
@@SocialHigh Good for you, succeeding under those circumstances is very tough. Right with you ❤️
I enjoy most about this video, that you never used never.
So many other writing tubers that I watch try to tell me what I can't or shouldn't do. This is one of the few videos where I felt validated in my choices so far. You are genuinely trying to help others improve, not to groom a generation of writers to your tastes.
hats off to your authenticity.
“It is now my guy”. So glad I found your account. Wonderful content.
This is not exactly a writing advice and I can't remember who I've heard this phrase from, but it says something like:
"This is your story. If you won't tell it, no one will".
It may sound simple but it motivates me a lot.
I remember when I'd watch videos about writing advice, and absolutely everything would hit me like a truck, constant realizations everywhere, but more and more lately, I've been finding that I've naturally discovered on my own a lot of the advice out there, and more often than not, videos about writer's advice have been serving as more of a reminder than a lesson. It's a surreal feeling to have come this far. That said, thank you for the reminders, sometimes it can take a few repetitions to know the advice in your heart as well as you know it in your mind.
“Find despair in hope and hope in despair...” gave me goosebumps.
The yearning one. Got this in Script Writing. Our teacher talkes about wants and needs. What the character wants is usually a tangable. But then you have the need, which is the root yearning desire that drives that want. And some of the best stories are when the want and the need are in conflict. Like, the character wants love and acceptance, but they think they need power so they'll never be hurt again. #writingGoodVillains
My best advice is to think about the negative aspects of submitting to contests or showing the work before I finish it. I've been derailed twice, once not writing for two years because of scathing judge comments. Before the story is birthed into at least a second draft protect it, nurture and feed it frequently. Next advice fits me, not everyone but stop taking writing or author classes as that eats up my writing time and is a way to procrastinate. Learn by writing and getting a developmental editor.
I had a similar experience with my first ever effort. The editor I had submitted my short story collection was brutal. I was traumatised and put the folder away and didnt touch it for years. It's only this year I pulled it out and have re-worked the first story. Am now doing the first edit.
Thanks. Used your advice to write this:
Empower the reader through imaginative description.
Nail it with a strong verb.
Sidestep passive verbs and nominalization.
Pace your story with specifics.
Find despair in hope, and hope in despair.
Expose character yearnings.
Paint character contradictions.
Wield few words.
Fashion artistic incongruities.
Compel with interest.
"Describe don't Explain" over "Show don't Tell" is itself a lesson in the very lesson that it itself is alluding to.
Something that has helped me is reading ‘mentor texts.’ If there is an author whose style you like, read them. There is nothing wrong in emulating.
Enlightening as always, of course. One advice I think is important is to finish what you write. This one is by Neil Gaiman. I find that finishing a story, even just a first draft, feels so satisfying and teaches you so much.
Let this be the word. I have so many incomplete drafts…
@@EmptyKingdoms I suggest you complete some of them, the ones you care about most. It's worth it, even if you don't like the final product.
This is me raising my hand. However, I feel like I have received targeted guidance at just the right time via the YT algorithm. Writing videos started popping up and I’ve been watching them back to back taking notes.
I’ve had no formal classes in creative writing but am gratified to find out I’ve been instinctively doing a lot “correctly.” I have a lot to learn but I think what I’m learning will allow me to pull all of my bits and pieces together and finish the story I’ve been trying to write for over a year. Finishing this story would be a huge accomplishment…even if no one else were to ever read it.
@@nikkinewbie6014 Absolutely, it will be. Since you're not taking classes in writing, I strongly suggest tuning into Brandon Sanderson's classes, which are recorded and released for free on TH-cam. Truly, they're of immense value. If you don't know who that is, he finished the Wheel of Time series and he's the author of Mistborn and the Way of Kings.
@@luarn9176 Hey thanks for taking the time! I’ll look him up. Have a good one!
'It is now my guy!' - LOL! I am dead... you have slain me 10/10
Me and the boys all love verbs!
YES
I really appreciate the re-phrasings of advice so often said--it helped me see things in different ways. Especially the "Describe, don't explain" and "skip scenes the reader can imagine." I feel like the "slow down" advice is really helpful in cases where a story is going too fast or just doesn't have much depth yet. It really lends itself to the advice about specificity and looking closer at a story.
The character contradictions tip saved me like I seriously obsess about being consistent with their behavior. Never thought about how unpredictable and contradictory I am as a human being myself lmoa. Thankyou!
My personal favorite is “No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure.”
The best advice I got as a beginner was to just write. Don't worry or fret. Just start. If you don't finish your story, it's o.k. If you muddle it up, it's o.k. It's the habit of sustained flow.
Your videos always take the threat out of writing. I feel I can continue my story with a new sense of bravery after watching them. Thanks.
You're a gem, my writing improved so much for the past years I've been subscribed 🌈
‘A knowing baby’ … good one! Thanks for this. All the tips are helpful but it is the example of artistic incongruity that turned a light in for me!
A piece of advice I heard once that stuck with me is that you just have to throw everything you've got at the reader to make them keep reading. That's what most people set out to do as an author, and it feels easy to forget that.
These are some solid tips. Kind of abstract advice that I don't know if I would have gotten otherwise.
i'm doing a phd in creative writing and your content still helps me so much - thank you!
I have been watching writing videos for hours.
Your video has been more helpful than anything else I've seen all night.
Thank you.
All good advice. Whenever I'm at a loss of where to take the story next, I just focus on what the characters are thinking and feeling, and then I let THEM decide where to take the story next.
I am new to writing but I am working on my first science fiction novel. These tips are really helpful and intimidating at the same time. I've been hacking away at it for a year ( periods of procrastination, lol) but I am determined. I glanced at some of my earlier chapters and realized I was doing a lot of telling and not showing. These are some things I will fix when I do my proof reads after I am done writing. For now I don’t want to lose my Ideas by trying to edit while writing.
Thanks for the tips.
I think this is probably the most useful video I have ever stumbled across on TH-cam. I think everything you mentioned here was tremendously helpful but as someone terribly guilty of the purpliest prose, I'll be taking care to rigorously prune my sentences of unnecessary words going forward. I'm currently writing book number three, so I will be implementing this straight away!
My favorite piece of writing advice I've gotten is expecting a first draft to be perfect, is like expecting flour and eggs to taste like a cake.
Great suggestion to change "show, don't tell", to the much less mysterious, "describe, don't explain"! I also find advice number 1, "If a reader can imagine it happening without being told, you don't need to tell them" very helpful. I tend to over describe situations of less importance.
I ones that stood out for me are; describe don't explain, make your characters complex, make your writing interesting and don't feel the need to show everything.
I've never seen such a great video on tips about how to improve in writing. I am struggling with my english studies and essays, but after seeing this video i'm so motivated and confident that i believe to score well in my tests too. Thank you Shaelin for making such a helpful and informative video for students like me.
Wow these tips were so specific and opened my eyes to thing I knew I could work on, but didn't have the skill yet to implement them. Your way of speaking is incredibly easy to understand. Thank you!
2:25 - "We were just talking about verbs all the time." Sounds fun.
I always listen to shaelin,her experience is well worth regarding Writing etc,I learn a lot and learning a lot from her pieces.
Shaelin. Another home run. Excellente, mi amiga.
I agree with the slow down tip a lot. In fact, I love it so much that only six hours have passed in my 100K word novel.
Now it's time to line edit.
Thanks for another awesome video, Shaelin! Especially loved you tip about slowing your narrative down and showing rich details. A well-written sensory description is so satisfying to read!
I have a question for the readers out there: Would you rather read a longer book series where all the main characters get a whole book to express their feelings about events throughout a certain timeline
or would you rather read a shorter book series where one main character describes an important event by themselves
Basically the difference is that one character will tell the experience from their point of view instead of having all of the characters tell the story in their unique and different views.
I really don't want to use third person because I want my ideas to be in a series, but I am tied between the two.
If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask; I know this can be confusing :)
I am currently reading Fates and Furies, a story of a couple, first narrated through the husband's pov and then narrated through the wife's.
Here's what I've learnt: if you are exploring the internal world of your characters, then it makes sense. As it happens in this novel. A marriage is a long event witnessed by two parties who view it through their unique lenses. What the wife reveals to the reader, the husband never knew. So, separate plots emerge out of the narrative.
However, if you are just going to talk about one event from three angle but simply describing the event and its details, it runs the risk of being repititve.
Or if the event itself was so huge in terms of time and space, then also it might work to show it from separate povs. A brilliant example is the Mahabharata. It was a great war fought between two Indian kingdoms. All the major participants viewed the war from different angles and their own spots in the battlefield. They had separate identity crises in the aftermath.
Hope this helps.
I perosnally like reading stories where thoughts and emotions are thoroughly explained. Like, an entire psraphraph dedicated to describing a character feeling sad
Let's say, for the sake of argument, and for clarity of exploration as a concept you were to write a trilogy with characters A, B and C.
1. A -> end
2. B -> end
3. C -> end
Here you are revisiting the same end three times over, unless C dies outside of the narrative frame of 1. and 2.
It might be more interesting to tell 3/4ths of the stories and then add another book which lets its chapters jump between A, B, and C until they have A and B together in a chapter (from A's point of view) then moving ahead in time (not jumping back) to show A from B's point of view, then having C come in at the end when they were presumed dead. This will rely on faster pacing as the chapters rely on the characterisation of A, B, and C being well known and the world and its lore fully established in the three books written prior to the 4th and final one. This would then imply, that to justify this formalism, you would have A, B, and C from very different cultures:
A is from the North
B is from the East
C is from the West
They all head South and run across each other in a world that is a foreign culture to those they came from, in book 4.
One thought here... Brandon Sanderson used a very clever way to get around this problem in his Skyward series: first person books all following the main character, but with interludes in between parts. These interludes - and epilogues - are from a different character's perspective in third person, and to me it didn't feel clunky because it fit into the books' design. When I saw this design, it opened the door for me, as it solved a key problem for my first person epic fantasy trilogy I wanted to write.
Depends on story and if I care about the characters. If I don't give a fuck about them, then I don't want a whole book dedicated to them. Also does each character need a whole book to explain them?
Hey Shaelin. I very much enjoyed your tips you've given in this video.
I'd like to give just 1 tip I use, that you might find interesting.
This may be a less common tip, but I've found that KEEPING A JOURNAL has actually improved my writing quite a lot. And it's for these reasons:
1 - It helped me be more 'real' with who I am as a character in this life, and this is important for creating relatable characters.
What do I mean by real? Well, I become aware of what I react to, how I respond to what things, how I used to do that...I see my own character development, and after 24 years a person tends to have had plenty of "aha" moments that developed one's personal character. Moments that you can use to put into a story. Great writers like J.R.R. Tolkien have done exactly that!
2 - Doing the writing has allowed me to sharpen the skill of writing. Since I do not edit what I wrote yesterday, I can go back to it and see what progress I might have made. This comparison actually makes me more aware of how I write my stories, and helps pin-point how I might improve the structure of my sentences. To give an example:
Version A:
"The archer had gathered his ranger-like equipment with a lot of haste; his bow which he had inherited from his father, the quiver that his mother used before, his arrows which a friend made for him the day before, his recently sharpened knives, and a cloak that has such patterns that it blends in well with almost any kind of surrounding."
Version B:
"The archer had gathered his ranger equipment speedily; his father's bow, his mother's quiver, the arrows a friend had made for him, his sharpened knives, and a patterned cloak that made him blend in with almost any environment."
Version C:
"The ranger had gathered his equipment speedily; his bow, the quiver filled with arrows, his knives, and his hooded cloak with a pattern that camouflaged him almost anywhere."
As you can see, every version gives you the same message: "The ranger gathered his equipment". But I'm sure you can tell version A is just too much side-info, and B can be good but a rule of thumb is "don't think your readers are stupid". What is information that they can envision themselves? That's where version C is concise, carries the same message, yet allows the reader to picture it themselves more (which creates 'immersion').
I trust you found this tip interesting, and I hope it is helpful too!
As journalism major (and son of a journalist) turned lawyer, compression and active voice drive my writing; these tips are familiar and good to hear again.
I've watched a lot...a LOT of writing advice videos, read countless articles...but this is the first one that has actual advice and not just re-used points. It's fantastic, and I know many of these will influence my writing from here on out. Thank you for your time!
i didn't really understand the "to be and -ing" verbs tip. Can you please give an example to that? Maybe in a line editing video?
ShaelinWrites, you are the best. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I love that you are so passionate about the craft and that you are willing to help us all. Thanks Sis.
You are so welcome !!
I love this idea of rephrasing common phrases. It’s so helpful!
I love your channel because your focus is on things you find useful and you don’t imply there’s an objective way to write, it’s actually really helpful.
"The knowing baby" really hits hard.
This is such good advice! Regarding characters, I found that basing them off the 16 different personality types (ex, I'm INFJ) and dropping them into situations helps with writers block; what would this character do in this situation based on their personality? It makes the writing experience more enjoyable in that it seems the characters are writing the story for you. If anyone wants feedback on their work, I just started providing beta reading on the side as a freelance activity. If anyone's interested I'll be happy to drop my link.
I loved all your advice in this video. A lot of it spoke to me. The verbs, the unexpected descriptions especially "the knowing baby" and cutting out scenes the reader can already imagine.
I remember a professor saying this when I was in a screenwriter course: "if you are stuck on a plot-hole, leave it & keep on to the next thing. It will fill itself, eventually."
Its weird bc you wont get it until you are actually in that situation. I took longer trying to finish my first short bc I woyldnt allow myelf to keep going without taking care of the plot holes first but when I moved back and foward in between chapters the ideas came in faster than on my 1st short. The ideas just came flowing like a waterfall everything made sense.
Do you have a video on your favorite writing resources? I’ve never heard of the Glimmer Train Bullet Archive in my life
Hi everyone! I'm sorry there aren't examples for all the points here. I made this video more as a summary of advice I'd talked about in other videos, so I didn't want the video to get too long or tread ground I'd covered before, but to my surprise this video ended up getting a lot of views and reaching people beyond my usual audience. You can check out these videos for examples of many of the points covered in this video!
-18 Hacks for Stronger Prose: th-cam.com/video/v45sfrLhLm4/w-d-xo.html
-Creating Complex Characters: th-cam.com/video/IdA8DjiQ6us/w-d-xo.html
-Show, Don't Tell: th-cam.com/video/zM1lfA_Frgc/w-d-xo.html
-Word Choice: th-cam.com/video/jKoOxrcVnHM/w-d-xo.html
-Specificity and Concrete Language: th-cam.com/video/xgNW3EgtT1E/w-d-xo.html
-Description: th-cam.com/video/q5H8oPyQaPQ/w-d-xo.html
-Creating Verbs: th-cam.com/video/iTBwgW-i1zU/w-d-xo.html
ALSO I am aware that -ing verbs are the *present* participle, not the *past* participle like I said in the video - I often just say the wrong word when filming and didn't catch it this time.
I was literally just about to write.. this was a great video bit I wish u had out a example at the end of each point...haha..if this were me I'd edit one in and reupload..great video otherwise...lol
@@solcutta3661 100% agree
I have a great technique or practice for using the fewest words possible and I take a single notecard and try to either write a story or character introduction or a scene and finish it within a single side of a notecard!!
It really helps to find different, more precise ways of describing things and makes you able to build scenes quicker in my opinion.
thanks
Great content. There are so many books and videos about fiction writing out there, I never read or listened to anything as rich and really helpful as this video. Thanks, I'll be watching all your vids.
Excellent advice here! I've seen a lot of unhelpful stuff around TH-cam lately, but this video was absolutely brimming with dollops of wisdom I couldn't help but find myself nodding along to. You have put into words so many ideas I have always struggled to articulate about what makes a piece of writing truly engaging. Thank you!
a lot of authortubers just seem to focus on polishing their image or degrading others, you actually share some really useful quality content, thank you
This is the best video on writing that I've seen on TH-cam. Thank you so much for this excellent advice. It was well organized, insightful, and clearly spoken. You are an excellent teacher! I'll be referring back to your channel FREQUENTLY as I go through the process of writing my own book! -Maya
Excellent and short.
The way you articulate common principles feels fresh to me and helps a lot.
« Describe, don’t explain » is an invaluable tool for my teaching arsenal.
This has got to be the best riding video I have ever listen to and I’ve listen to a lot by some really famous well-known authors but this is more spot on than anything and I will be able to put every single one of these tips into practice so brava!
Should I be worried that I'm a lot better at finding despair in hope than I am at finding hope in despair? XD
(I made a note of this one to remind myself to do the latter, though.)
I see Shaelin, I click.
A writing advice I could give, even though I don't know if it's good advice because it's not a tip someone told me but something I took the habit to do whenever I edit my writing: put yourself in your readers' shoes and read your text as if you were discovering it for the first time.
Also, reading your writing out loud can help to see if the flow and pacing is easy and natural. If when reading aloud you are stumbling on some lines, your sentence might be overly complicated and could be simplified
This is some of the best writing advice I've heard in a long time. Thank you. I really needed this.
I've had intense training in cutting needless words. XD My story was... a bit too long. I've cut about 46k from it now. :3
One of my books needs a minimum of 50k words deleted, ideally closer to 100k. This comment gives me hope!
@@thisisarecycledaccount3366 lol, you're welcome. I probably need to cut at least another 150k. That's not gonna happen, but I will try. XD My book was like 350k words. I'm almost down to 300k now. But as you can tell... it's still about twice as long as it should be. XD I'm currently cutting, and writing another story, exercising keeping things short. XD It's hard when you're a super-overwriter like me. But most of the cut material has been pointless scenes (fluff), repetitions, and too wordy (inefficient) sentences. So I'm sure you can do it!
@@SysterYster In my case, I'm slow to recognize filler meaning I weave it into things that are actually meaningful before I can delete them, and when I have to drastically restructure something I end up adding more words than I deleted. 😩 At least I know that now, and the word limit on my other book seems to (mostly) be keeping me from dawdling. 😆
@@thisisarecycledaccount3366 lol, as long as we are aware of our problems, we can get better at not making them. :D When I started, I didn't even get the difference between telling and showing. Or how to keep in one POV at a time. I head-hopped a lot. lol. Terrible. XD Word limits are good to have. Writing concise and clear and without needless fluff is definitely what I need to do to avoid blowing the word limits. XD