My dear dudes,
I’m not a regular Veeky Forumseratus. I’d like to ask you all about improvement in writing skill. I’m an artist, I also lift weights on occasion. When lifting, it’s pretty straightforward to find what exercises work what muscles. For art, you first identify the “fundamentals” of art, which you could say are like the muscles in weightlifting. The fundamentals are things like perspective, gesture, light & value, construction, etc. Categories of knowledge and skill. Then you assess which ones you need to work on. Trying to draw something from imagination will show where you’re lacking pretty well. After that it’s… sort of straightforward to practice. And if you're is a master of the fundamentals, that essentially means you can successfully make any image you want. Largely or entirely from your imagination as well...
So, my questions for you:
What are the fundamentals of writing? And how do you practice them? Take that in a general way, or a personal way if you like. Personal as in “how do YOU practice them”. Also, to be clear, let’s say I’m talking about writing narratives, stories.
I’m wondering because my impression of writers is that they don’t practice like a painter does. Like, do writers do “studies”? Or practice sessions dedicated specifically to some kind of structure or something? That sort of stuff.
Thanks homies.
My dear dudes
test
Thank you for bumping my thread to test...
There's no way in hell John Malkovich was EVER that fit.
Well you could start with the trivium and then quadrivium...
Do you mean English grammar? I like giving my opinion so I write long posts on Facebook and practice grammar there.
As far as telling stories or developing content you could do worse than not trying acid and ecstasy
Interesting question but i have no idea, bump.
>what are the fundamentals of writing
Fuck if I know. I just write.
Of course, there are the basics. Start with a theme, develope characters, find a setting, build a plot around them, address the issues in the narrative and find ways to solve them. Other than that, find a structure and pacing that won't suck.
You can write a novel for four reasons (this isn't what any critic or professor has said, it's just how I like to think of it: meditation (personsal), demonstration (rhetorical), entertainment (pleb-tier, garbage), and for aesthetics (waste of time). Of course, they can all be blended well, but you have to be really talented to pull that off. I find that Pynchon and Faulkner manage it.
When I sit down to write, I motivate myself by saying if I believe in dinosaurs, then somewhere, they must be believing in me. And if they believe in me, then I can believe in me. Then I bust out.
This is my secret. Rules of verse are secondary.
>I like giving my opinion so I write long posts on Facebook and practice grammar there.
You are what's wrong with the world.
I don't mean grammar. Well, actually I would say grammar is ONE of the fundamentals of writing, that's one I know, but it's more basic than what I'm thinking of.
Think of stuff like composition and color theory in visual art. Those are considered fundamentals, they're areas of knowledge with lots of history and theory and shit to learn in them, and they can be deliberately practiced. That knowledge can be used to help direct elements in an art piece in a purposeful way, and likewise can be used to critique an art piece.
"Gesture" is an art fundamental that interests me a lot. It's critical. It's also a bit vague and very difficult to grasp. Gesture is, basically, the essential action of a figure, or anything else really. If you know gesture, you know how to make a viewer strongly FEEL the weight, fluidity of something, you can communicate life and motion in a still image. It also ties in with the "narrative" of an art piece, because it can communicate so much to a viewer. And there are tons of books and videos and classes dedicated to gesture.
I find it very convenient that this sort of hard-to-describe thing has a name and can be so readily studied/practiced.
So I'm wondering if there are such "fundamentals" in writing, which are commonly understood, agreed upon and discussed.
>do writers do “studies”?
writers read
and writers write
that's it
For me, I copy out by hand my favorite passages. There is something about hand-mind connection (i won't pretend to understand) that makes you write in a similar style. I copy out 3 sections per day (morning, noon and night) from the authors I consider my influence. Sections are on average a page length, up to two pages.
I've tried a lot of things to improve my style, but this has worked the best.
It's important to do the copies by hand, typing doesn't seem to work as well (for me at least).
You're not wrong. I look down on amateur "writers" who don't read, or read pop-literature and genre.
(I distinguish genre and what I call pop-lit because there are several books that are borderline literary but aren't particularly good, such On the Road, Oliver Kitridge and Room.)
thank you for this advice, i'm going to try this with Borges
Borges is great for this imo.
I've done most of ficciones over the years, I always go back to Borges.
I copied out the form of the sword completely yesterday.
That's interesting. In a way that could be considered equivalent to a "master study" in art. Cool you do it so regularly too, I can imagine that actually helps a lot.
I can't think of a way a writer could practice character like a painter practices perspective. The truth of a character can only be measured against the work you place him in. Same goes for other universal fundamentals; e.g. theme, structure, style. Writers do 'studies' simply by reading and observing. Can't really sit down for 30 minutes and sketch up a novel.
you technically can with mini outlines for overall arcs and themes, but yea the proof is in the prose itself
I've been writing for as long as I can remember, and took an MFA. This is still the best exercise I've ever done. I read it in "classical rhetoric for the modern student" by Corbett. The best book on style I've read too.
Working from fundamentals is a meme but if you like the meme, think its epic or dank, then yes this is good advice
Read more Marlowe
>Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib’d
In one self place; for where we are is hell,
And where hell is there must we ever be:
And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that is not Heaven.
If you have something to say, say that and nothing else. Once the gist of the message is delivered let the reader fill in the gaps.