Image courtesy of Writing Time, a site for beginning writers that offers inspiration to fire up your creativity, exercises to jumpstart your writing, and guidelines to help you craft your creative writing, whether you're interested in writing an essay, a poem, a short story or a novel.The best advice I was given was to write every day.~John Baker, novelist
You get to be a better writer by writing.
~Lisa Logan, author of Visions, released January 30 2007 by Draumr Publishing
The best writing advice I ever received came near-simultaneously from two different sources.
I was struggling through my first full-length work, finding it a very different and untameable animal from short fiction. Writing the book was like walking against a wind machine where life, other story ideas, and lack of polished expertise threw themselves against my every effort.
I bemoaned this fact to friend and colleague Susan McBride. Her answer was simple. "Just do it," she said. "Write straight through, stopping only long enough to jot notes on vital flashes of inspiration."
Sure it made sense, but it was too darn simplistic. And easy for her to say, I thought. She had a book series with Harper-Collins. But sometimes, the simplest of answers is the best.
Still feeling sorry for myself, I happened to pick up a copy of Stephen King's On Writing. His advice? "Just do it."
That's when the truth hit. For those of us who must write, the discipline to do so lies within that very drive. The manuscript that had sat in messy bits for fifteen months became a finished work within three, and the next novel was written in four.
In honor of the release of her debut novel, today's best writing advice is from Kelly Parra, author of the young adult novel, Graffiti Girl (MTV Books, May 15, 2007). Check out her website, www.KellyParra.com.
It’s 1:08 a.m. when Carrie’s car breaks down on the highway somewhere north of Lake Superior. It’s dark, the road is quiet, her cell phone is down, and she is alone. She took off from Toronto that morning, running from grief over the death of her boyfriend, and unable to cope with the truth about the events that led to it. The relief Carrie feels as a truck pulls up soon turns to fear after its driver offers her a lift. Frank, her would-be rescuer, is a line painter, putting lines on the road “to stop people from being killed.” But after Carrie gets in the truck, she starts to realize that this will be the road trip of her life—a trip of terror, transformation and forgiveness.
Claire Cameron has created a unique portrait of Carrie, a young woman whose actions are driven by grief and shame, her personality a beguiling combination of naïveté and streetsmarts. Frank is equally sharply drawn, his flashes of humour and tenderness disguising the wreckage within. Written in spare, unvarnished prose that brims with menace against the forbidding backdrop of a northern landscape, The Line Painter takes us on a riveting trip down a twisted road of memory and redemption.
“My best piece of advice was getting and using the The Writer's Market (book) I used the Writer's Market for Literary Agents.”
~ Nicole, Del Sesto, author of All Encompassing Trip
“The best advice I ever received about writing is also the simplest: just do it. Stop talking about doing it - sit down and get that story out.”
~ William Couper, author of Cutting Chills
“The best thing I've ever heard is to write from the heart. Go with whatever it tells you.”
~ Jennifer Brown, author of Celebrity Secrets, Summer 2007
You're Lolita!
by Vladimir Nabokov
Considered by most to be depraved and immoral, you are obsessed with sex. What really tantalizes you is that which deviates from societal standards in every way, though you admit that this probably isn't the best and you're not sure what causes this desire. Nonetheless, you've done some pretty nefarious things in your life, and probably gotten caught for them. The names have been changed, but the problems are real. Please stay away from children.
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