What would you say is essential in order to improve your writing? An active voice in the narration? Showing the reader how a character feels rather than telling them? Improve your grammar?
I really want to get into writing, but my writing is a mess. What are some ways to improve myself? I haven't taken any Veeky Forums related class in five years. What do you do to improve Veeky Forums?
Sexy vampires and shirtless werewolves.
vocabulary definitely. i need a thesaurus in my brain.
>but my writing is a mess. What are some ways to improve myself?
write more
>"you can't edit a blank page"
ya u can
saying exactly what you mean in just the way you meant to say it
By reading more. This isn't the answer you wanted or were looking for but it's the right one.
So basically "conditioning" myself to write coherently enough?
reading books on how to get better at writing and not listening to fucking idiot plebs who say "lol just wing it"
read like 20-30 of the best ones.
it WON'T improve your prose, but you'll get structure and some brilliant techniques (series, microtension) that will make you more proficient than 80%+ of writers at structural things.
then to get better prose you can copywork Ulysses and Lolita for 2hrs every day using the Stevenson method (1hr when you wake up, 1hr before you go to sleep).
Not to be a pleb but why Ulysses and Lolita?
Because he listened to fucking idiot plebs who say "Ulysses and Lolita contain the best prose."
because i read them and they do have some of the best. i like nobokov's lucidity mixed with joyce's ability to pinpoint the exact right word choice in any given sentence.
you should pick whatever prose you think is great and copywork it.
That looks so fucking comfy.
Try get comfy. Seriously. Just find a way to feel snug as a bug. Grammar is very important, but not essential. It's use is appeasing publications for your book and subduing grammar nazis so that they don't... Yeah I dunno I don't really write but good luck man.
thesaurus ain't worth shit. you add flowery language, that's you parading around saying "i'm the author"
op it's about painting with Ideas, not using more than necessary. think of judo, no movement wasted. [that's what makes dialogue so difficult]
reading my post, i realize that everyone has their own particular voice. I think i'm reaching towards my true voice recently, and really want to get to that point.
lol, he didn't say a thesaurus. he said a thesaurus in his BRAIN.
knowing more words allows you to think of more ideas, and will create synaptic connections that weren't possible before. it's no mistake that some of the most celebrated authors of literature spoke multiple languages.
having a stronger vocabulary allows you to chose the exact right word for any given sentence. you pretty much said that in your third sentence i suppose.
Read. Read. Read.
Have the characters of these stories dancing in your head. Silently watch them dance. And while you watch their dances quietly, watch the world around you.
Watch. Watch. And watch some more. Watch when you aren't reading. There are characters all around you in dull ballrooms, waiting for music, and their dancing partners, and a grand stage.
jesus christ butterfly what is wrong with you? Just make one good post please.
>knowing more words allows you to think of more ideas, and will create synaptic connections that weren't possible before
le Sapir–Whorf meme
I think having principles, one of which is to be as congruent to your emotions as possible, is probably most important. If you feel your writing is a mess it is usually because you've written something which you think is neither here nor there and inauthentic to you.
Having a deep, personal and understanding relationship to yourself and your world and your meanings throughout your whole life is a legacy that'll do more for sincerely good writing than most other things.
Of course reading and knowing basically how to write are essential too
...
Also make sure to prep your teenage daughter's bull. Tell Jamal to use a condom this time. Understand that he might not listen (and you should respect this decision since it isn't yours to make--it's THEIRS).
Above all? Live. Live. Live. Silently watch them dance.
nice spook
You and your daughter are sitting in a room having a lovely conversation when all of a sudden a demon(!) says,
'Steal your daughter's purse,' (that dubious bastard!) in the back of your mind.
Your daughter looks offended, and asks why you would want to steal your own daughter's purse. (you think you know a guy)
It's at this moment you realize you are insane and begin killing your daughter violently with the rose garnished teal vase which sat nearby on the coffee table-- the one your wife had bought last week while you both vacationed in Tyler to escape the frigid early winter(marrige, duh), and which you hated so much, the both of them. Your daughter was clearly the demon. You continue to crush at what remains of intact skull and jaw bone, reaching for another solid object as the pieces of vase begin cutting your hand and don't crush well.
--Blood and grey matter glisten, as a dew drop carefully placed on the rose petals sleeping atop your daughter's damp jacket, between the tremors.
thank you. you rekt that guy better than I ever could
One of the other important points is to be safe when unsheathing your katana. It is very sharp and might cause some ouchies.
What do you mean by copywork?
fuckin captain cornball over here
is this guy for real?
literally write the text again.