The Only Writing Advice You Need Right Now

On the first Monday of the Blog Me Maybe blogfest I had these grand ideas of giving you some really good writing advice. (Because that’s what the schedule calls for and I’m a nerdy rule-follower.)

But then I had the most productive writing weekend ever, and I spent so much time working on my WIP that I didn’t have time to write some brilliant musings on the craft. And I’m 67 percent sure the musings, had I spent time on them, would have been brilliant.

So in light of my super productive weekend, I give you some thoughts on how to write well:

1. Close Twitter. No, don’t minimize it—Click. It. Shut.
2. Ban yourself from Facebook. (Trust me, all you’re missing is updates like, Rain again! Boooo. :( and Ur so selfish. U know who u r! Grr.)
3. Stay away from the Internet. If you need to research something, make a note then go back when going online isn’t punishable by 50 push-ups.
4. Tell everyone you know that you have to work over the weekend. If they give you a hard time for working on your “hobby,” pretend you’re catching up on the day job.
5. Hide your cell under a few blankets and pretend you don’t hear it when it rings.
6. Don’t answer the doorbell.
7. Let your e-mails pile up. If that stresses you out, seek immediate medical attention.
8. Write.

And that’s it.

Oh, and if you’re feeling cheated because I didn’t really give you advice on how to write, check out this post on your best writing advice or this post on your outlining tips. See? I’m the kind of evil genius who uses your intelligence to make me look more intelligent. It’s amazing.

On that note, leave a writing tip in the comments for your fellow writers.

Making the Familiar New

I’m not sure where I read this (I’m guessing it was during those blogging experiences where you click a link that leads to another blog, where you click a link to another blog, where you … well, you get the idea.) but MT Anderson once said that the purpose of literature is to help the reader see the familiar in a different way.

I love this.

When I read that quote (or, um, paraphrase), I first thought about setting. I’ve lived in big cities and small towns. But I see each differently after reading a book. The setting’s inspired by the author’s life experiences and worldview. It differs based on the protagonist’s outlook on life, her personality, circumstances, worries, and fears. The same small town can be nostalgic or creepy or confining depending on the book.

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As a teen, my family went to Paris. I loved the city, the feeling I got just being around the history and beauty. But when I read Anna and the French Kiss, I saw the city differently. It was romantic now. (FYI: there’s no romance in Paris when you’re with your family.) I saw in a way I never thought of it before. That’s the power of a good book.

This doesn’t just apply to setting, though. It applies to events and emotions and pretty much every part of a book.

In YA in particular, it’s easy to experience first love in so many different ways: wonder, apprehension, regret, guilt, and so on. Sure, we’ve all been there before. But the novel adds to our experience, expands it.

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A book takes school—boring to teens—and adds a hot guy, vampires, aliens or a secret society. It takes a small town and makes it mysterious and creepy. It takes something as commonplace as a high school crush and lets us experience it this time as a teen boy or as a nerd.

I think it’s also important to remember that just because something’s boring and familiar to you doesn’t mean it’s boring to everyone else. I live in Northern Virginia and think it’s so uncool. (I mean, seriously, it takes about an hour to go two miles down the road. Grocery shopping’s a major time suck.) But someone from rural Tennessee might think living so close to Arlington National Cemetery, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial is exciting. (It’s not.)

Your pig-riding monkey might seem so normal. But, trust me, it’s not. And about 6,189,830 people would love to see it. So slap a tape up on YouTube then write it into a story.

Seriously. 

How do you see books as changing our views of the familiar? How do you apply this to your writing?

RTW: When Real Lifers Show Up on the Page

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog carnival, where YA Highway’s contributors and readers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s take on the topic.

This week, Road Trip Wednesday the prompt was: Who (from real life) have you written into a book?

Truthfully, I never write a full (real life) person into a book. Well, okay. There was this one time I wanted to write about a friend whose parents were killed by a dark lord (sorry, I can’t tell you his name). Only my friend could defeat said dark lord, so there were high stakes. And since he was basically clueless when this happened there was a ton of built-in conflict.

But someone told my friend’s story before I had a chance. 

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Aside from that brilliant idea that never was, I don’t usually add real-life friends or family into my books. (That hasn’t stopped The Man from asking, “Is this me?” and “What about this?” every time he reads my manuscript.)

Instead, I steal Real Lifers’ mannerisms. It’s kind of like going to a character trait buffet: I’ll take rapid blinking from her and that annoying sound the tongue makes when it suctions to the roof of the mouth from him. Even then, I use their mannerisms sparingly.

Real Lifers mostly help me think about each character as a fully fleshed-out person. I know how my father will act in group situations (shy) with close friends (chatty) or while waiting in line (impatient). I know for a fact that he’d leave a deli before waiting 30 minutes for a sandwich. My mother? She’d chat up the guy behind the counter until both had lost track of time. When a character’s looking a bit one dimensional, I consider how a bunch of Real Lifers might act, which usually helps me delve deeper into the character.

So, yeah, Real Lifers remind us that a character’s personality should affect how they act and react to everything.

I will add, though, that friends and family are more likely to assume they’re in a manuscript more often than they are. They also assume I’m my main character when I’m not.

Which is why The Man started touching the small of my back after reading my characters’ first kiss. Yes, the totally hot love interest put his hand on the main character’s lower back. No, that does not mean all interactions with me should start there.

What about you? Do you write Real Lifers into your books?

Also! If you want to win a copy of the awesome Across the Universe, enter here. (You’ll also find info on how to win more than 20 other prizes. So, you know, check it out.)

Safe Haven

There are certain words that should not be used together. (No I’m not talking about “we’re out of bread pudding,” though those words most definitely should not be used together.)

I’m talking about words that don’t make sense if you speak English. Which I do.

When I was in journalism school, I took a copyediting class that changed the way I wrote. And it also changed how I edited, which I think made me a more thorough yet less likeable editor.

Anyhow. Two words were nails on the chalkboard to my professor and are now nails on the chalkboard to me: safe haven.

I cringe at the mention of a safe haven. I want to scribble all over the word safe whenever I read the phrase. I want to scream, “A HAVEN IS A SAFE PLACE!” at the top of my lungs.

Sure, this sounds ah-mazing: It was her safe haven.

But what you’re really saying is this: It was her safe safe place.

Even Word, which never fails to underline grammatically correct phrases with its annoying squiggles, knows this is wrong.

So for the love of everything haven-like, drop the safe. Or change it to safe place.

The final end.