Chuck Palahniuk
âIn six seconds, youâll hate me. But in six months, youâll be a better writer.
From this point forwardâat least for the next half yearâyou may not use âthoughtâ verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use.
The list should also include: Loves and Hates. And it should include: Is and Has, but weâll get to those later.
Until some time around Christmas, you canât write: Kenny wondered if Monica didnât like him going out at nightâŚâ
Instead, youâll have to Un-pack that to something like: âThe mornings after Kenny had stayed out, beyond the last bus, until heâd had to bum a ride or pay for a cab and got home to find Monica faking sleep, faking because she never slept that quiet, those mornings, sheâd only put her own cup of coffee in the microwave. Never his.â
Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, you must now describe the thing so that the reader wants it.
Instead of saying: âAdam knew Gwen liked him.â Youâll have to say: âBetween classes, Gwen had always leaned on his locker when heâd go to open it. Sheâs roll her eyes and shove off with one foot, leaving a black-heel mark on the painted metal, but she also left the smell of her perfume. The combination lock would still be warm from her butt. And the next break, Gwen would be leaned there, again.â
In short, no more short-cuts. Only specific sensory detail: action, smell, taste, sound, and feeling.
Typically, writers use these âthoughtâ verbs at the beginning of a paragraph (In this form, you can call them âThesis Statementsâ and Iâll rail against those, later). In a way, they state the intention of the paragraph. And what follows, illustrates them.
For example: âBrenda knew sheâd never make the deadline. Traffic was backed up from the bridge, past the first eight or nine exits. Her cell phone battery was dead. At home, the dogs would need to go out, or there would be a mess to clean up. Plus, sheâd promised to water the plants for her neighborâŚâ
Do you see how the opening âthesis statementâ steals the thunder of what follows? Donât do it.
If nothing else, cut the opening sentence and place it after all the others. Better yet, transplant it and change it to: Brenda would never make the deadline.
Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating.
Donât tell your reader: âLisa hated Tom.â
Instead, make your case like a lawyer in court, detail by detail.
Present each piece of evidence. For example: âDuring roll call, in the breath after the teacher said Tomâs name, in that moment before he could answer, right then, Lisa would whisper-shout âButt Wipe,â just as Tom was saying, âHereâ.â
One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering.
For example: Waiting for the bus, Mark started to worry about how long the trip would takeâŚâ
A better break-down might be: âThe schedule said the bus would come by at noon, but Markâs
watch said it was already 11:57. You could see all the way down the road, as far as the Mall, and not see a bus. No doubt, the driver was parked at the turn-around, the far end of the line, taking a nap. The driver was kicked back, asleep, and Mark was going to be late. Or worse, the driver was drinking, and heâd pull up drunk and charge Mark seventy-five cents for death in a fiery traffic accidentâŚâ
A character alone must lapse into fantasy or memory, but even then you canât use âthoughtâ verbs or any of their abstract relatives.
Oh, and you can just forget about using the verbs forget and remember.
No more transitions such as: âWanda remembered how Nelson used to brush her hair.â
Instead: âBack in their sophomore year, Nelson used to brush her hair with smooth, long strokes of his hand.â
Again, Un-pack. Donât take short-cuts.
Better yet, get your character with another character, fast. Get them together and get the action started. Let their actions and words show their thoughts. Youâstay out of their heads.
And while youâre avoiding âthoughtâ verbs, be very wary about using the bland verbs âisâ and âhave.â
For example: âAnnâs eyes are blue.â
âAnn has blue eyes.â
Versus:
âAnn coughed and waved one hand past her face, clearing the cigarette smoke from her eyes, blue eyes, before she smiledâŚâ
Instead of bland âisâ and âhasâ statements, try burying your details of what a character has or is, in actions or gestures. At its most basic, this is showing your story instead of telling it.
And forever after, once youâve learned to Un-pack your characters, youâll hate the lazy writer who settles for: âJim sat beside the telephone, wondering why Amanda didnât call.â
Please. For now, hate me all you want, but donât use thought verbs. After Christmas, go crazy, but Iâd bet money you wonât.
(âŚ)
For this monthâs homework, pick through your writing and circle every âthoughtâ verb. Then, find some way to eliminate it. Kill it by Un-packing it.
Then, pick through some published fiction and do the same thing. Be ruthless.
âMarty imagined fish, jumping in the moonlightâŚâ
âNancy recalled the way the wine tastedâŚâ
âLarry knew he was a dead manâŚâ
Find them. After that, find a way to re-write them. Make them stronger.â
Source -
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1jltqn/writers_of_reddit_what_are_exceptionally_simple/
Honestly you will develop your own style that is great for you and the people you write with. I am, by no means, an exceptional writer but I have fun with it. Most people are willing to work with you, and since you seem to have an open mind, it will be much easier for you to pick up tips. That is the biggest things, learn from others, but also make your own little style. My writing style is a mixture of all the people who I considered to be great writers as I have roleplayed over the years. Don't be afraid to incorporate other peoples styles into your own writing because no one is perfect but everyone has neat little tricks they do.
Don't be afraid to ask people for help because most of the time people are willing to offer advice. I have a lot of little things that I do that help me so I will give you the little things that have made me a better writer.
1. Know your character inside and out. For me this is the biggest thing that will help you because if you don't know your character you'll just be aimlessly writing, and when I say know your character, I mean REALLY know them. My biggest pet peeve on forums is this: Age - Unknown. What? WHAT? You don't know your own characters age or you are just using the lazy cliche? You created that character and you should know every little detail about them. How do I know that? You made him/her.
2. I am notorious for not describing the scenery around me. My first post is always inner dialogue... kind of. I find that it helps the flow of writing if I explain what my character is thinking, why he is there, what he is going to accomplish by being there, and the rest will just kind of flow. I give them a reason to be in a particular thread and then the rest is my characters actions or dialogue. The first paragraph sets the tone so you want to ensnare your reader. I put the bulk of my character development in the first paragraph of my posts. Inner dialogues, self turmoil, reactions/actions, it's all there at the beginning. I have always hated describing scenery, unless I am the first to post in the thread, and I hate reading it in books. Personal preference so it is up to you, but just remember, try and gain your readers attention in that first paragraph.
3. Collaborate. Could you imagine writing a novel and not knowing, at least somewhat, how things were going to turn out? If every paragraph ended and you had no idea what was going to happen in the next paragraph? That would suck, right? Talk to people, figure out where they want to take the thread, and express where you want to take the thread and find a nice middle ground. This website is about writing with other people and creating stories so try not to go into it blind. Have a rough idea of how you want the thread to go and work your way to it. I am not saying plan out every little detail, but, if you want a certain thing to happen make sure they know so they can help you get there.
4. UNLIMITED POWA! Don't do that. Come on. Seriously? Don't be THAT guy. I am sure you have seen them, the invincible "I am the most powerful being in the universe." toolbag. Give your character some depth besides power hungry mongol trying to kill everyone. You're evil? Give them a reason to be evil, I don't care, but don't just be evil for being evils sake. People want to see your character develop over the course of your threads. Whether you slowly go mad with power or you struggle with trying to make the right decision in such a corrupt Galaxy. I wrote Ben Watts, the Jedi Grandmaster, and a lot of people might tell you he was a strong and brave Jedi who had no fear. That is just completely false, he was very detailed, and he struggled with a lot. And it wasn't completely heartwrenching and emotional either. He struggled with the fear of failure, letting down the Jedi he loved so dearly, it was his worst nightmare. It isn't about blatantly writing "Awww, my character has so many feels, tehe." no. Honestly, IC, I can think of maybe two people who knew about how troubled Ben was. OOC, I am pretty sure everyone knew. It made it that much more intriguing because IC people only saw the brave, battle ready, wise Jedi and they thought he could do no wrong. But inside? Inside he was a wreck.
5. Be willing to lose duels. You can't win them all because that is no fun. Plus, losing fights is a huge part of character development. If you watch DBZ, look at Vegeta, that dude never beat Goku. Did it mean he was any less badass? Find someone who pushes your character to the limit. Write fear into your character, fear is awesome as a writing device, you can do so much with it. You want to write a fearless character? That's cool, but remember my number 4, write a little fear into it. Everyone fears something, or at least they should, so write that in.
6. Have fun. Have fun. Have fun. This place will make you angry, it'll make you happy, it might even make you cry, but the real draw is the people. I will stand by this for the rest of my life, the people here are awesome. I watched this community grow from a tiny little baby into a full fledged adult and the thing that sticks out is the people. You have your tools, but without them, I would have never gotten a job on staff in the first place. Some of you drive me crazy, you really do, but I love it in a way. Make friends, chit chat, collaborate with people and create epic stories that you will remember for the rest of your days. And trust me, you will.
Maybe that helped, maybe it didn't, who knows.