In August I wrote about doing writing-stretching exercises. So let’s get warmed up and start doing some heavy duty writing-calisthenics.
Even if you don’t have a current WIP (work in progress) to work on, you need to
always keep writing (Even I do the writing exercises and prompts that are
posted every week on this blog). Free write every day for at least 15 to 30 minutes (ANY subject).
I recently joined a weekly online writing meme called
WeWriWa, Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday we post eight sentences (no
less, no more) from a current project or previous book. With the use of a
linky-link we sign up and then get to check out other eight-sentence postings.
When my friend first presented this group to me and suggested that I enter, I
thought I didn’t have the time and I didn’t have need (or room) of another blog
posting. But I caved and finally did it.
(http://www.wewriwa.com/)
I was wrong, it isn't just another reason to post on the blog
and it certainly isn't a waste of my time. It’s educational in ways I didn't expect. Posting an excerpt of just eight lines seems a pittance, but as writers
we want to post something of substance. We are permitted a tiny bit of latitude
and can use some creative punctuation to stay within the eight line limit. When
fellow bloggers hop through the blogs and comment, it is interesting and enlightening
to know IF indeed the thoughts we wanted to communicate were actually
understood. It makes you tighten your writing and discard the “purple prose”
that many new writers think they need to build the word count.
Try it, pick eight (consecutive) sentences from your WIP, put
them on separate piece of paper and hand
them to a friend who does NOT know the project you are working on. See if that
person can tell you what they got from the snippet. If they can tell you something
you are trying to convey, like a character’s personality or emotion, or the
tension that surrounds the scene, then you are accomplishing your goal. Another
benefit of joining an organized and regularly scheduled activity such as this is
that it helps you build discipline. In this case you know that every Sunday you
have to have your blog ready to go and sometime earlier in the week you have to
register your permalink. It’s a bit like working under a deadline and you get
used to doing it.
A very good way to practice tightening your writing is to
take a COPY of a page from your current WIP (or recent work) and a pencil. Read
each sentence out load, then using the pencil, start crossing out any words
that do not change the meaning. For example, I said “A very good way to
practice…” – but I could have said “A very good way to practice…” and it
would meant the same thing. We tend to throw in extra adverbs (modifies a verb,
adjective, or another adverb), but sometimes these adverbs are not really
necessary. Cut out extra adjectives (describes a noun or pronoun) if they are not needed and you can
show rather than say such as “the angry man was scowling”. Be sure to
read the sentence out loud to make sure you haven’t changed the meaning.
Avoid redundancy, consolidate phrases into single words when
possible, and add descriptions only when needed to tell the story. If you keep
your writing tight you will engage the reader with every sentence, your story
will keep moving along, and the thoughts you want to convey will be clearer.
Writing exercise: Pick a favorite childhood memory. Write
down tag-words about that memory… BUT do it alphabetically. Write down as many
keywords starting with A, and then B, and so forth. But do not go back to a
letter once you have moved on. Hopefully looking at these words would draw a
mental picture even for someone who wasn't there in person.
Writing exercise: Pick your current or most recent WIP.
Write down (1) something annoying about your heroine; (2) something endearing
about the story’s antagonist; (3) Your hero’s most disgusting habit; (4)
something uncomfortable about the setting of your story; and (5) name the one
character that brings NOTHING to the story.
